Would You Rent a Homeless Man for 47 Cents?

The true story of a successful vagrant

I’m always fascinated by cultural outliers. I like stories that fall outside the norm. No one is normal, so I light up by someone who bucks the system. It also makes me wonder if I’m living authentically.

After reading about this guy who chose homelessness as an occupation, I considered the root of homelessness and why it makes everyone so skittery. Not the most comfortable of topics, but one I think about a lot.

Rent a homeless person?

It must be some kind of joke, right? While it’s true that a Japanese man named Kotani Makoto works as a professional, rent-for -hire, homeless person, don’t feel too sorry for him. It’s also true that he is a former, failed comedian. Furthermore, it was a colleague, a more successful and popular comedian who came up with the idea in the first place.

Their mutual living arrangement was supposed to be temporary, to produce some jokes and laughs, and to share rent; but it never worked out. Makoto couldn’t come up with his rent, and he was so messy and unpredictable, that his roommate suggested homelessness as an occupation. Not a joke.

It wasn’t too long before Kotani had become popular on Twitter, where he documents his life to this day. He started having fun being homeless. People started hiring him for odd jobs. Meals and a place to sleep usually came with the job. If not, Kotani turned to Twitter and asked if anyone nearby had a place to crash. The first few months were hard, but then he started getting regular gigs. Today, he’s so busy that he even double-books many days, and no one seems to care.

So here’s the deal: for 50 yen, plus transportation costs, Kotani will show up, no questions asked, and do whatever you want, except anything illegal or anything that “hurts another person.”

It’s absurd, maybe, but is it mean?

Here’s this inept, but decent man who’s terrible at hacking the real-life rules that keep the rest of us between the rails. But, he’s successful. He’s figured out a way to do a variety of things every day, meet interesting people, and have fun. All he has to do is keep his online scheduler going, make jokes, and smile while trying to make people happy. He’s even a philanthropist. Because he has some extra.

His community is what gives him security and, in a sense, a home.

This guy is kind of brilliant.

Discussing homelessness with kids

When my kids were little, we kept clean socks, granola bars, and toiletries in the car for the times when we met a panhandler at off-ramps and street corners. We talked about homelessness, how sometimes all it takes is one stupid, small thing and suddenly your life falls apart.

Our kids pretty much had it made, and they didn’t understand how life can throw you for a loop. But even at a young age, it’s hard to ignore when something’s off.

Parents, back me up on this… if you think you can get by with avoiding eye contact with the guy holding a sign at the corner while a Disney tune bebops through the car — you don’t.

I was proud of Katie when, as a second-grader, she said you should always ask a homeless person her name, because “maybe it’s been all day that no one knew her name.”

This is at the heart of the tragedy that is homelessness. Unlike Kotani, the famous, Japanese, rent-for-hire, homeless guy; most people without homes also don’t have a community to call their own. No one knows their names.

Cleaning up

When her 7th-grade class’ service project was to clean up trash at Zilker Park, Katie was aghast when her schoolmates dragged someone’s sleeping bag and daily supplies up a hill and through the trees for disposal. Some kids had found a homeless person’s camp deep in the woods. In the spirit of “cleaning up the park,” they dismantled it.

“The idiots wrecked someone’s home!” Katie yelled as we (nice mortgaged people) drove home in our minivan. I couldn’t console her. The damage had been done. Her memory of the day was ruined. She understood that someone out there would be screwed that night, and maybe for a long time to come. Security is hard to come by in the woods, as well as the streets.

How do you direct a kid’s anguish toward something constructive to society? Homelessness is messy; “cleaning it up” doesn’t make it go away. I didn’t know how to answer her frustration. I nurtured an artist, not an activist. I have regrets of my own.

Some kids had found a homeless person’s camp deep in the woods. In the spirit of “cleaning up the park,” they dismantled it.

Housing will never solve homelessness, but Community will.

I wonder if more people could work out a lifestyle arrangement as well as this man, Kotani-san? From the outside looking in, his homeless lifestyle fulfills him. It makes me a little nervous, though, because I have kids and lots of stuff. Like most other settled-in folks, even if I could magically shed that baggage, even if I wanted to, I’m not sure this is as easy to pull off as he makes it look.

Many homeless people have other problems that would make a 47-cent day gig impossible. There are addiction and mental health issues rampant among the homeless. And most people are not as charming as Kotani.

There are ways to help, even if the worry never entirely goes away

Dignity is at the center. When I didn’t own a car, back in the 80s, I walked and learned the names of a few of the friendly street people in Lincoln, NE. We talked about books and art. A couple of my homeless friends were funny and creative, or talented. I always had change. I asked one woman why she didn’t take shelter at the shelter on cold nights. “People are weird there, ” she said.

I realize as I write this that I’m probably about the age she was then.

Many women have a fear of becoming homeless. After my divorce, I tried to set myself up in a living arrangement I could manage myself no matter what happened. I downsized from a too-large house and laid plans to start a new business.

A lot has happened since then, including the death of my daughter, the failure of a massage business just getting off the ground when the pandemic hit, and both sons moving back in with me. I consider myself lucky to have a home, despite all that. Not everyone is so lucky.

Renting a homeless person might be less a charity-case, and more a gift you give yourself.

Look them in the eye

Why do we always think the answer to someone else’s problem is whatever we choose for ourselves? Embracing diversity is appreciating that, while most people don’t’ choose to be homeless, not all people thrive in homes, either. Having a home is great for most people, but for some others, a free lifestyle just works better.

James Altucher spent a year living without a home. He’s somewhat famous for that because no one thinks a smart, funny, writer/investor/podcast host would choose homelessness, and 11 possessions to his name. He wrote a book called Choose Yourself. Being homeless for a while worked for him and gave a lot of other people ideas for living unconventional, fulfilling lives.

Many people desperately want homes and will do whatever it takes to make one. In Austin, there’s a 53-acre tract of land called Community First! started by Alan Graham to serve the chronically homeless. When it was just starting to be developed, my 14-year-old and I camped there for a night and helped clear a path down to a large oak tree, which would become a chapel of sorts. [Full disclosure: The group we were with kept stopping every few hours to pray the Divine Mercies, which drove both my daughter and me nuts. We left a day early.] Today it is a thriving community.

The organization behind this place is called Mobile Loaves and Fishes. I’ve always thought feeding the hungry is the easiest charity to get behind. “Feed the hungry. Shelter the Homeless.” There’s more than one way to do that.

Nevermind the religion behind it, the theme is Community. Community is something (almost) all of us want.

If you think you can get by with avoiding eye contact with the guy holding a sign at the corner while a Disney tune bebops through the car — you don’t.

The world he calls home

The comedian friend saw that his new buddy was incapable of managing things on his own, in a house. This man, Kotani Makoto, was messy. He couldn’t pay rent, he left the water running, tracked dirt in, and he was late for everything. There was something wrong there. Living in a conventional apartment didn’t suit him. Thank goodness for friends and the Internet.

He couldn’t have known everything would work out as well as it did, but it couldn’t have been a better move for Kotani-san.

At the time this post was published, he was married to a woman who originally hired him to play chase with friends in a train station. He enjoyed people; he traveled a lot; he donated money and time; he was “fat ugly, middle-aged, poor, and dirty” (his words), but he [didn’t] try to change those things.” And he was happy spreading happiness.

His clothes are gifts given by whomever. His cell phone and data are paid by an ongoing, steadfast patron. When someone pays for meals (it’s kind of expected), flies him to another country, and offers him a bed, he acts surprised and says thank you. His appreciation is enough, and people who have generously funded him say they get more than they give. Renting a homeless person might be less a charity-case, and more a gift you give yourself.

This is a person who is free and has no borders that confine him. He has traveled all over the world. He once was hired by a woman who just needed someone to talk to, “because she was having a rough week;” and another to pose nude for an artist drawing session. (It was awkward, but he got through it.) Another woman invited him to paint canvases with her in a public park. Someone wrote a book about him, but Kotani admitted he was too lazy to read it.

His community is what gives him security and, in a sense, a home. It may not be your or my definition of a home, but I think this guy’s got it made.