Japan’s sharing economy may have plateaued, but it has changed the country for the better

Anju Ishiyama, general manager, Sharing Economy Association of Japan (L); Yosuke Akiyoshi, CEO of Lancers (M); Masami Takahashi, general manager of WeWork Japan / Photo credit: Tech in Asia / Michael Holmes

According to a 2017 study, the majority of workers in the US will be freelancers by 2027. In Japan, the number is estimated to be some 10 million, and projected to increase by 3.5 million by 2030.

The upshot of these changes in lifestyle is that the way we work will be more decentralized than ever before. Not only will the gig and sharing economy become the norm, but where, how, and why we work will also be transformed.

For creators and innovators, this brave new world will present a number of opportunities for creating new and more distributed platforms, products, and services – and the realization of new value, networks, and ecosystems.

These were some of the themes discussed at Tech in Asia Tokyo 2018 by panelists Yosuke Akiyoshi, founder and CEO of Lancers and Masami Takahashi, general manager of WeWork Japan, with moderator Anju Ishiyama, general manager at the Sharing Economy Association of Japan.

“We started the business 10 years ago, when crowdsourcing and the sharing economy did not exist,” said Akiyoshi. In Lancers’ early days, his team often had to rely on third parties, like travel agents, when they wanted to book spaces like hotels for off-site meetings or management bootcamps.

Today, with the advent of co-working spaces like those provided by WeWork and crowdsourced task platforms like Lancers, enterprises have more flexibility.

Peaked too early?

However, just as the sharing economy is going mainstream in Japan, some are questioning its future prospects. If you consider a typical industry growth pattern, there’s often rapid development in the early stage before things level out, according to Akiyoshi. “I think the sharing economy in Japan is reaching its plateau,” he pointed out.

Takahashi notes that the definition of what constitutes “the sharing economy” is not yet set in stone. WeWork, for instance, provides sharing spaces. But there is also the sharing of ideas within those spaces, which can lead to new products, services, and ways of doing things. So it’s not just a matter of renting space as an asset; it is also about providing an ecosystem in which more can be created than the sum of the parts.

What’s more, co-working providers have seen growth in its community-led events in Japan. The demographic of attendees is quite diverse, including people from all walks of life, ages, and industries, Takahashi claimed.

Although Japanese have a reputation for shyness, he says that at the WeWork in Ark Hills, it’s not unusual to find people who barely know each other enjoying a coffee or a drink in the common areas – and actually talking to each other. It turns out that given the opportunity, frankness and openness can also be expressed by Japanese.

Services for the gig economy

The gig economy will result in lifestyle and workplace changes that will have an effect on several areas, including people’s social status and the flow of money, noted Ishiyama.

At present, people’s social status is often tied to how well-known their employer or company is. And when they need to get a mortgage for their home, for instance, they have to rely on institutions likes credit rating agencies and banks.

While Lancers’ main focus remains job and talent matching, the company has recently made the move into financial services to address this concern, said Akiyoshi.

Contented workers