"Town as a Hotel" Pilot Project "Business Trip SEKAI HOTEL" Launched – Private-sector-led Town Development Responding to Legal Revisions
Kujira Inc. has launched a "Business Trip SEKAI HOTEL" pilot project package for local governments and regional financial institutions nationwide, leveraging its expertise in "verbalizing and re-editing town appeal" cultivated in Osaka's Fuse Shopping Street. This initiative aims to verify visitor reactions and local acceptance for private-sector-led regional revitalization in a short period and at low cost, ahead of major facility development and investment, and in response to recently revised urban development laws.
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- 📰 Published: May 7, 2026 at 18:00
- 🔍 Collected: May 7, 2026 at 09:31
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Kujira Inc. (Headquarters: Kita-ku, Osaka, Representative Director: Koichi Yano, hereinafter "Kujira") has begun offering the "Business Trip SEKAI HOTEL" pilot project package, targeting local governments and regional financial institutions nationwide. This package is based on the "know-how to verbalize and re-edit the appeal of a town" that Kujira has cultivated in Osaka's Fuse Shopping Street.
This initiative utilizes existing dormant regional resources to verify visitor reactions and local acceptance potential in a short period, before full-scale facility development or large-scale investment. It is being developed as a practice that preempts the private-sector-led regional revitalization model, which is the premise of the "bill to amend urban development related laws" approved by the cabinet.
In Osaka's Fuse Shopping Street, SEKAI HOTEL has been operating in collaboration with surrounding shops since its opening in 2018.
What is "Business Trip SEKAI HOTEL"?
It is an initiative that curates local accommodations, restaurants, and circulating resources to temporarily create an experience where "the entire town is a single hotel."
As a pre-stage to full-scale development involving significant hard investment, a verification step is established to "prove the potential of the town at low cost and in a short period," verifying the following two points:
* Whether it provides an attractive stay experience for visitors.
* Whether it can be a sustainable acceptance model for the region.
It serves as a preliminary verification role for regions that, while envisioning future SEKAI HOTEL openings, new business developments, or business succession for long-established companies, cannot make decisions due to a lack of evidence.
Issues observed by visiting various places across Japan
As Representative Yano and his team visited various regions across Japan, they observed that while many regions possess unique charms, these are not being effectively communicated externally.
Especially in accommodation businesses in non-tourism areas, it is difficult to grasp consumer reactions before opening, and there is a challenge in presenting sufficient evidence to local stakeholders.
Even Higashi-Osaka's Fuse Shopping Street, despite its prime location 10 minutes from Namba, had half of its tenants vacant.
Furthermore, when locals themselves feel that "there is nothing here," it is not easy to raise funds or gain trust from property owners.
To address these challenges, "Business Trip SEKAI HOTEL" visualizes reactions by accepting actual visitors before full-scale investment, accumulating objective data necessary for business decisions.
Serving as a test in anticipation of responding to the revised bill
On March 10, 2026, the government approved the "bill to amend urban development-related laws, including the Urban Renaissance Special Measures Act and the Landscape Act," in a cabinet meeting.
The core of this revision is the creation of a system where private companies, with local government approval, collectively lease properties in specific areas, renovate them, and revitalize them. This will provide, for the first time, institutional backing for corporate-led revitalization of shuttered shopping streets and aging hot spring towns. Traditionally, private companies alone struggled to gain trust from property owners, leading to a succession of cases where revitalization did not progress nationwide. The revised law addresses this issue head-on by establishing a framework where local governments designate corporations responsible for regional revitalization and also approve agreements with property owners.
A renovated guest room building in the shopping street maintains the original signboard, preserving the streetscape.
"Business Trip SEKAI HOTEL" is precisely an initiative that preempts this private-sector-led regional revitalization model, which is the premise of this legal revision. It is a practical model for small-scale testing and verifying the potential of a region as a pre-stage to utilizing the system.
Service Content: "4 Steps" to Verify Business Viability
"Business Trip SEKAI HOTEL" implements Kujira's "editing and communication know-how to transform daily life into tourism resources," cultivated in non-tourism areas, in local regions through the following four steps:
① Verbalization of Regional Uniqueness
Organize regional resources into values that resonate with visitors and form a shared understanding.
② Experience Design (Implementation)
Based on the verbalized uniqueness, concretize it as an accommodation experience utilizing existing facilities.
③ Feedback Collection
Visualize consumer behavior and satisfaction through accommodation monitors and accumulate data.
④ Verification and Improvement
Review experience design based on results and connect it to a business plan for full-scale deployment.
SEKAI HOTEL Achievements
SEKAI HOTEL is a "town as a hotel" concept where vacant houses and shops in shopping streets are renovated into guest rooms, surrounding restaurants serve as dining venues, and local public baths are collaborated with for large public baths, thus envisioning the entire town as one hotel.
Since guest rooms, breakfast venues, and public baths are scattered throughout the town, staying guests will naturally tour the town.
"SEKAI PASS" is issued to guests, allowing them to receive unique services and experiences at partner shops by presenting it, thereby offering a stay experience that blends into the ordinary life of the travel destination.
When walking through the town with a SEKAI PASS around your neck, you receive bonuses and special offers at nearby stores.
This initiative utilizes existing dormant regional resources to verify visitor reactions and local acceptance potential in a short period, before full-scale facility development or large-scale investment. It is being developed as a practice that preempts the private-sector-led regional revitalization model, which is the premise of the "bill to amend urban development related laws" approved by the cabinet.
In Osaka's Fuse Shopping Street, SEKAI HOTEL has been operating in collaboration with surrounding shops since its opening in 2018.
What is "Business Trip SEKAI HOTEL"?
It is an initiative that curates local accommodations, restaurants, and circulating resources to temporarily create an experience where "the entire town is a single hotel."
As a pre-stage to full-scale development involving significant hard investment, a verification step is established to "prove the potential of the town at low cost and in a short period," verifying the following two points:
* Whether it provides an attractive stay experience for visitors.
* Whether it can be a sustainable acceptance model for the region.
It serves as a preliminary verification role for regions that, while envisioning future SEKAI HOTEL openings, new business developments, or business succession for long-established companies, cannot make decisions due to a lack of evidence.
Issues observed by visiting various places across Japan
As Representative Yano and his team visited various regions across Japan, they observed that while many regions possess unique charms, these are not being effectively communicated externally.
Especially in accommodation businesses in non-tourism areas, it is difficult to grasp consumer reactions before opening, and there is a challenge in presenting sufficient evidence to local stakeholders.
Even Higashi-Osaka's Fuse Shopping Street, despite its prime location 10 minutes from Namba, had half of its tenants vacant.
Furthermore, when locals themselves feel that "there is nothing here," it is not easy to raise funds or gain trust from property owners.
To address these challenges, "Business Trip SEKAI HOTEL" visualizes reactions by accepting actual visitors before full-scale investment, accumulating objective data necessary for business decisions.
Serving as a test in anticipation of responding to the revised bill
On March 10, 2026, the government approved the "bill to amend urban development-related laws, including the Urban Renaissance Special Measures Act and the Landscape Act," in a cabinet meeting.
The core of this revision is the creation of a system where private companies, with local government approval, collectively lease properties in specific areas, renovate them, and revitalize them. This will provide, for the first time, institutional backing for corporate-led revitalization of shuttered shopping streets and aging hot spring towns. Traditionally, private companies alone struggled to gain trust from property owners, leading to a succession of cases where revitalization did not progress nationwide. The revised law addresses this issue head-on by establishing a framework where local governments designate corporations responsible for regional revitalization and also approve agreements with property owners.
A renovated guest room building in the shopping street maintains the original signboard, preserving the streetscape.
"Business Trip SEKAI HOTEL" is precisely an initiative that preempts this private-sector-led regional revitalization model, which is the premise of this legal revision. It is a practical model for small-scale testing and verifying the potential of a region as a pre-stage to utilizing the system.
Service Content: "4 Steps" to Verify Business Viability
"Business Trip SEKAI HOTEL" implements Kujira's "editing and communication know-how to transform daily life into tourism resources," cultivated in non-tourism areas, in local regions through the following four steps:
① Verbalization of Regional Uniqueness
Organize regional resources into values that resonate with visitors and form a shared understanding.
② Experience Design (Implementation)
Based on the verbalized uniqueness, concretize it as an accommodation experience utilizing existing facilities.
③ Feedback Collection
Visualize consumer behavior and satisfaction through accommodation monitors and accumulate data.
④ Verification and Improvement
Review experience design based on results and connect it to a business plan for full-scale deployment.
SEKAI HOTEL Achievements
SEKAI HOTEL is a "town as a hotel" concept where vacant houses and shops in shopping streets are renovated into guest rooms, surrounding restaurants serve as dining venues, and local public baths are collaborated with for large public baths, thus envisioning the entire town as one hotel.
Since guest rooms, breakfast venues, and public baths are scattered throughout the town, staying guests will naturally tour the town.
"SEKAI PASS" is issued to guests, allowing them to receive unique services and experiences at partner shops by presenting it, thereby offering a stay experience that blends into the ordinary life of the travel destination.
When walking through the town with a SEKAI PASS around your neck, you receive bonuses and special offers at nearby stores.