Crowdfunding started at Weeboon, Thailand's crowdfunding platform. Protect Japan’s true image that disappears with the influence of large-scale development and prevent social issues such as depopulation of local towns and abandonment of homes.

OSAKA, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 12, 2018

SEKAI HOTEL, Inc., headquartered in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, with Koichi Yano as founder and CEO, is opening a new branch SEKAI HOTEL FUSE, which develops "Fuse Shopping Street Market" as a hotel in a local town that is roughly ten minutes by train from the center of Osaka – Japan’s second largest city. At the same time, we will start crowdfunding with Weeboon of Thailand for tourists who are considering traveling to Japan, and returning a great accommodation plan where you can experience "Ordinary Japanese Culture".

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SEKAI HOTEL FUSE reception area. A gathering for locals as well, as it transforms to a coffee shop at lunchtime and a bar at night. (Photo: Business Wire)

Disappearing Local Communities, an Increasing Sense of Crisis

Recently, the popularity of anime and manga comic books boosted Japan into getting increasing attention from foreign visitors as a tourist destination. As different locations throughout Japan work to create content that will appeal to tourists, we see urban development replacing local coffee shops where residents have gathered for decades with big chains and small restaurants that have offered a taste of Japanese homestyle cooking over the course of many long years, needing to close because there is no one left to carry on with the business. There is a growing awareness of social issues that are resulting to a loss of Japan’s true culture.

CONCEPT: "ORDINARY" is what’s worth experiencing, especially when it comes to traveling overseas

SEKAI HOTEL believes that there is value in tourism, particularly in terms of a deeper cultural experience that can be truly found within the ordinary lives of Japanese people. There is an excitement in a true tourist experience that comes from attempts to communicate with local people, be it with imperfect language skills, or even with gestures. We are both working to create new tourism values that could be termed ordinary and are also trying to bring out values from locations that are either further away from Japan’s urban centers or otherwise not known to tourists.

Our method has been to reject the amassing of regular hotel features, such as a front desk, guest rooms, gift shops, and activities, into a single gigantic building, and to instead redevelop entire communities as a hotel, reviving the now empty homes that you find, here and there, in those communities. Local empty homes are renovated and converted to guest rooms. Features you would normally find within the walls of a hotel, like spas, restaurants, and activities, are provided in conjunction with local businesses, developing a community-based hotel where guests can enjoy wandering about the community.

Starting the First Crowdfunding

Along with the opening of our new branch, we will start crowdfunding with Weeboon of Thailand, returning a great accommodation plan where you can experience "Ordinary Japanese Culture". We are working on resolving the issues that are now becoming serious outside the urban areas of Japan, such as the abandonment of homes, outflow of young people to urban areas and the aging of rural areas, by spreading to the world the concept of SEKAI HOTEL which is "ORDINARY".

Crowdfunding Website: https://www.weeboon.com/en/campaign/-487616

Many of the challenges in rural areas happening in Japan are becoming an issue in other developed countries as well, and SEKAI HOTEL, starting with the issues in Japan, plans to expand overseas.

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Contact:

SEKAI HOTEL Inc.
Koki Mitani, +81-6-6748-0750
Public Relations Manager
noborder@sekaihotel.com