Featured

rental

Japan’s video rental giant now rents wigs, so we tried them out【Photos】

Our fashionable reporter has never worn a wig before, and will she want to again after this?

Read More

Japan’s “rent a middle-aged man service” marks its 10th year in business

The service’s founder shares reasons for its decade of success and typical examples of why people, mainly women, might rent an ossan.

Read More

Neighbors Kamikitazawa introduces us to the cool side of shared Tokyo apartment rentals

Where neighbours become good friends…

Read More

Before and After: Renovating a rundown rental property in Japan

Apartment renovation in the middle of Tokyo is a DIY inspiration. 

Read More

Relive an iconic scene from anime Weathering with You with Japan’s rentable Hina umbrellas

Take Hina with you for all kinds of weather this weekend!

Read More

Burger King opens a rental site to help fast food lovers find an apartment in Japan

The Japanese property market just got a whole lot tastier. 

Read More

Japanese clothing chain offers an answer to job-hunting suit conundrum

Yofuku no Aoyama suggests a new suit service to suit job-seeking students.

Read More

Japan’s gothic lolita fashion rental shop gives our reporter her first taste of lolita life【Pics】

Dozens of options and delivery to your door lower the entry barrier for first-timers.

Read More

Restaurant rental service OPEN DISH offers risk-free restaurateur opportunity

Step 1: Rent restaurant. Step 2: Serve tasty food. Step 3: Profit!

Read More

Tokyo’s new rental umbrella service is perfect for sudden showers, staying dry on the cheap

Sometimes umbrella ownership is just too much responsibility to handle.

Read More

Fashion rental service Rcawaii now offering kimono rentals, special campaign underway

The kimono come in a variety of colors and styles designed for a wide range of ages.

Read More

Okinawan in hot water after charging Chinese tourists 10 times more for beach parasol set rental

A cheap trick to make extra cash, or a man pushed to breaking point?

Read More

Rent-a-goat service now available in Japan, ready to fulfill all your goat-related needs

If you need a furry friend that also doubles as an eco-friendly lawnmower, this is for you.

Read More

Japanese drinks company attaches free “rental umbrellas” to its vending machines in Osaka

Japanese vending machines are a great example of the culture of convenience so prevalent in Japan. Whether you’re after orange juice that looks like soy sauce, or a hot, clam-packed miso soup to cure your hangover, if you want something fast, the nation’s vending machines will be there for you, come rain or shine.

Now one of the country’s largest drinks manufacturers, DyDo, is catering to customers who actually do find themselves caught out in the rain, with a free “rental umbrella” service attached to a number of their machines in Nishi Ward, Osaka.

Read More

Tokyo’s new rentable bikes are a great start, but the city is still far from bike-friendly…

Close your eyes and throw a stick in pretty much any Tokyo neighbourhood, and there’s a good chance that you’ll hit someone riding a bicycle. With roughly 72 million bikes on the streets of Japan, they’re an essential part of daily life for many, especially in urban areas where space for motor vehicle parking is both limited and expensive.

Last weekend, though, we stumbled upon a fleet of sparkling new bicycles that couldn’t be more different to the typical mamachari shopping bikes that everyone from junior high schoolers to worryingly wobbly grandmothers pedal around town. Sleek, compact, and with”Suicle” stamped on their crossbars, these lime-green lightweights are available for anyone with a prepaid IC bus or rail card and a half-decent sense of balance to rent.

Eager to know if the ride, and the process of renting and returning, was as smooth as a nearby sign purported it to be, we took a couple of the mini bikes out for a spin.

Read More

What it’s like to rent a boyfriend in China

Single women in China are under such intense pressure to find a mate that some are resorting to renting “boyfriends” online to accompany them on dates and trips to see their families.

On Taobao, China’s biggest online marketplace, women can choose from hundreds of temporary companions and reserve them for hours or days at a time by paying a deposit.

Melanie Lee, a news blogger for Alibaba — which owns Taobao — recently decided to give the service a try, and she shared her experience via email with Business Insider.

Read More

For young and middle-aged women in China who just want to live freely without being hounded by their parents to marry, renting a boyfriend for a day could be the perfect answer! Japanese news site, Nikkei, recently sat down with 27-year-old financial businessman and volunteer boyfriend, Wang Zhuo, for an interview regarding his 100 plus “girlfriends” over the past two years. Could it be that for whatever reason China’s women are becoming increasingly dependent on rental boyfriends? We’ve seen how it works for lonely ladies in Japan! What sort of insights has Wang gained into these Chinese women’s desires… Read More

Bank Vault for Rent in Tokyo, Perfect for Aspiring Robbers

We’ve all seen bank vaults in movies and on TV. But when you think about it, there aren’t many people in the world who have actually used or gone into the real thing.

As luck would have it a chance to rent your very own bank vault has popped up as a listing on the Real Tokyo Estate website.

Read More