Rental family service explained

A or professional stand-in service provides clients with actor(s) who portray friends, family members, or coworkers for social events such as weddings, or to provide platonic companionship. The service was first offered in Japan during the early 1990s.

History

The earliest known rental family service was offered by Japan Efficiency Corporation (Nihon Kokasei Honbu) starting in the fall of 1991. Japan Efficiency, run by Satsuki Oiwa, was started in 1987 to train corporate employees, but after hearing complaints about unsatisfactory relationships, began to also offer professional actors for "soft service — reaching others with a sympathetic heart". By May 1992, Japan Efficiency had a roster of 21 clients, a waiting list of 84 more, and more than 400 applicants for professional stand-ins.[1]

Some of the rental family agencies felt the services offered were uniquely suited to aspects of Japanese culture such as saving face and social etiquette,[2] [3] but the practice has since spread to other countries. Wedding guest rentals started in the late 1990s in South Korea, which offers a similar cultural desire to offer a public image of doing well. Korean rental services expanded to broader roles in the 2000s.[4] In 2007, the Super-grandparents site was created in France to match children with surrogate grandparents for terms varying from one month to one year.[5] After reading a 2009 news article regarding the service, Scott Rosenbaum founded the United States-based Rent-a-Friend in October 2009, a worldwide service which provides paying subscribers with contact information for local platonic companions who can be hired at rates set by the companion.[6]

By 2009, there were around ten rental family service agencies in Japan.[7] In 2010, CNN reported that some Chinese companies were hiring foreigners to serve as ersatz employees and partners, implying the presence of overseas business connections. The practice was known as "White Guy Window Dressing", "White Guy in a Tie", or a "Face Job" by the actors being hired.[8] [9] Companies are able to encourage real estate investment because the mere presence of foreigners outside the major cities imply that region is attracting international attention.[10]

Some personal advertisements in China offered rental services to serve as partners so the client's parents would not worry about their continued single status, especially at holidays.[11] [12] The legal status of such rentals is questionable in China, where it is legal to offer services and labor, but the "body [cannot be rented] as the subject of a [business] contract". Some of the friend rental platforms were noted to potentially facilitate prostitution, which is illegal in China.[13]

Service examples

Office Agents, a Tokyo-based company, offered wedding guests at a base price of each in 2009, charging an additional for the professional guest to sing or dance, and an additional for a heartfelt speech. For one wedding, which was the groom's second marriage, Office Agents provided all thirty family, friend, and coworker guests of the groom, who did not want to invite the same people from his first marriage. The company stated it received 100 wedding requests per year and could call on a group of 1,000 actors.[14]

The company Family Romance launched the "Real Appeal" service in 2017. "Real Appeal" provided clients with actors to pose with the client in photographs meant to be shared later on social media. The cost for each actor was per hour, with a two-hour minimum, and all travel expenses were borne by the client. The service was designed to boost the client's perceived popularity.[15]

Although the phenomenon of social isolation (hikikomori) is well-publicized in Japan and some families have hired rental friends to break that isolation,[16] other clients are not withdrawn but are merely seeking a relationship not defined by societal expectations, i.e., a sympathetic or confessional ear.[17]

Family Romance also offers a wedding service, which is staged two or three times a year at a cost of . In some cases, the rental includes guests and groom.[18]

Another company, Ikemeso Takkyūbin, offers a service to induce people to cry, thereby achieving a sense of catharsis. The name of the company translates to "handsome men weeping delivery" or "tear couriers", as their first service offered was a ceremony to mark the end of a marriage, and their female clientele felt their emotions were heightened by an attractive man to wipe away their tears.[19]

Commentary

David McNeill wrote, for The Independent, the loss of lifetime employment opportunities had broken professional relationships, where "many companies were family-like affairs where workers spent most of their lives and knew their bosses" and family life in Japan had similarly fractured: "A growing number of people are putting off marriage or children and leading atomised, lonely lives in cramped urban apartments." In 1992, Erma Bombeck wrote about Japan Efficiency and drew parallels to the decline of family relationships in America, noting "There was a time in the world when we acknowledged that we needed one another and we had responsibilities toward these needs. [...] Now we are independent of one another and too busy to deal with one another's problems."[20]

In popular culture

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Culture: Want a Family? In Japan, You Can Rent One: Tokyo company blurs the line between reality and fantasy with professional stand-ins for relatives . Watanabe, Teresa . 12 May 1992 . Los Angeles Times . 16 November 2017.
  2. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=5Jt_AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA117 . Shrinking the News: Headline Stories on the Couch . Covington, Coline . 2014 . 29: The fear behind Japan's flourishing rent-a-friend business . Karnac Books . London, England . 978-1-78220-095-6 . 117–119 . 17 November 2017.
  3. News: In Japan, "rental families" provide wisdom and solace at an hourly rate . Diaz, Adriana . 6 May 2017 . CBS News . 17 November 2017.
  4. News: Need Fake Friends For Your Wedding? In S. Korea, You Can Hire Them . Hu, Elise . 5 August 2015 . National Public Radio . 17 November 2017.
  5. Web site: Le tour du monde des idées de business. Plus jamais seul. Ou comment se louer une famille ou des amis. . Brunet-Mbappe, Anne . 25 July 2013 . Les Echos Entrepreneurs . 16 November 2017.
  6. The Borrowers . Marx, Patricia . 31 January 2011 . The New Yorker . 16 November 2017.
  7. News: Lonely Japanese find solance in 'rent a friend' agencies . McCurry, Justin . 20 September 2009 . The Guardian . 16 November 2017.
  8. News: Chinese companies 'rent' white foreigners . Farrar, Lara . 29 June 2010 . CNN . 17 November 2017.
  9. Rent a White Guy . Moxley, Mitch . July–August 2010 . The Atlantic . 17 November 2017.
  10. News: Op-Doc: 'Rent a Foreigner in China' . Borenstein, David . 28 April 2015 . The New York Times . 17 November 2017.
  11. News: Have you rented a boyfriend for the Spring Festival? . Yan, Wu . 18 January 2017 . China Daily . 17 November 2017.
  12. News: China girlfriend rental app gets leg up from Lunar New Year demand . Xu, Muyu . Woo, Ryan . 26 January 2017 . Thomson Reuters . Reuters . 17 November 2017.
  13. News: In China, People Aren't for Sale, but They Are for Rent . Xie, Jiayan . 12 April 2016 . Foreign Policy . 17 November 2017.
  14. News: Tokyo firm rents fake family, friends for weddings . Kubota, Yoko . 8 June 2009 . Reuters . Thomson Reuters . 16 November 2017.
  15. News: Japanese company offers fake friends photo service to help customers look popular on social media . Baseel, Casey . 13 March 2017 . RocketNews24 . 16 November 2017.
  16. News: How to hire friends and influence people . McNeill, David . 13 October 2009 . The Independent . 17 November 2017.
  17. News: Japanese middle-aged 'rent men' paid just to listen to people afraid of being judged . 22 July 2016 . ABC Australia . 16 November 2017.
  18. Letter from Tokyo: Japan's Rent-a-Family Industry . Batuman, Elif . 30 April 2018 . The New Yorker . 16 May 2018.
  19. News: See Why Japanese Women Are Paying to Cry with a 'Handsome' Man . https://web.archive.org/web/20180116070939/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/01/japan-crying-culture-women-handsome/ . dead . January 16, 2018 . Somvichian-Clausen, Austa . 15 January 2018 . National Geographic . 16 May 2018.
  20. News: Families are bigger and more important than ourselves . Bombeck, Erma . Erma Bombeck . 4 June 1992 . Desert News . 17 November 2017.

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