Never Too Late: ‘Old Guys’ For Hire in Japan

Middle-aged men rentals offer friendship for lonely souls

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Ossan Rental

'Old guy' Takanobu Nishimoto could be yours for a reasonable $10 an hour.

When it comes to kooky rental services, Japan has it all:  hot young butlers, girls’ thighs as ad space and now, middle-aged men.

It’s still early days for Ossan Rental (‘Old Guy’ Rental), the startup company that offers the service, and only two mature gents are so far on its books. One is Takanobu Nishimoto, a 46-year-old fashion lecturer from Osaka, and the other is 65-year-old retired baseball player Mikio Sendou from Gifu.

For $10 an hour, they’ll  run your errands, accompany you on shopping trips, play games or simply have a good chat.  (And just to be clear, they’ll perform those tasks in a purely platonic way.)

According to Japan’s Rental Share site (via Kotaku), more than 50 people have used Ossan Rental since the end of July. Unsurprisingly, seven out of ten customers were female, and many used the service more than once.