A Japanese man provides a raft of unusual services that lay bare the bathos and banality of contemporary life

“Excuse me,” began the direct message on Twitter, “I may have sex today so could you send me a message at 12 to tell me to cut my nails?” The question wasn’t aimed at a lover, but at Shoji Morimoto, a thirtysomething living in Tokyo who, since 2018, had been offering himself “for rent”. His services involve hanging around clients – watching them, eating with them, mostly listening rather than talking to them. Is this work? He called himself Rental Person Who Does Nothing. News outlets inside and outside Japan rushed to profile him. His story inspired a manga and a television series.

Now, Morimoto has written a memoir that’s neither written (he merely responded to questions posed to him by “S” who, he says, “is not a particular fan of Rental Person”) nor a memoir (it’s about his professional persona more than himself). Rather, it’s a partial inventory of the requests he received and chose to accept. Most are mesmerisingly banal. Someone wants to send him a photo of her pet and have him reply: “That is unbelievably cute!” A worker who’s just lost their job for the 10th time would like to sit and eat a hamburger with him.