• Communal living spaces known as social apartments are gaining popularity among Japanese millennials.
• They seek out shared living arrangements for affordable housing, as well as for company — some residents even meet their significant others living in this type of arrangement.
• Business Insider Japan visited one of these social apartments, located in central Tokyo.

Maiko Takigawa and Shigeru Sato report: In central Tokyo, you’ll find “World Neighbors Gokokuji.”

The “social apartment” is a multicultural, communal living environment that attracts those in their 20s and 30s. It used to be a college dormitory for female students.

Global Agents, the operator of the social apartment, enjoyed revenue growth over the past year. In the year that ended March 31, 2017, its revenues increased by 40%.

“Our target is those in the millennial generation because they want a rational and economic way of living, like sharing a larger space in a large shared apartment,” said Yukie Yoshida, from the communication design department at Global Agents.

We visited World Neighbors Gokokuji to see the way millennials want to live … (read more)

via Business Insider