Looking for a short stay apartment?

If you are looking for a short-term stay apartment, hotel or holiday house such as the period of 1 week, 2 weeks (fortnightly) or 1 month, it may be difficult to find the right one.

Why are there no short stay apartments (2weeks, fortnightly) in Japan where you can live by the week?

The short stay apartment business is a real estate business where people live for a certain period of time by signing a lease contract with the owner. (The sharehouse business is also included in the real estate business.) On the other hand, accommodations that allow people to stay for a minimum of one night are lodging businesses defined by a law called the 旅館業法 Ryokan gyohou or “Accommodation Business Law”. In order to operate as a ryokan, hotel, or guesthouse, you must apply for a 旅館営業許可 Ryokan eigyo kyoka or “Accommodation Business License,” and you must comply with detailed regulations such as the number of bathrooms and toilets. Therefore, the cost and time required to run am accommodation business is comparable with that of a sharehouse business.

So, in terms of systems and laws, the question is whether a sharehouse should be considered an “accommodation business” or a “real estate business.” The answer to this question is that the legal wording does not clearly state the boundary between the two, but rather relies on the opinion issued by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

According to them, 旅館業法 Ryokan gyohou or “Accommodation Business Law”. applies to stays of a few weeks or less, as the purpose of the stay is not to have a home base.
On the other hand, a stay of more than 30 days is considered as having a home base, and therefore, in principle, the 旅館業法 Ryokan gyohou or “Accommodation Business Law”. does not apply.

For this reason, most of the sharehouses on the market are real estate businesses, and require a minimum stay of one month or more. (Incidentally, this is also the reason why マンスリーマンション [Monthly Mansion] and ウィークリーマンション [Weekly Mansion] have different names, as Weekly Mansions probably have a 旅館営業許可 Ryokan eigyo kyoka or “Accommodation Business License.”

People from countries where you can stay every two weeks (fortnightly) and pay rent every two weeks (eg. Australia, England) , may wish to do the same in Japan, but for the reasons mentioned above, there are no sharehouses where you can stay on a weekly basis.
*In Australia, there is a “Rooming House” system for managing sharehouses, which sets standards for building safety, bedroom area and maximum occupancy based on the length of stay, water supply, etc.

We are a guesthouse (hostel), and of course we have a 旅館営業許可 Ryokan eigyo kyoka or “Accommodation Business License.”

Although we are in the business of accommodation as a hostel, we have the same facilities as a sharehouse.
Therefore, you can stay for as short as a week and enjoy a stay like a sharehouse.

What’s Osaka Weekly House? – 10 Features –

1. Easily start living from as little as one week.

Most share houses require a minimum stay of one month or more. Some of the longer ones require a minimum stay of three months. On the other hand, if you want to live in a regular apartment, you usually have to sign a two-year lease.

However, foreigners staying in Japan with a working holiday visa or a student visa might want to stay for a shorter period of time.

With Osaka Weekly House, you can stay for as little as one week. As you can see from looking at other share houses in Osaka, there are not many share houses where you can stay from one week.

Although our basic policy is to provide accommodation on a nightly basis, we actively accept the following people who wish to stay for a week or more to several weeks.

• Foreigners who are working or staying for a long period of time on a variety of visas such as Designated activities (a working holiday), Student, Training, Cultural activities (unpaid internships), Specified skilled worker, Technical intern training, Engineer/Specialist in humanities/International services, Entertainer, etc.
• Those who need a place to live immediately after entering Japan for a certain period of time, or need a place to stay for a short period of time until they can find an apartment or condominium for long-term stay.
• Those who want to use the facility as a 14-day quarantine to prevent the spread of COVID-19 after entering Japan.
• Those who want to stay for a short time while visiting family or acquaintances in Japan, but think that “Weekly Mansions” are too small and hotels are too expensive.

2. No cleaning duty

In many share houses, residents are required to clean the common areas on a rotating basis. It may seem obvious that you’re supposed to clean your own house, but you may have concerns such as

• “Some of the residents in the share house don’t do their own cleaning duty properly, or there’s a difference in the amount of time each person spends cleaning and how well they do it, so it feels unfair.”
• “If possible, I don’t want to do the cleaning because I’m so busy with my work that it’s quite a burden to devote myself to cleaning the common areas on my days off.”
• “Although I live in a share house with common spaces, I’d rather avoid cleaning toilets and shower rooms that others have used if I can help it.”

While everyone’s situation is different, we believe there are those who want to live in a share house but don’t want to be forced to clean common areas.

Since our share house is a guesthouse, we have cleaning staff separate from the residents, so there’s no need to burden the residents with cleaning duties.

In addition, disinfection work is essential due to COVID-19. We believe that alcohol disinfection work is also an essential part of regular cleaning work in shared houses. Our cleaning staff will do a perfect job of alcohol disinfection on a regular basis.

3. Can sleep with a comfortable down quilt and clean sheet

In a normal sharehouse for mid- to long-term residents, you’ll have to buy your own bedding and sheets or use those provided by the sharehouse manager, but you’ll have to wash the sheets yourself. Also, most of the futons provided by sharehouses are cheap futons.

Our house is a lodging facility, so we use down comforters!　The sheets are provided by a linen company, so we will replace the sheets with new ones on a regular basis. There is no need to wash and dry the sheets by yourself.

4. No complicated contract procedures.

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, a normal sharehouse is a lease of a room in real estate. Therefore, you will have to sign a lease contract with the owner of the sharehouse or an agency that manages the sharehouse. (Usually a fixed-term lease contract)
Although it is a simple procedure, it is an essential part of the process of moving in. If you don’t have a clear understanding of the important matters and contract details, you could be in trouble later on, but one wonders how many sharehouses will provide you with a contract in English….
In the case of our sharehouse, it will be like staying in a hostel for a long time, so of course there are no contracts to sign.

5. No initial fee

In a normal share house, you will have to pay a deposit as an initial fee. Also, depending on the property, you may be asked to join a guarantor company or be required to have fire insurance. We are a guesthouse that operates as an accommodation facility, so we do not sign a contract for your stay. Of course, we do not charge any initial fees such as security deposit, guarantee fee, or fire insurance fee.

6. English-speaking staff are always available.

This also makes a big difference, but in a normal share house there aren’t regular staff members. It may be reassuring to know that there is always someone who speaks a common language there to help you if you have any problems.

Our staff can speak both Japanese and English, so if you’re a foreigner who cannot speak any Japanese, you’ll feel safe.

7. Easy payment

In a normal share house, you would have to pay the rent by wire transfer or hand over the cash to the owner, but in our hostel, you can pay by credit card, paypay, or cash to the reception staff.

*The cost of your stay is basically paid in advance. For example, if you are staying for two weeks, you will be asked to pay for the two weeks in advance when you move in. However, if you are staying for more than one month, you can pay per month.

8. No need to worry about the utility fee

This depends on the sharehouse, but you may have to pay common service fees and utility fees in addition to the rent.
There are some sharehouses where the common service fee and utility fee are fixed at 10,000 yen, and there are others where the common area fee is fixed but the utility fee is shared equally among the residents.

In the latter case, residents will be more conscious of saving money, but on the other hand, it’s very troublesome to make monthly payments.

Since our sharehouse is part of a lodging facility, we do not charge common area fees, nor do we charge for utilities. All of these costs are included in the accommodation fee.

9. Fully equipped

If you’re living in a share house, you’ll have to pay for all of your own consumables such as body soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, seasonings, and more. However, in our share house, all of these consumables are available for free. What’s more, coffee and tea are always available in the common kitchen. There is even a hair dryer in the washroom.
In addition, each room is equipped with wired LAN outlets as well as wireless wifi.

Also, hangers, scissors, laundry detergent, tape, stationery, screwdrivers, and other small daily necessities can be borrowed for free by asking the reception staff.

If you need to use the printer for printing or borrow a bicycle, we can also help you.

10. Spacious and cozy common area

If you’re looking for a large sharehouse, you’ll probably find a spacious living room and kitchen, but if you’re looking for a sharehouse with a small number of residents, you’ll probably find that the living room space is the size of a normal home.

In our sharehouse, there are two shared living rooms and two shared kitchen areas, so you’ll always have plenty of room to relax.