And that brings us to another, extraordinarily clever part of their model. The majority of policy violations are not carried out by the companies themselves, but by Uber drivers and Airbnb hosts. These people are not employees, so Uber and Airbnb are not legally responsible for their actions. Legally, Uber and Airbnb are just platforms and hosts and drivers act independently and on their own initiative. Bs! The worst thing Airbnb has ever done has been working with corrupt politicians in Japan. They obviously didn`t understand the game and I bet they wouldn`t even open an office in Japan if they knew what they were dealing with. Japanese regulators have played with them in the traditional Japanese way of doing business. That is, they lured them into a trap. Made them believe that they were going to exploit Minpaku and make it legal, but in reality, they just wanted to control it and eventually break it.
Regardless, Airbnb complied with the law and removed about 80% of its listings and effectively started enforcing the new requirements instead of just handing over legal responsibilities to their hosts. In this way, they have maintained a pretty good image here in Japan. From a common sense perspective, this is obviously absurd, but this legal fiction provides an effective legal shield for both business models. Authorities cannot easily prosecute companies because they do not directly violate the law, and it is politically disastrous to target individual drivers or hosts to enforce it. At first, several cities made high-profile arrests of Uber drivers, and the reaction was swift and fierce. Uber was seen as an innovator and the government was seen as both anti-progressive and anti-citizen by arresting ordinary middle-class citizens who were simply trying to make ends meet. Apart from all the feel-good fluff of the absurdly named “sharing economy”. The business models of Uber and Airbnb revolve around a kind of legal arbitration.
Uber and Airbnb spend a lot of money to change laws and legitimize their business. And don`t get me wrong, this is completely normal corporate behavior. Also for new businesses. Tesla is now in a multi-state battle, trying to overturn laws that require selling through local retailers, and Amazon has fought tooth and nail to prevent sales taxes from being levied on out-of-state purchases. Companies around the world are campaigning for unfavorable laws to be changed, but the difference is that the laws in question are the ones that determine the legality of Uber and Airbnb`s business model. I see that you don`t monetize tokyonightowl.com, don`t waste your traffic, you can make extra money every month with a new monetization method. This is the best Adsense alternative for any type of website (they endorse all websites), for more information, just search gooogle: Murgrabia Tools And to learn more about traveling in Japan, check out our articles on: Uber and AirBnb at scale in the US because they went unnoticed. When local regulators understood how disruptive these companies would be (in the best and worst sense of the word). Well, they had become too big to be easily regulated. Local regulators were not fighting a struggling small startup, but a generalized, massively funded lobbying machine.
And local governments lose. The United States is certainly not alone in being divided between those responsible for passing laws and those responsible for enforcing them. However, separation is extreme in America, where it is perfectly normal to wage a campaign against those who enforce the law, while conducting a charm offensive to woo those who make the law. In fact, I think one of the reasons ridesharing still hasn`t caught on in Japan, despite Softbank`s massive investment and intensive lobbying, is because of how Uber has poisoned it so well when it entered the market. Non-Uber ride-sharing companies have been successful in many parts of Asia, but not in Japan. The whole industry has a bad image, and I don`t think that`s going to change anytime soon. Both take the time to educate consumers and regulators about the regulations that should be changed and how these changes would benefit society as a whole. And both companies have even done what would be unthinkable in the United States. They signaled their willingness to change their business model if necessary to comply with respective laws and regulations. The taxi app, which has already been launched in smaller towns, connects app users with taxis from Hinomaru Limousine, Tokyo MK Corp and Ecosystem in the Japanese capital.
Now, many of these laws and regulations could be outdated and unnecessary or even harmful to the economy as a whole. That is not what I want to talk about here today. Finally, I am not debating which system is best. I`m not saying America should look more like Japan or that Japan should look more like America. The fact is that companies coming to Japan – especially one that plans to disrupt Japan – need to understand these differences and develop a different strategy for the Japanese market. In this case, you can think of two options, which are the airport taxi and Uber. If you stop immediately, the regulators save face, you can pretend that you never meant to do anything wrong, and many will be forgiven. Surprisingly, this also seems to work for egregious violations.
In many ways, you get a free pass to Japan. Before you travel to Japan, remember to download the JapanTaxi app. The app provides a platform for several taxi companies (Japan is full of small taxi companies, most of them with 10 cars or less). It`s still new, take advantage of local knowledge – ask locals to tell you about the app when planning your trip to Japan. Tokyo Airport Taxi: If you choose Tokyo Airport Taxi, the vehicle is a Toyota Alphard, a 7-seater vehicle. Up to 6 people can travel with plenty of luggage space. Japanese people are trained from an early age to blindly follow rules and regulations, never ask questions, never be different from society (don`t be the nail that stands out), and accept whatever local businesses and corrupt politicians dictate. They are not encouraged to think freely, they are encouraged to think independently, they are trained to be a human robot. Cute, smiling and submissive.
Japan is a safe country, people can live long, but they don`t live much. His whole life is devoted to the rules and values of society” rules that somehow still serve the rich and corporations. No wonder more and more Japanese are trying to emigrate abroad. Japan has a good reputation as a country with very small cases of corruption, but there is no more corrupt country in the world. Only this corruption is carried out at a high level and smoothly. But everyone is corrupt and works together: politicians, law enforcement, judges. All from a single source. The conviction rate in Japan is 99.99%.
Did you know? And do you really believe that 99.99% of the people who were brought to justice were really all guilty? There is certainly some truth to these articles, but they overlook a broader and much more important factor about why these companies struggle in Japan and Asia in general. Now, once they tell you to stop, your only real option is to apologize for the inconvenience and then change your behavior. The vagueness of the law gives all parties involved a degree of plausible denial and the opportunity to reasonably state that they are doing everything they can to comply with the law. So Airbnb lost the first round, but if they play the long game, and they seem to be, they might just have another bite in that apple. Since so much about the Japanese travel industry is disrupted, they could get there in the end, and I hope they will. It is easy to admire Japan after a few business trips or 2-3 years of living here, try to live in this country for 15 years and be an entrepreneur. Then you might think differently. Japan sets up coronavirus testing centers near airports for foreign travelers Starting Friday, users in the Japanese capital will be able to hail taxis via the Uber app. Uber partners with three local taxi companies to provide 600 cars, mostly in the city`s central business district and the popular neighborhoods of Shinagawa, Akihabara and Asakusa. However, it may already be too late for them because: Uber: On the other hand, if you order an Uber ride, the previous reservation cannot be made at that time. This is probably because the market is still too small at the moment. It is a real shame and stigma to knowingly and publicly break the law or suspend one`s activities.
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