In Japan You Can “Rent” Grandmas to Mediate Disputes, Break Up with Your Boyfriend, and More

In Japan You Can “Rent” Grandmas to Mediate Disputes, Break Up with Your Boyfriend, and More

The popular series Rent-A-Girlfriend introduced many Westerners to the idea of “renting” people for various jobs in Japan. But are you familiar with a new system where you can rent grandmas?

The business (which is officially titled OK Obaachan) comes to us from Client Partners, which is dedicated to helping women find jobs (and hence no grandpa rentals from them). Older women might not only face sexism in the workplace, but also ageism, so Client Partners wants to make sure women are employed if they want to be.

Renting a grandma costs 3,300 yen (about $22) to take care of her transportation costs, and from there she is paid 3,300 yen each hour she’s working. The grandmas range in age from 60 to 94. So far approximately 100 ladies have signed up for the job.

So what might someone hire a grandma for? Lots of things, just as real grandmas take care of lots of things.

Here are some of the duties the rental grandmothers have done so far:

• Helped a woman break up with her boyfriend
• Helped a man tell his parents that he’s gay
• Babysat
• Helped with good penmanship
• Mediated to settle disputes
• Cooking lessons
• Talked about what things have happened and changed in Japan over the years

SoraNews24 shared some of the online responses from Japanese netizens after learning about this business. Here’s a sampling:

“These days, there are a lot of healthy people in their 60s. They can still do a lot.”
“Do they hire in the countryside? I’m over 60 and am interested.”
“The ones going out to breakups should get hazard pay too.”
“All of these people-rental businesses make me uneasy.”
“I think it’s important to feel needed.”
“I would be too worried my grandma would fall down or something.”

Do you think there might someday be a manga/anime called Rent-A-Grandma?

Source: SoraNews24

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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.