WIT LIfe #66: 明けましておめでとうございます！
Anecdote Article, Japan Trends, Translating/Interpreting, WIT Life 
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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Translator/Interpreter/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03). Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
アケオメ！ I hope everyone had a super New Year’s celebration and that you are ready for 2010, aka the Year of the Tiger (toradoshi). Yesterday I had the chance to have some belated osechi ryouri and it was well worth the wait! Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo kicked off the new year with its first auction where appropriately enough torafugu (tiger blowfish) was being sold at prices of 10,000 yen each, cheaper than usual. Maguro (tuna), on the other hand, sold for almost 16.3 million yen (about $177,000) to a Hong Kong customer known as the “Sushi King.”
In other Tokyo news, an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal last week portrayed the growing trend of roommates. Two enterprising women have launched their own agency called “Tokyo Girls Real Estate,” which provides shared apartments exclusively for working women in their 30s. No men are allowed on the premises, a rule that all residents must comply with.
Part of the incentive for this business was the abundance of upscale apartments in areas like Harujuku and Roppongi that flooded the market following the collapse of Lehman Brothers last year. Tokyo Girls Real Estate founders Kumi Tahara, 27, and Kana Arai, 32, took these multi bedroom apartments and broke them up into as many as 10 smaller rooms that they rent out for 80,000 yen per month. They redesigned the apartments by adding touches such as gold wallpaper, pink rhinestones and disco balls to create “fantasy playlands,” and so far they have placed over 100 women in 12 properties.
There is no doubt that Tahara and Arai have found a rare real-estate market niche. I am curious to see how widespread the idea of roommates becomes, as well as what effect this will have on the previous decade’s phenomenon of parasite singles. This refers to primarily unmarried females who live at home leeching off their parents. According to an ad agency director quoted in the article, the average age for marriage in Japan is steadily increasing and fewer females want to live at home. If this trend holds true, Tokyo Girls Real Estate will hit hit the jackpot with its novel business model.
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