A Japanese firm is offering hotel rooms for stressed-out couples who are having issues in their relationship due to the coronavirus lockdown.
On April 3, the hashtag #coronadivorce, where people largely ranted about their partners started trending on social media.
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Keisuke Arai, the owner of the company looked for a solution to help couples take time off from each other.
So far, Kasoku has received over 140 inquiries, mostly from women in their 30s to 40s, who are either looking for a quiet place to work or who want time away from their spouse. So far, 37 people have opted to rent a room. The service also comes with the offer of a free 30-minute divorce consultation with a legal official.
Arai said: “We wanted to prevent people from divorcing. The idea behind the vacation rentals is so that married couples can gain some much-needed time and space to think about their relationships.”
Spokesman Kosuke Amano said: “Among the users of this service are a wife who said she fled after having a big fight with her husband, and a woman who said she wants time to herself as she is tired of taking care of her children who are at home all day because of school closures, while her husband works remotely at home,
“We don’t have solid data showing divorce is on the rise, but media reports that divorce rates are rising in China and in Russia after lockdowns there led us to come up with this service,”
The company offers 500 fully furnished rooms in hotels and inns across Japan where Guests can stay from one day to six months. A unit costs just over 4,000 yen ($37) per day and as much as 90,000 ($844) per month.