In Japan, a man rents himself out

Morimoto commits to “doing nothing” and basically just gives back-channel feedback when someone speaks to him. “I myself don’t like to be cheered on by others. I get upset when people simply tell me keep on trying. When someone is trying to do something, I think the best thing to do is to help lower the bar for them by staying at their side,” he explains.

This story is so quintessentially Japanese. I doubt if the same concept would work in another culture without being corrupted in some way.