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Sekai Hotel, An empty house has turned into a place to live like locals. (Osaka trip)

Travel in December 2017

Sekai Hotel(@Nishikujo station) has a good modern renovations and well preserved the Japanese house structure.

As I was preparing for my trip to Japan, I saw a news article. The growing number of empty houses in Japan has long been a problem. But the news that buying such an empty house and then remodeling it to be a house for travelers was very impressive to me.


After four years of experience on Airbnb, I was interested in the type of accommodation that I could indirectly feel the local life. But, recently, a lot of problems occurred in Japan with Airbnb, and the Japanese government has become quite conservative in this type of accommodation. If you are planning to operate the airbnb in your apartment in Japan, you can do it only with the full permission of an apartment complex. We can tell by stance of Japanese government


What if the empty house is nicely rebuilt? What if the professional company manages it, not personally?! It would be a great deal to reduce the worries of travelers using this accomodation and convert it into an image of regional coexistence with sharing economy. The area that was willing to accept this was the Nishikujo district. Kujira Company, which is specialized in home improvement and repair, purchase vacant houses in Nishikujo and remodel a Japanese house. The company takes the form of a Japanese style by modifying its empty house in a modern way. And the house is managed by a professional company and rented to tourists. In other words, Airbnb's strengths were highlighted and supplemented by weaknesses.

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The Sekai Hotel office is located in the residential area.

So how does this hotel operate? It is a hotel, but it was similar to private accommodation, but the operation process was different. The office of the Sekai Hotel is located on a large street in the residential area. It took less than 3 minutes to walk from Nishikujo station to the hotel office. It was not hard to find. It was not at all easy to think of an office in a large building. The office was no difference from the houses around it.




The Sekai Hotel office (Nishikujo) was a two-story.

ost of the houses in Japan are multi-storied, and this office used that Japanese style of structure. As I walked into the office, I was impressed by the pretty office. I left my luggage with the staff. And I looked around the office briefly while an employee scanned my passport. The first thing that caught my eyes was a wall of traditional drums of various sizes. The whole wall with the drums was fresh enough for me. An interior that reflected the Japanese style. Below that, we could see many people had kept their baggage.


Leave your luggage at the office, and the staff will check in and take it home. I was going to check in and move to Universal Studios in Japan. I was going to be late in the afternoon at Universal Studios in Japan. Before going to USJ, the clerk asked me if I would like to go with her to the house I was assigned to.


As I walked to my house, I talked various stories with my staff. The staff member I accompanied is good at English and, since I was Korean, we talked about Korea and Japan. She had experience learning Korean. And the conversation with her was dynamic because She knew a lot of Korean pop culture. As we talked about the differences between studying Korean and Japanese, and the memories of japanese drama.




There is my room in the residential area? No, my house is there!

The next day I took the time to walk around. It was a typical Japanese residential area. It is quiet here, and there is near Nishikujo Station. There were also many restaurants near the station. There were a small pharmacy to local supermarket, which we can usually see. This hotel doesn't serve breakfast, but it was the perfect place to visit and be curious about what kind of food the restaurant sells.


Then how can I find my house? It's simple. It is good to remember where your house is, and if you use SNS, you can get your home address through SNS (sometimes, employees send it via Google Map correctly). And if you really can't find it, you can go to the Sekai Hotel office. Because the staff goes with you personally and shows you the way. Of course, I chose the latter.


There is such a light golden sign among of houses. This sign means that the house is managed by Sekai Hotel.




Inside of Tsuki @ Sekai hotel

I had a lot of fun at USJ and went back to my house after dinner. Of course, I couldn't find my home in the dark, so I stopped by the SekaI Hotei office. The clerk tooke me to my house.


As soon as I got home, I found a new pair of slippers that I could comfortably wear and diffusers under the gentle lighting. And I found my red suitcase. I was delighted to be able to use the house all by myself. Because I liked it much more when I saw it in real life than when I saw it in pictures.