TOKYO/FUKUOKA -- Akiko Yamamoto, a 32-year-old office worker from Kyushu, Japan's southernmost main island, has a side business: She rents out an apartment in Tenjin, Fukuoka, Kyushu's largest downtown area, to tourists.
The practice that Airbnb began popularizing about a decade ago has a longer history in Japan. There's even a Japanese word for it, minpaku.
