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My favorite part about the coworking movement in Japan -- and I don't get much exposure to it since it hasn't arrived in force in Ogaki yet -- is that it provid
by patio11 13y ago
My favorite part about the coworking movement in Japan -- and I don't get much exposure to it since it hasn't arrived in force in Ogaki yet -- is that it provides a community and social reinforcement which says "Just because you're not a salaryman doesn't mean you're a homeless vagabond!" to participants.
Japanese young folks, in particular, can really use that message. It is not a particularly popular message in Japan, which is largely organized for the benefit of salarymen and supports a few variants like "stay-at-home mothers" and "retired people" but institutionally is almost entirely unaware that there are exotic options like "freelancing."
I generally work out of cafes in Ogaki when not working from my kitchen table, and have been told three times by well-meaning cafe owners "Don't worry kiddo! If you hang in there I'm sure one of these days you'll find a job! Just keep sending those emails!"
- whosbacon 13y agoI'm impressed by how many people are working on the side. It's not unusual to see 5, 10 people coming in around 6, 7 pm to work on their ventures or open sourced projects. I never got to ask, but I assume they have other day jobs or duties to fulfill.
- golergka 13y agoWell, doesn't the majority of us have some kind of side-projects? If I had a good coworking space nearby, I'd head there after work too, instead of trying to anything at home.
- epaladin 13y agoI have a friend who was thinking of starting a company a few years ago, but ended up joining a company as a salesman since that's what he could get. Maybe I'll see if he's heard anything about the growing startup culture.
- cgarrigue 13y agoIs coworking a popular thing in big japanese cities? Being a salaryman since arriving in the country I haven't had any exposure to it. However I noticed the place where the Tokyo iOS developer meeting happens every month would be perfect for co-working: many rooms of different sizes, enabling people to set up some group meetings whenever is needed.
- gillygize 13y agoTokyo iOS Meetup organizer here. The place where we meet is a company called Voyage Group, which is actually a proper company rather than a co-working space. It is unique in that, as I understand it, it is made up mostly of small, wholly-owned subsidiary companies, which is why there are all of those different-sized rooms. You are right that it would be good for co-working, too. Co-working spaces have definitely expanded in the past couple years though. Co-ba in Shibuya and Hub Tokyo in Meguro are two that I have visited that seemed like they had good communities.