Mainichi: Changes in Living Locations.

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200726/p2g/00m/0dm/060000c#cxrecs_s

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- As companies close offices in central Tokyo or encourage employees to work from home due to coronavirus pandemic worries, young people are relocating to the suburbs where rents are cheaper, space less at a premium and nature nearer the doorstep.

With Japanese work practices changing, fewer young people are inclined to live in high-rent shoebox-sized apartments near central Tokyo's business districts, rather they are prioritizing lifestyle when choosing where to reside.

Ideas:

This seems to be a long overdue idea. Actually is been around for a very long time with many cities and communities near and around Tokyo are considered bedroom communities or commuting communities and space and rent is at a premium in Tokyo.

But the virus situation, and working from home being not only a priority but a necessity, many people are choosing a different lifestyle that maybe they didn't think about a year ago.

Article:

Yutaka Kanai, chief product officer of xenodata lab, a Tokyo startup specializing in AI-based data analysis, recently moved from central Tokyo to Fujisawa in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, a city with stunning coastlines in which he has longed to live

"The biggest reason I moved away from Tokyo is that I didn't have to go to the office," said Kanai, who is a keen surfer. He now lives in a house right on the beach.

The IT worker is now pursuing a better work-life balance, saying he can go surfing every morning just as easily as going for a run.

Kanai's workspace has also expanded. As his company started encouraging teleworking, he was spending his days in his Tokyo apartment, working on a laptop in his living room. But he can now use three monitors in his larger home office.

"I feel less stressed since my workspace is now larger," he said.

Kanai is one of many who have started re-evaluating what "home" means to them after the Tokyo metropolitan government in late March called on residents to refrain from going outside for nonessential reasons due to the virus.

Ideas:

Many people maybe are not beginning to think more about work/life balance instead of sacrificing their life for what used to be "life-time" employment, if there is even such a thing in Japan anymore. 

More and more younger workers watched how their fathers and parents sacrificed their work/life balance for the "life-time" security of a job.

Many young workers might not be willing to commit to that kind of sacrifice, and maybe the virus situation has hastened the idea or even more of a work/life balance.

Article:

Since late March, the number of views on the real estate and housing information site Suumo, has surged. Such an increase is unusual as traffic numbers tend to fall after the January to March period when new students and workers try to find apartments before Japan's academic and fiscal years start in April.

According to the website run by Recruit Sumai Co., a Recruit Holdings Co. group company, suburban properties have been attracting attention, with the city of Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, seeing a dramatic 90 percent uptick in the number of views in May compared with just a few months earlier. Traffic to listings in Chuo Ward in the city of Chiba, east of Tokyo, doubled in May from the figure in January.

"In order to work comfortably at home, space and quiet are regarded as more important than before, and that's why newly built houses in some popular suburban areas are gaining appeal," said Yoichi Ikemoto, the chief editor of Suumo, Japan's major housing information website.

Ideas:

Again the virus situation might have increased the changed from living directly in Tokyo, but it might be assumed that it has been on the minds of young workers for a very long time due to the high rent locations in Tokyo.

The virus situation has given workers now the chance, with work at home priorities, the chance to find a better lifestyle instead of living in high rent areas of Tokyo.

If companies follow the government suggestion of 70 percent of workers working from home, the trend might continue. And of course it might help the economy in some way. But if economics there are always positives and negatives.

There is already news of conbini or convenience stores losing a lot that are near businesses with a lot of employees because they are working from home. 

But that also might mean supermarkets and conbinis near their homes might be benefiting from workers working from home now.  

Article:

Up until now, splitting time between locations in central Tokyo and the suburbs or countryside was mainly for older people, but it is becoming more common among those in their 30's with annual incomes in the four to six million yen range, he added.

Given the current climate, a service that allows long-term stays in houses located in suburban areas or the countryside is also attracting attention.

The number of newly registered members of "ADDress," a service through which members can use more than 50 properties nationwide for 44,000 yen ($415) per month, has increased sharply since January.

There are many applications from office workers in their 20s and 30s living in Tokyo, and houses in the city of Narashino, Chiba Prefecture, where it is easy to commute to Tokyo in cases of emergency, have been flooded with reservations, according to the Tokyo-based ADDress.

Ideas:

Again, while it might seem a temporary situation, the idea of working from home might become a major trend in Osaka and Tokyo if companies feel it improves productivity and even more, if they feel they have no choice.

We might even see the Japanese government providing subsidies, if not already, to ensure the safety of workers related to the virus situation.

Housing subsidies and or subsidies to companies to help their employees.

This easily could be the future in the "new normal" in Japan.

Article:

Although the state of emergency declared over the coronavirus crisis was lifted in May and the economy is beginning to recover, Ikemoto expects some people who have become more accustomed to working from home will consider moving to make the most of their more laid-back life.

But the vast majority, he believes, will remain city dwellers.

"More people will choose reasonable detached houses...in the suburbs rich in nature or those with commercial facilities," Ikemoto said. "However, I don't think there will be a great migration to the suburbs from central Tokyo, which has many fashionable shops, commercial complexes and educational options."

Ideas:

Yes it might not be a great migration to the outer areas of Tokyo and Osaka but there might be a significant number that it becomes viable and doable for many in the future and young workers are looking for a better work/life balance instead of being stuck in the high rent areas of Tokyo and Osaka.

Have a nice day and be safe!