As I previewed earlier this year, OKINI is undergoing a major upgrade. Following the launch of our membership system earlier, we have now introduced "OKINI Long Stay," offering monthly and medium-to-long-term accommodation options. The primary difference between OKINI Long Stay and OKINI Home lies in the target audience and length of stay. OKINI Home focuses on short-term tourist rentals with stays calculated in days or weeks, whereas OKINI Long Stay caters to stays starting from one month upwards, primarily serving international students, business travelers, expatriate families, and corporate employees. The two concepts complement each other with distinct positioning.

Capitalizing on Travel Industry Trends

Why has FMI decided to expand into the medium-to-long-term accommodation market? Over the past two years, our new property developments have been completed one after another. Currently, our in-house property management arm, Chief of Homes (COH), manages over 50 properties, bringing our total accommodation units close to 1,000. Building upon this robust foundation, I believe the functions of OKINI can become even more diversified. Having established a foothold in Osaka for a decade, FMI has consistently kept its finger on the pulse of Japan's tourism trends. Today, the popular customer base for vacation rentals no longer comes solely from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore; we also see a massive influx of long-haul travelers from Europe and North America, including the UK, France, the Netherlands, and Germany. When they travel to the Kansai region, they don't just stay for four or five days. Instead, they explore the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe trio, staying anywhere from two to three weeks to over a month. Recently, a European couple rented our property, The Peak Bentencho in Bentencho, for a full year. It turned out they had deliberately traveled to Osaka to embark on a "study holiday"—taking a long vacation to recharge while simultaneously enrolling in a one-year program at an Osaka language school.

Star-Class Home Services

In fact, Osaka hosts a significant number of such medium-to-long-term travelers. Even from nearby regions like South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, many people love traveling to Osaka to take Japanese language courses lasting anywhere from one to two months to a couple of years. In addition, there are corporate professionals transferred from overseas to work in Japan who bring their families along to live there. Very often, these individuals are "forced" to stay in hotels. Why forced? Because trying to rent a private residence in Japan presents two major hurdles: first, the process is painfully slow; second, the threshold is exceptionally high. For foreigners in particular, the language barrier alone fails them at the first hurdle, followed by second, third, and fourth hurdles such as paying key money (reikin) and security deposits (shikikin), requiring a guarantor, and having to independently purchase furniture, set up utilities (water, electricity, gas), and more. For a newcomer arriving in Japan, it is practically an impossible mission.

OKINI Long Stay is designed to address all these pain points by offering multiple housing packages, including business and work stays, student accommodations, family relocations, and corporate housing. The key highlights are the simplified procedures: zero key money, zero security deposits, and no guarantor required. All units come fully furnished with appliances and include Wi-Fi. Other everyday trivialities are also taken care of by COH; our multi-lingual customer service team even assists with opening Japanese bank accounts and obtaining Japanese SIM cards. Tenants simply need to pack their luggage and immediately enjoy star-class home services. Most importantly, Osaka's medium-to-long-term tenant base is exceptionally stable. For owners of FMI's vacation rentals, OKINI Long Stay ensures that units secure fixed tenants for one to two years, maintaining steady occupancy rates and rental yields. This is my ideal win-win solution.