A Japanese company is raising eyebrows for connecting customers to “scary people” they can rent to intimidate others or scare off potential bullies.
Japan is home to all manner of quirky businesses, from hotels staffed by robots to monster-themed cafes and more, but one newly-founded rental service is drawing concerns from onlookers.
In Japan, it’s not unusual to come across services that let customers ‘rent’ a person. For instance, the upcoming Brendan Frasier movie ‘Rental Family‘ sees the A-List star portray a struggling actor who’s hired to play a stand-in role in customers’ lives — and it’s based on real practices.
The country boasts several businesses that let you ‘rent’ people, such as an elderly person or even a regular friend, to do housework or provide companionship. A newly-formed people-renting service, though, has a decidedly less friendly vibe.
‘Scary person’ rental company sparks concern in Japan
The company, named Rental Kowaihito, lets customers ‘rent’ an intimidating-looking person to help them seem unapproachable. The business’s name, ‘Kowaihito,’ is a combination of the words ‘scary’ and ‘person’ — but rather than Halloween scare actors, they’re essentially offering up folks who look like they could be involved with the Yakuza.
Boasting shaved heads, visible tattoos, and scars, Rental Kowaihito’s ‘scary people’ are advertised to help with a variety of situations, including scaring off “people who bully you in the workplace,” “neighbors who continue to be noisy no matter how much you tell them to be quiet,” and “trouble with men or women involved in cheating or extramarital affairs.”
In fact, Rental Kowaihito’s website even suggests using their services to help intimidate people to whom you’ve loaned money to pay you back without having to take the matter to small claims court.
In another scenario, the company says their ‘scary people’ could be useful for a woman confronting the person her boyfriend has been cheating with to get them to back off.
‘Rental Kowaihito’ advertises ‘scary people’ that customers can rent to help resolve unpleasant situations – but it’s caused a stir online.
Unsurprisingly, these examples have sparked a debate on Japanese social media, with Japanese news outlet SoraNews24 reporting concerns from onlookers that such a service feels like hiring the mob and possibly even skirts the law.
“Is this even legal?” one commenter wrote, while another outright compared them to the Yakuza.
“They’re pretty blasé about intimidation being their method of choice, but did anyone there do a legal compliance check on that?” another asked.
Identifying information about the company’s whereabouts and registration were scarce online, with the service asking potential clients to contact them via Line, a social media app.
However, in late August, the business’s website posted a message saying their services had ended “due to various circumstances.” It’s unclear if the law caught up to them, or if they finally thought better of trying to skirt the legal system.
This is the latest Japanese company to go viral online after a pharmaceutical center offered to pay people up to 5,000 Yen ($34 USD) to provide them with “healthy” feces for medical research.
