I earn 80 thousand dollars as a “nothing” friend for rent for lonely people: “I do it for payment, not friends”

His ability to do nothing is to do something to end loneliness.

To combat the “single virus,” a public health crisis wreaking havoc on the mental well-being of friendless people around the world, creatives in the Big Apple and beyond are dreaming up unique ways to meet mates.

But Shoji Morimoto is only in the business of making friends for money.

“[I] will never be friends with people who [hire me],” Morimoto, 40, a fellow Japan-based rental professional, told travel YouTuber Drew Binsky, 33.

Using an English-speaking translator, a friend-for-pay who earns $80,000 a year as a “do-nothing guy” in Tokyo, doubled down on his refusal to really befriend any of his regular customers.

“Every time they pay,” said Morimoto, a married father who started renting from hermits in 2018.

He paid over 1,000 of his clients, domestic and foreign from the US, about $100 for just two to three hours of his “hard” escort. And homie-for-hire services rarely involve interactivity or intelligible conversation.

Instead, Morimoto’s quiet work is simply rooted in stemming the spread of Hikikomori syndrome—an extreme form of social withdrawal due to chronic loneliness—in Asia.

Called a “global phenomenon” by clinical psychology researchers from the Netherlands in a 2023 study, hikikomori, or “extreme social withdrawal” (ESW), can severely hinder a person’s mental, social and developmental growth.

The findings support a July 2023 report from Japan’s Kyushu University, which found that loneliness actually shrinks the victim’s brain and causes a variety of physical health problems.

“Social isolation has been associated with premature mortality, increased risk of coronary heart disease and stroke, increased reporting of depressive symptoms, and increased risk of dementia,” the experts said in a statement.

The World Health Organization has also labeled loneliness an “urgent health threat” with risks as deadly as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.

And like Morimoto, West Country woman Isabella Epstein, 25, is doing her part to stop the madness.

The genius Gen Z makes dinner reservations at NYC hot spots and invites random girls on the internet to join her for a bite.

Self-proclaimed “people” Ty and Felecia Freely from Brooklyn host “Tap Lectures” nights at bars, welcoming fellow diners to enjoy some spirits and an educational talk delivered by college professors.

But there aren’t many bells and whistles (or beer) for Morimoto’s customers. They only benefit from his company.

But the watchman vows to stick with his tenants, no matter how weird they choose to act.

In his book, The Do-Nothing Hired Person, Morimoto recalled being hired to watch a woman snooping on her husband’s secret online dating profiles.

“She screamed (as in her DM) every 10 minutes or so,” Morimoto wrote. “At one stage, she made a mistake with an app, clicking ‘Like’ on a man she wanted to pass.”

“She stared up at the ceiling and looked very upset.”

And while chatting with Binsky, Morimoto laughed that he was once hired to watch a woman eat torn pieces of paper like rice.

“She [was] so funny,” he said.

In early 2024, Morimoto started a side business called People Who Rent Nothing, for singles who need a plus-1 for a specific task, such as shopping or video games. Instead of paying rental fees, customers seeking these services simply cover their own travel and food expenses.

And he plans to continue the good work for years to come.

“I’m very happy,” Morimoto said of his work. “No stress.”