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© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022.Dream job: The Japanese man who gets paid to do nothing
By Tom Bateman and Rikako Maruyama TOKYO©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
27 Comments
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NOMINATION
If you think about it, there are many English teaching jobs like this. Getting paid just to speak your mother tongue with it often going in one ear and out the other.
John Noun
@nomination
I'm not sure if you're having an unnecessary dig at English teachers, but I can tell you that there aren't many (if any) teaching gigs where you're getting 10,000 yen an hour
wallace
He is providing a service so that is not anything. There have been escorts for decades. But he should be giving his client 100% attention.
Previously, I have been a standby engineer which meant I got paid big money for mostly doing nothing until something went wrong then I would go into action.
shogun36
Some people have a loooot of money to waste.
I sure envy them.
Aly Rustom
10,000 yen an hour to do nothing? they hiring?
Mr Kipling
Trust me, he is not the only Japanese paid for doing nothing! Or at least nothing worthwhile....
Aly Rustom
Dream job: The Japanese man who gets paid to do nothing
He's well on his way to become an LDP member.
theFu
What about all the older Japanese men who direct people where to stand in lines? It isn't like there aren't already markers on the floors.
David Brent
I work for a traditional Japanese company, so about three days out of five I am paid to do pretty much nothing.
finally rich
I used to have these kind of do nothing jobs when I arrived in Japan.
Paid ¥1,500/h to sit at my desk and wait for interpreting phone/video calls at translation centers, most of times it was like 1 to 5 calls per day, in very "busy" days, 1 call per hour. It was a great opportunity to work on my personal projects. Beautiful japanese women from different departments striking up conversations all the time, people from some 10 countries talking about life in Japan, sometimes I miss those simple days.
Yrral
He would go bankrupt in America,lots of Japanese women could get something for nothing,instead of an unemotional attention of nothing
Yrral
Wallace,if I came to Tokyo,which I will never come,he would go bankrupt
JT5
same here, I can recall a few of these jobs in the past, governments always pay the most, the highest I was paid was ¥70,000/day to spend the night inside a joint military, to convey orders (translate) in multiple languages in case of something went wrong, on a day Kim Jong Fat was particularly naughty
wallace
He still gives up his freedom and time while with a client. He has to be nice and smile and pretend to be interested. Short working life I reckon.
Yrral
Why would you as a Japanese woman,want an appetizer,when have all her emotional met,with a main course
GillislowTier
So he doesn’t do nothing, he’s seemingly got a hard job imo. Professional friend. There’s a business opportunity in everything, especially for lonely people.
Stephen Chin
Morimoto's employers are stealing his time from him. We all exist in time. Morimoto is not free to do what he likes with his time.
3RENSHO
Take the stupidphone away from Shoji Morimoto and then let us see how long he can endure 'doing nothing'...
stingray
His doing nothing means doing something for somebody.
This article said his job was a dream job. However, it seems to me not accurate.
Reading other articles about him, I knew he had harmful experiences in relationships with others before he started doing nothing job. He also said that individual loneliness was related to the reason for hiring him and that many offers came from complicated interpersonal relationships.
His presence is just essential to his customers.
Jonathan Prin
His job involves to go to a place and come back home.
That is costly and taking some of your free time.
I wouldn't do that job, sorry.
I am paid well over 20,000 yens and I get over 60% of my time at home or wherever doing what I want (taking a nap is cool). Just be efficient.
Johnny Park
@Jonathan Prin
Yeah that is definitely a job. Good for you that you get to work from home I guess?
Johnny Park
I'd be a no sex escort. That's pretty much his work. He's basically an on location host.