The Post recaps the latest odd news from Asia, featuring a phone call and text messaging service for lonely people, an “ugly man” who rents himself to women, and a middle-aged man whose carefree dancing went viral.
TikToker offers ‘sleep call’
A Malaysian TikToker who goes by the pseudonym “Embunn” has launched a creative business on the platform to provide solace to the isolated through phone calls and text messages.
According to a list of the prices, Embunn offers a “sleep call” service with a range of prices based on the time of the call.
For 5 ringgit (US$1), Embunn will call a client for one hour and 10 ringgit for two to three hours or until the person falls asleep.
“Feeling lonely? You have me,” they wrote in the post.
Other services include a one-day “unlimited package”, in which the client receives as many messages and calls as they want for 24 hours. It costs 15 ringgit a day and is intended to show the love and care of a long-distance lover.
People can also hire a person from the account to play online games with them for 5 ringgit an hour.
One of the price advertisement posts has 75,000 views and 2,300 likes.
Ugly man for rent
A Japanese man has found success running a business he calls “rental busaiku” or “not-so-good-looking guy for rent.”
Former comedian Rui Shinohara, 34, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, in 2020 that he started renting himself out to those who wanted to use the services of an “ugly man”.
The offerings include having an average-looking guy nearby for men who want to stand out at group blind dates, or getting hired by women who want to rehearse for their dates with good-looking men.
He also suggested he could be available for fashion brands who need ugly models.
Shinohara added that customers could “bully the ugly man, but not too much”.
His post received 36,000 likes and 30 service requests after posting the tweet.
Shinohara said he had to close the business when the number of customers fell dramatically because of Covid-19. During the pandemic, he moved to the Philippines because of the more affordable cost of living, but he moved back to Japan after a year due to immense work pressure.
Shinohara restarted his ugly man rental service after returning to Japan. He now charges 10,000 yen (US$62) for between two and three hours of his time, and clients must pay for food and transport costs.
Hip-swinging dancing man
A middle-aged Chinese man gained widespread attention online for his unique square dancing technique during a class, where he jiggled his beer belly and swayed his hips without inhibition.
Despite his athletic movements, he looked so “out of tune” with his environment that there were rumours he was “taking the dance class on behalf of his daughter who had lost interest”.
The man from central China’s Shanxi province, surnamed Wang, told Chinese media outlet Zonglan News on July 3 that the rumours were not true and that he was simply a man who “loves square dancing”.
Wang signed up for the class himself and said he loved it as it helps him deal with his work pressure, activate his muscles and refresh his spirit.
