My friend Koichi, founder of the Japanese culture website Tofugu, went to Tokyo to “rent” Kotani Makoto for ¥50 (45 cents). Kotani became homeless in 2013, and is now famous in Japan. Read Koichi’s article about the experience here.
“Do you sleep on the street?” I asked between bites of salmon and rice.
“I haven’t done that in a while now,” Kotani said. “Only the first couple months was spent on the streets. That first month was tough. I used my phone to write about my homeless life on Twitter and it got a little popular. I also tried to get some part-time jobs, but the interviews didn’t go so well. Then Nishino-san suggested I sell myself for ¥50 per day, so I did.”
At first, Kotani-san was skeptical of how it would work out. But then, he noticed something: people felt guilty about renting him for only ¥50. He would do a favor for someone for basically no money at all, so his “customers” would buy him food, and sometimes offer their couch or floor to sleep on.
Kotani would do something for them and they wanted to return the favor. He ate more than ever before and gained a lot of weight. Then he tweeted that he couldn’t fit in his pants because he got fat. One of his followers bought him new pants.
“I have this ‘worldwide family’ now,” he said. Kotani looked at each of us in turn. “Either I’d become friends with someone who rented me and at the end of the evening they’d offer to let me stay at their place, or I’d ask on social media and someone would offer. I’d be like: ‘Is there anyone who can let me stay over tonight?’ There are so many good people in the world.”