7 Interesting Facts About the 'Family Rental' Business in Japan You Should Know

kapanlagi 06 Oct 2020 18:45

Kapanlagi.com - Not everyone can make peace with loneliness, whether it means being alone without a partner or even without a family. Someone can be depressed and even worse, commit suicide because of it. And that is one of the social problems often encountered in Japan.

Based on that fact, a man named Yuichi Ishi came up with the idea to create a company called 'Family Romance' that operates in the family member rental business, whether it's a wife, husband, mother, father, or even a child. Yuichi revealed various things about the industry when exclusively interviewed by the Youtube channel ASIAN BOSS.

"My name is Yuichi Ishi and I am the CEO of 'Family Romance'. We rent out family members and friends to anyone who needs help. I have been working here for 9 years. There are about 2000 employees here," said Yuichi.

1. Reasons Why Someone Hires a Family

Some of you may be wondering, what is the need to hire 'fake' family members? Yuichi explains some examples of reasons why many Japanese people use their services.

"There are many reasons why people want to rent a family. For example, some people suddenly need rented parents for their wedding because their real parents refuse to acknowledge them. In such situations, the clients decide to use the father and mother for rent that we provide to attend the event," said Yuichi.

Another common reason when a client hires family members is because they want to eliminate the feeling of loneliness after being left by their original family members.

2. Family Rental Prices

Credit: Youtube - ASIAN BOSS

To the ASIAN BOSS team, Yuichi also didn't hesitate to reveal the prices for renting family members from his company. It turns out that the calculation is per 4 hours.

"US$ 180 (or equivalent to IDR 2.6 million) for 4 hours. If the client wants to extend the time, the price is US$ 45 (or equivalent to IDR 600 thousand) per hour," added Yuichi.

3. Babies are Also Rented

Interestingly, Family Romance also rents babies. But don't misunderstand, there are several special requirements that clients must fulfill if they want to rent a baby.

"Actually, there are people who rent babies. But we don't rent babies directly. So basically, the mother of the baby is already our employee, and because she gave birth, she also wants to involve her baby in the rental service. It should be noted that there are several special requirements if you want to rent the baby. If someone wants to rent the baby, then the mother must also be rented," added Yuichi.

4. No Intimate Relationships Allowed

Credit: Youtube - ASIAN BOSS

For rental cases involving married couples, there are certainly several limitations that must be adhered to by both the client and the employee, especially in terms of skinship or intimate relationships.

"Holding hands is allowed, but nothing more than that. And holding hands is mostly for renting a boyfriend or girlfriend. But more than holding hands, like hugging, it is not allowed," Yuichi emphasized.

5. Specific Requests from Clients

What's unique is that the client can also request the qualities of the person they will hire. So if they want a gentle, firm, or understanding husband, it can all be accommodated by 'Family Romance'.

"In some cases, the client will fill out a request form about the ideal partner they want. And based on their request, sometimes we have to act like a strict father, or a gentle father, it's all acting. But from the client's perspective, we are the perfect family, so they feel like they want us to stay forever," added Yuichi.

6. Staff Prohibited from Marrying Clients

Credit: Youtube - ASIAN BOSS

According to Yuichi's confession, there are also some cases where the staff working for him actually falls in love with the client they are hired by. In the end, they become a real family. Although they are happy, Yuichi reluctantly has to terminate the employment contract of that staff member, because it is company policy.

"One day he told me that he was going to marry the client. My honest opinion was, well, it's okay. But from the company's point of view, that is not allowed," he continued.

7. Reasons to Start a Family Rental Business

Last but not least, Yuichi shared the reasons why he started the family rental business and how it has grown to its current size. Apparently, there was a past experience that made him think about taking action to improve what he considered to be wrong.

"When I was 24 years old, I had a friend who was a single mother. She wanted to enroll her child in a special kindergarten. But because the child was from a single mother, no kindergarten wanted to accept or even interview him. And when I heard that, I got the idea of family rental with the hope of correcting things that are wrong in our customs. And that's the reason why Family Romance was formed," Yuichi concluded.