Startups in Tokyo abandon offices amid coronavirus upheaval

Companies that can get out of their leases discover a new cost-cutting measure

Overflow's Minato Ward office. Executives of young companies have learned that their workers can be just as productive at home.

RYOTARO YAMADA, AMI YAMADA and REI NAKAFUJI, Nikkei staff writers

May 10, 2020 10:59 JST

TOKYO -- The operator of Machimachi, a social network for neighbors, on April 17 gave its landlord the required three-month notification that it intends to vacate an office near Tokyo's Shibuya Station.

Like other Japanese startups, Machimachi finds itself at the vanguard of a cost-cutting trend that centers around office space, made superfluous to some businesses by society's response to the novel coronavirus.