Industry Interview: Ken Nakahashi and Masami Yamamoto (Plan Do)

Let's see. We want to draw the line between a guest house and a sharehouse by cultivating a place that is of higher class than a normal rental apartment. The catchphrase would be "A one room apartment you'll want to come home to." We're not competitive in cost, we're aiming for a house that proposes a new lifestyle with added value.

It depends on the property, but our Nishi-Funabashi house, for example, has rooms complete with a kitchen, bathroom and toilet the same as a one room apartment, and in addition there is 153.05m² of communal space. For example a large, spacious kitchen and living room, to name a few. You could say our house is "A one room apartment + 153.05m²", which is different from normal one room apartments.

I don't know whether it's because the kitchen is so spacious or not, but we've got a great group of tenants who love cooking and they often hold cook-offs and sweets-making tournaments there. There are many males in the house who are good at cooking and I heard they all made paella the other day. The tenants are always holding their own events like going camping, and just the other day they held a halloween party. They recruit participants via a group on LINE and the communal message board in the house. It seems like they're always having fun.

The tenants we have at the moment are all very good at taking care of others. In the past we've had someone come and look at the kitchen then ask how many people were living in the house. It turned they wanted to make dinner for everyone! She is kind of like a house mother. There are a lot of tenants like her and everyone just helps each other out, it's great.

That's right. We want people who are able to maintain the current status quo, people who express themselves through communication with others. Also, our Nishi-Funabashi house is 12-minutes by train to Disneyland, so I recommend it for Disney cast members. At the moment we have about 3 of them living in the house. Plenty of train lines run through the area so if you work in Akihabara you just jump on a train and don't need to change lines at all.

It was all because of the Nishi-Funabashi property. We had been working with the idea of turning abandoned properties into warehouses at first, but the one in Nishi-Funabashi had so much space it seemed like a waste. It was also impossible to make it into apartments, so we decided to try our luck with a sharehouse.

Of course we didn't have any experience running a sharehouse, so we had a discussion within the company to start this experiment and we're finding our feet one step at a time. We were going to keep in line with the structure our previous rental properties, but had no luck at local real estate businesses, which surprised us. We got a few bites as soon as we put it up on a sharehouse website and came to realize that people searching for sharehouses are very different from those looking for regular rental properties.

Well, at first we had trouble with the difference and couldn't get any tenants. Sharehouses are a recent thing and I thought it would catch on, but contrary to my expectations it didn't. I then realized that people who go to the real estate agent aren't actually looking for this kind of lifestyle. Even if showing the property to customers, the agents themselves have never lived in a sharehouse and therefore cannot convey its appeal.

There aren't many people who want to live out in the suburbs, but we want to create a base for people with like-minded ideals and similar hobbies, a house that people will want to live in because there is some kind of appeal for them. For example, our house in Urawa is a house for people who support the Urawa Red Diamond football club, and they can have a great time watching and talking about the games together. Well, if the tenants get too rowdy we'll get complaints from the neighbors, so maybe have just a little fun… but is that even possible? (laughs) When people with the same hobbies and pastimes get together everyone is bound to have a great time, and we hope to continue with the project while making the most of its location.

Try living in our Funabashi house. (laughs)

At least come on over for an inspection. I'd love to have anyone thinking about living in a sharehouse for the first time come on over and see how it compares to their expectations. To be honest, some people like it, some people don't. It's not like you absolutely must move in just by having a look, so just visit the house and see what it's like, no big deal. Put those thoughts into actions. Incidentally, if you're already living in a sharehouse and want to move, I'd love to hear your thoughts on your dissatisfaction with your current house. That way we can suggest a place to suit your needs, so please let us know!