This is the story of Shoji Mori Moto, a Japanese man who earns 80,000 dollars (over 2.2 million Pakistani rupees) every year without doing much at all. In 2018, he was fired from his job, with the company stating that he was useless. Since then, Shoji, now 41, has been making more money than many others without working. He is known in Japan as the ‘Do Nothing Guy.’
His job is simple: he rents himself out to strangers who just want someone to talk to or need someone to wait in line for them. He doesn’t have to do much, though occasionally he may have to be a little active. For example, once, someone asked him to wait at the finish line of a marathon, or sometimes, he helps someone get through boring tasks like home renovations or cleaning by making a video call.
Shoji’s work mostly involves doing nothing. In an interview, he mentioned that sometimes he ends up in difficult situations, such as standing in long queues in the hot sun or enduring freezing cold for hours. He said, “I enjoy this job, no matter the circumstances.” One time, he had to sit on a train line for 17 hours. He listens to people share their life experiences, but he responds minimally, usually with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no.’
He receives around a thousand requests every year, and his clients decide how much to pay him. Typically, he charges between 10,000 to 30,000 yen (17,000 to 53,000 Pakistani rupees) for 2 to 3 hours of his time. In Japan, loneliness is a significant issue, and many people hire Shoji Mori Moto for company.
