What do you do when you're a grandparent whose children and grandchildren don't come to see you much any more? If you feel overcome by loneliness and sadness? A Japanese entrepreneur realised that his country had a great number in this situation and decided to offer a service that would bring relief by fantasy. For the staggering sum of 150,000 yen, his company, NKH, will provide three trained "stand-in family members" for a three-hour period.
Does he get clients easily? He certainly does-and always has a good number on his waiting list! "Rent-a-family" works like this: The hired actors play the roles of children, grandchildren, daughters and sons-in-law-whatever the clients require. Normally, says NKH president Karoru Inoue, they just sit around and talk, but often the clients berate their "pretend" children for leaving them so alone and sad.
Why has this unusual scheme caught on? Mr Inoue's convinced reply is an indictment of our inhuman society: "There are lots of old people who feel sad because everyone is chasing money and no one is paying attention to the human spirit."
Source: Found in Catherine Hammond, Stories to Hold An Audience
Applications: family, community, loneliness, materialism, values, priorities