BEIJING -- Four years ago, just as Japan's foreign tourism boom was igniting, Tan Xueting, and a few friends hit upon a bright idea.
They bought a private house in Osaka, in western Japan, for about 22.5 million yen ($210,000) and started renting rooms to Chinese travelers as a side business. Now their company, Yuyu Japan, is riding Japan's growing wave of minpaku -- private lodgings offered in homes and apartments to cost-conscious travelers.
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