Conclusion: Coworking Spaces in Japan 2025
Japan’s coworking spaces are evolving in different directions, strongly influenced by location and size. Larger spaces in major cities tend to be profitable, while smaller spaces often break even or rely on government funding.
Member acquisition remains the biggest challenge, while Japanese operators more frequently struggle to hire skilled staff and explain the coworking space concept to potential users.
Despite these challenges, many space operators remain optimistic. The majority expects membership, revenue, and profitability to rise in the coming months. Additionally, growing demand for hybrid work models is expected to benefit coworking spaces and further diversify the market.
The full results of the Coworking Trends Survey 2025 provide in-depth insights into the industry’s economic development. Download the full report for free here.
To make this comprehensive and therefore very time-intensive analysis available free of charge for the Japanese market, Salto Systems contributed part of the funding. We appreciate this support and acknowledge it both in the report and in this article. The data collection and analysis were conducted independently and were not influenced by this funding.
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Statistical Notes:
This report includes only respondents who identified as operators or representatives of a coworking space or a similar flexible workspace business with one or more locations. A total of 351 respondents met this criterion, and their responses were included in the analysis. Of these, 84 were from Japan.
Information was collected for all locations operated by each company, so the number of represented coworking spaces significantly exceeds the number of respondents.
The data was gathered between October 21, 2024, and January 10, 2025.
How Were Coworking Spaces Defined?
There is no universal legal definition of coworking spaces. Various business models overlap with other flexible workspace concepts, and cultural differences shape how coworking spaces are perceived. Additionally, many spaces have evolved over time. This report therefore includes businesses that define themselves as a “coworking space” or a similar “flexible workspace.”
To provide further clarity, respondents were also asked about their primary business focus. In Japan, 37% identified as coworking spaces, 27% as community or collaboration workspaces, and 19% as hybrid or flexible workspaces. The remaining percentage was distributed across other, similar concepts.
If specific groups of coworking spaces appear to be associated with certain characteristics, this does not necessarily indicate a causal relationship. A field study like this cannot establish causality.
Thank you to the Official Partners of the current Coworking Trends Survey:
JCCO - Coworking Europe - This Week in Coworking - Deskpass - German Coworking Federation - European Coworking Association - Cobot - European Coworking Day - Optix - Spacebring - Coworking Convos - Avila Spaces - Coworking Switzerland - Coworks & Coworking Coop as well as thanks to everyone else who shared it without being an official partner, and to all participants themselves!
