From July 6th (Mon), participants will be recruited for this experiment, which will offer round-trip travel between Osaka or Fukuoka and Hiroshima twice a month for ¥20,000, and unlimited use of shinkansen trains between Shin-Iwakuni and Fukuyama. This move is part of accelerating the development of MaaS (Mobility as a Service) through digital transformation (DX).
KabuK Style Inc. (Representative Director: Kenji Sunahara/Ryo Osera) has been providing “HafH (Home away from Home),” a service that allows members to live in hotels and guesthouses in 176 cities worldwide for a fixed fee, since April 2019.
We are pleased to announce today that we have agreed with West Japan Railway Company (Representative Director and President: Kazuaki Hasegawa, hereinafter referred to as “JR West”) and JR West Innovations Co., Ltd. (Representative Director and President: Hiroshi Wada), which has corporate venture capital functions, to form a business alliance for the purpose of expanding the target market, promoting mobility, revitalizing the region, and creating a new town by promoting and verifying a proof-of-concept experiment. We will start recruiting participants for the “JR West × Housing Subscription” proof-of-concept experiment from today, July 6, 2020 (Mon).
Through this proof-of-concept experiment, we will accumulate and verify data on usage trends, among other things, and develop housing subscription services that include mobility.
Background of the business partnership
In recent years, the diversification of working locations and hours, such as the introduction of telework and the social acceptance of side jobs (multiple jobs), has accelerated, and individuals can choose various working styles that suit them, including being an employee, a sole proprietor, or both.
Furthermore, with the spread of telework due to the COVID-19 pandemic, attention has been drawn to “workations” and “multi-location living” where people work while staying at vacation spots, and there is a demand for infrastructure to realize a more location-independent lifestyle.
HafH has developed as a service that not only allows people to work without being tied to a specific location but also provides a place to update their values, where they can use the service every month at a fixed rate with peace of mind.
The purpose of this business partnership is to create new railway demand that cannot be captured by conventional demand creation such as commuting and tourism, and to contribute to the expansion of the related population market, the revitalization of the region, and the creation of a new town in collaboration with the JR West Japan Group.
Through this verification experiment, our company will collect data to optimize transportation costs, promote future MaaS development, and contribute to digital transformation (DX) in the real estate and travel industries.
◼︎The content of the demonstration experiment is as follows
Recruitment period: Monday, July 6, 2020 to Saturday, October 10, 2020 Implementation period: Tuesday, September 1, 2020 to Monday, November 30, 2020 Target audience: 90 HafH users selected by lottery Implementation details: Collection and verification of data on the recruitment status and usage trends of “member-only discounted tickets” for the Osaka⇄Hiroshima (twice a month: 20,000 yen), Fukuoka⇄Hiroshima (twice a month: 20,000 yen), and Osaka⇄Wakayama/Shirahama (twice a month: 10,000 yen) routes. *For more details, please check the dedicated website.
Click here to apply for this demonstration experiment: URL: https://hafh.com/lp/jrw
Click here for the joint press release regarding this demonstration experiment: URL: https://www.westjr.co.jp/press/article/2020/07/page_16230.html
Click here for JR West Japan’s dedicated website for this demonstration experiment: URL: https://www.westjr.co.jp/life/living/subscription
In this demonstration experiment, we propose a new lifestyle called “workation.” Through workation, we hope to encourage people to change their way of living, including multi-location living, rather than simply separating work and leisure time. We hope that by working in favorite locations, people can reduce commuting and workplace stress, increase daily fulfillment, and improve work-life balance, while experiencing new encounters and learning opportunities.
<What is Workation> A new word combining “work” and “vacation.” It is a way of working that promotes work-life balance by reducing commuting and workplace stress, and increasing daily fulfillment by working in a favorite location, in today’s world where work can be done regardless of location.
◼︎Comment from JR West Innovations
The JR West Group is advancing partnerships with venture companies that can realize the revitalization of regions centered on the western Japan area and the creation of towns and lines that people want to visit repeatedly. Based on the partnership through investment in KabuK Style, we will mutually operate the railway network of the JR West Group and the HafH platform of KabuK Style, proposing a new lifestyle where anyone can “work and travel from their favorite places,” and continuing to work towards regional revitalization in various areas of western Japan and the creation of towns and lines that anyone wants to visit repeatedly.
◼︎Comment from KabuK Style CEO, Kenji Sunada
Our mission is to develop infrastructure towards the realization of a society that can accept diverse values in their various forms. Since the launch of our fixed-rate co-living service HafH in April 2019, we have expanded the service to facilities in 176 cities (112 domestic and 64 overseas) across 22 countries and regions around the world.
HafH defines “living” as a unified concept that cannot be separated into “living place,” “working place,” and “traveling place.” To make multi-location living possible, it is essential to make travel more accessible, and it was necessary to tackle the reduction and stabilization of travel costs.
This partnership is an important step towards reducing and stabilizing travel costs, and we will continue to work with various transportation operators, both domestically and internationally, to update social infrastructure.