EXCLUSIVE: Japan to Promote Use of Empty Buildings as Satellite Offices

August 28, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's infrastructure ministry aims to support efforts to utilize empty buildings in the country as satellite offices or shared workspaces, according to informed sources.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism hopes to have related costs included in its budget request for fiscal 2019, which starts in April next year, the sources told Jiji Press.

It expects to provide financial backing for intangible aspects of such efforts, helping with public relations costs and the payment of fees for consultations with interior designers about renovation work, for example. Expenses for actual renovation work will not be eligible for ministry assistance.

The initiative is intended not only to promote the utilization of vacant properties but also to support efforts to enhance productivity and introduce diversified work styles.

The ministry hopes to implement related measures by expanding the scope of a model project it launched in fiscal 2017 for promoting the use of vacant houses.

It will solicit space utilization proposals from collaborative bodies set up by real estate agencies and municipalities and decide which ones to support.

The ministry also aims to support the organizing of consultation meetings for owners of empty buildings.

In July, a panel of experts at the infrastructure ministry put forward a vision for how Japan's real estate should look like around 2030.

This called for efforts to aim for people-friendly real estate that would make it possible to shorten commuting times and to keep working while raising children without excessive problem. The panel then proposed the promotion of satellite offices, which allow people to work outside their ordinary workplaces, as well as shared work spaces, which bring together companies from a variety of fields. Jiji Press