
A clever solution to a seemingly impossible problem.
While in some countries people like to keep their professional and romantic lives completely separate, in Japan there’s no shortage of people who find the love of their life among their coworkers. For many single office workers, the idea of shanai renai (“in-company romance”) is appealingly idealistic, what with a couple being able to see each other coolly and competently handling the challenges of their job, with a secret mutual glance or subtle smile putting a spring in their steps until they’re out of the office and can be more openly affectionate.
Unfortunately, Japanese Twitter user Linen Kuramochi’s (@linenkuramochi) furtive desire for an office romance hit a snag. The problem isn’t that she doesn’t have a boyfriend, though. The problem is that she doesn’t have a job.
【日記】無職だけど彼氏と社内恋愛がしたすぎて気が狂いそうだったので、大学の入学式ぶりにスーツに袖を通し、往復2時間の所にある彼氏の会社にお弁当持って押し掛けて一緒にランチだけして帰ってきた 社員証も作った、無職だけど pic.twitter.com/dTFXBQvfKt
— 倉持リネン/linen kuramochi (@linenkuramochi) April 15, 2021
But there’s no obstacle that the power of love can’t overcome, and so Kuramochi figured out how to make her shanai renai dream come true. She may not have a job, but she does have business apparel, in the form of her suit that she wore to her college entrance ceremony.
It still fits fine, so she slipped it on, and then moved on to the next stage of her plan: making an imitation employee badge.
Kuramochi then made the one-hour commute to her boyfriend’s office. She showed up and got ahold of him right as he was about to start his lunch break and let him know that she’d made a bento boxed lunch for both of them…
…so the two of them found a bench in a nearby garden and enjoyed the kind of intimate lovey-dovey-coworkers lunch that Kuramochi had been fantasizing about.
Kuramochi’s clever, creative lunch date plan earned her applause from other Twitter users, who’ve left comments like:
“So sweet!”
“I wish someone loved me this much.”
“You really put a lot of thought into this. I’d be so happy if someone did this for me.”
“This is so cool! I’m gonna do this for my girlfriend.”
As a side note, while Kuramochi describes herself as “not having a job,” that’s just in the nine-to-five sense, as she’s an aspiring painter with an Instagram account, website, and online store.
東京は梅雨入りだって〜☔ pic.twitter.com/5bo3cz8X5Q
— 倉持リネン/linen kuramochi (@linenkuramochi) June 11, 2020
It’s also worth pointing out that Kuramochi’s employee badge isn’t an actual attempted forgery, as the company name is presented as SDS, being an acronym for “S Dai Suki” (“I love S,” that being the first letter of her boyfriend’s name). But while the badge may be fake, her affection is genuine, as proven by the fact that, according to her badge, she’s the CEO of SDS.
Source: Twitter/@linenkuramochi via Citrus via Livedoor News
Images: Twitter/@linenkuramochi
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