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Something attracting quite a bit of attention on the Internet at the moment is an incident involving a 25-year-old homeless man in Japan who put himself up for sale as an “item” on the Yahoo! Auctions website. Anyone winning the bid would in theory have been able bring the man into their home and provide him with accommodation.
The homeless man is thought to have been living rough as a consequence of his large debts and had been unable to make payments towards his pension or national health insurance. In the details section of the same auction, the man made clear that the type of bidder who may be interested in his auction is:
“Someone who is looking for a friend and can let their room out, or someone looking for a boyfriend who can do the housework.”
After reading this far, many of you may be thinking “good for him,” or, “what an ingenious idea,” but unfortunately this is where the fun ends. Having been discovered by the site’s admin, the ‘item’ listing was taken down shortly after going live. However, during the brief time it did go live, the man received a staggering 600 bids.
The homeless man also has a personal homepage and Twitter account, so it’s quite possible that, even after the auction was deleted, many interested people may have contacted him and even offered him accommodation.
The man described himself simply:
Height: 173 cm Weight: 57 kg Blood type: A
Even with so little information available to bidders, at the point of being taken down the bidding had reached 65,000 yen mark.
Making use of the Internet to get help in this way is novel to say the least, and is certainly less humiliating that asking passersby on the street for cash or a place to stay. What’s more, presenting the auction more as something orientated towards a person looking for a friend, partner or someone to talk to, it must have looked like a rather attractive package to many.
Here’s a sample of the comments some Twitter users made after hearing about the incident.
-- “Looks like the guy’s selling his body.” -- “I can’t believe it went live as a real auction.” -- “When you think that it started off at 1 yen, to reach such a figure is quite amazing.” -- “Unbelievable to think that a homeless guy went this far in the first place.” -- “It’s difficult to get my head around it!” -- “I laughed when I saw on the item description that a refund was also possible.”
On a parting note, for anyone just that little bit interested, the man’s home site can be found here.
Source: Byoukan Sunday
Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- Traditional Japanese House Being Sold for 1 Yen on Yahoo! Auction -- “Heavy Metal Idols” Perform for Audience of One Lucky Yahoo Auction Winner -- Man Auctions Himself on Yahoo! Auctions
© RocketNews24
18 Comments
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hereforever
My first question is, 'Why is a 25 year old man homeless and in heavy dept? He sounds like trouble to me, however would at least look into helping someone in need.
StormR
Enterprising young man.
BurakuminDes
He weighs 57kg? Poor guy needs a big feed, he must resemble a walking skeleton.
Mocheake
His debts probably came from him not being a "pachipro."
Aaron Loki Brummett
Large debt... did he take out any student loans? Was it a social sciences degree? If he just needs money I would pay him $20 to crawl under my house and defeat the Spider King! The spider living under my house is so big that one can hear hum walk! Thump thump thump!
Phoenix.Vlad
Yes I didn't quet understand how at this early age you can be in such a big debt that he put him self as an item on Yahoo auction. That wird and surprising at the same time, hope he makes it throgh.
kurisupisu
A homeless man with an Internet account,bank account,personal computer,camera etc
Hmmmm.......
nath
Kurisupisu.
You obviously think of homeless as people with no skills or resources that are all drunks, etc. Epic fail.
One of the top anime writer gals in Japan now was discovered when she was homeless and she is no very rich and runs her own companies. All due to dedication and hard work.
cramp
apparently you're not familiar with the japanese metrosexual
nath
Healthy male for his height and weight, myself 178cm and tipping the scale at 68kg. Check any BMI or BFI calculator.
Nessie
Let's hope this guy does not wake up one kidney poorer.
kurisupisu
Where can a homeless man plug in a computer? Keep possessions? Registering for yahoo requires an address etc This story is a bit of hype!
nath
Kurisupiso.
Again limited knowledge and understanding, many homeless can afford to spend nights at an internet cafe and a friends address will do.
You still way too hooked on that homeless have no support or means.
Kobuta Chan
Is he lazy or has mental illness? Foreigners from third world countries come to Japan and working in Restaurant or Factory whatever they can get job in Japan. They never sleep in park or under the bridge except during Iranians occupied Ueno Park in early 1990. Why this Japanese young man can't work in Restaurant or Factory for living? Everywhere I visited in South East Asia peoples will say Japanese peoples are very lucky and rich. I said no, all Japanese peoples are not rich and they have to work hard for living. In Japan, we have to wake up 5 O’clock in the morning and we come back home night 9 O’clock but some peoples have to work until 10 or 11. We can not live like what peoples living and working like here. I should have said except some lazy Japanese not work hard and sleep in the park. He is a lazy parson if he was not sick. Nihon no Haji.
BurakuminDes
@ It'sMe - this 57kg bloke may be within the "healthy weight range" according to the BMI - but in the absence of any photo I'd hazard a guess he resembles a bag of bones with not a muscle on him. And far from healthy. I actually hope the story is a prank - it's pretty pathetic if true!
nath
True that BMI don't consider that muscle weighs more than fat per gram.
DELTA440
Can i buy him and he be mailed to Osaka LOL i would perfer express mail thank you
badsey3
-Sold !!
= Should have made the auction a "buy me (it) now" type.