While share houses have been a long-time staple of students, millennials and singles in the West, they have struggled to pick up the pace in Japan. Now, however, business is booming and attitudes are changing. Today, the market is filled with options for dorm spaces as well as shared and private rooms, often with a common living room, kitchen and bathroom.
The popularity of the recently revived Terrace House shows the modern, beautiful youth of Japan living in a trendy house — finding friends, romance and support from people they would never normally meet. Inspiring a generation struggling with loneliness in single apartments and 80-hour work weeks, the market is changing.
Offering plenty of perks to renters, share house numbers are growing rapidly in Tokyo as younger people shake off the negative associations often held dear by those of the prior generations and begin to see the opportunity for change. The benefits are clear financially, socially and flexibility-wise, but there are also drawbacks as privacy, compatibility and space come in to play.
For anyone looking at share houses, the benefits are numerous and can make it the obvious choice compared to traditional rental options. For anyone who has tried renting an apartment in Tokyo, the mounting fees that come with an application can be daunting enough, and share houses certainly offer an alternative to this. With no key money or agency fees at most places, payments are usually restricted to deposits, a one-off contract fee and the monthly maintenance fee which covers bills and cleaning costs. This allows people to budget better and avoid the expensive set-up costs usually incurred — an attractive offer to those setting up alone.
As well as the financial benefits, the share houses offer a level of flexibility at odds with regular tenancy agreements in Japan — rather than the two-year fixed-term leases offered for private apartments, rooms are generally available on three-month contracts with some for as little as a month. This opens up opportunities for people to test the waters in Japan, to visit for internships, working-holidays or if they just find themselves wanting a change.
An added bonus is the difference in housing quality available compared to what you would find for a single apartment. Companies often spend more on living spaces, offering large kitchens and modern fittings and fixtures, not to mention a stylish design to attract tenants.
While the practical reasons seem convincing enough, the attraction of social living is potentially an equally important factor, with many people finding that long working hours and city life can be real barriers to meeting people in Tokyo. While traditional Japanese homes often have multi-purpose rooms, with living spaces transformed into bedrooms, the option of fixed social spaces is an attractive novelty to the younger Japanese generation. Often taken for granted abroad, having a neutral space which introduces a social element to activities like cooking and watching TV is unusual in Japan. It's a great attraction for those looking to widen their social circles and break away from the growing societal struggle with loneliness.
It is this social aspect which has opened up a whole new marketing option to share house companies: language and cultural exchange between international and Japanese housemates. As a relatively new market, those promoting share houses are faced with three choices: do they focus on attracting foreigners, Japanese residents or combine the two? While these three audiences require different approaches and although compatibility can seem problematic, international houses are becoming more and more popular. Promoting living as a learning experience both linguistically and culturally has become a fantastic option to advertise to both Japanese and international residents, offering an opportunity to learn in a relaxed and social style.
Many houses focusing on this exchange aspect promise ratios of foreign versus Japanese residents, often 50/50 but sometimes up to 70/30. While some focus on an equal exchange, some appeal more to Japanese residents and include language lessons in rent, with English-only rules for communal spaces (and discounts for foreigners). By selling more than a room, the companies succeed in selling not only a lifestyle, but an opportunity — a holy triad which appeals to more and more people as time goes by.
It's not only the international focus companies are using though, there are plenty of houses designed around shared interests like cycling, gardening or even IT skills — with some offering a creche for parents and other focusing on fitness and yoga classes.
With concerns of living with complete strangers being normal in share houses all over the world, in Japan this is especially heightened by the focus on manners and respect for the space of others as well as the preferred avoidance for confrontation. Negotiating situations without a familial, school-based or work-place hierarchy to rely on is often new territory and can seem both daunting and as an opportunity to grow. To combat this, the shared interest houses suggest a common bond which would build stronger relationships as well as offering an instant social focus to engage with each other.
The focus on a house being not only a part of your lifestyle, but a reflection of yourself is still a difficult balance to uphold. While no longer necessarily associated with dirty, cramped conditions, things like co-ed living are still not considered acceptable by many. It is not surprising, then, that the number of women-only houses is increasing steadily and reflecting some of the concerns which stem from Japanese tradition.
While living in a share house can be seen as adventurous but not too unusual, living in a mixed house still brings negative associations from a culture with very traditional attitudes to dating and what is, or is not, socially acceptable. Terrace House focuses on the possibility of romance, though this is part of the risqué attraction for the audience, and the new members are always faced with questions about living co-ed by friends and family, showing the more reserved opinions of even today's society on mixed living.
Despite these concerns, the houses are filling up, and while they aren't a permanent option — many are happy to try out the alternative living arrangements which are slowly becoming more acceptable in Tokyo. With 20,000–30,000 rooms available in the city, the option of more than just a room is becoming a game-changer for the younger generation.
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