Olivia Burrell, a 32-year-old Canadian gospel singer, was fed up with living in Lilliputian studio apartments in Tokyo where she could see (and smell) her kitchen from her bed.

 32岁的加拿大福音歌手奥莉维亚•波瑞尔(Olivia Burrell)再也无法忍受自己在东京的蜗居，她躺在床上，都能看到自己的厨房并闻到厨房里传来的味道。

Three months ago, she took the plunge and moved in with five Japanese women living in a spacious 6-bedroom apartment in Harajuku, a buzzy neighborhood in the city center.

三个月前，奥莉维亚经过一番考虑，大胆地决定和五个日本女人一起住进原宿(Harajuku)一套有六个卧室的大房子里，那里是位于东京市中心的一个繁华街区。

But, so far, her roommate experience hasn't quite been the Japanese version of 'Friends' she had envisioned. Ms. Burrell walked into the kitchen one evening to find no fewer than eight separate bottles of dishwashing liquid on the kitchen counter, all neatly lined up and labeled with their owners' names.

但到目前为止，她的合租生活没有成为美剧《六人行》('Friends')的日本版。一天晚上，奥莉维亚走进厨房，发现操作台上立着至少八瓶洗涤液，摆得整整齐齐，上面还写着拥有者的名字。

'My roommates are neat and very courteous,' says Ms. Burrell, who has lived in Japan for seven years and who had lived with roommates in Canada. 'But this whole concept is new here, and people don't naturally want to share things as much.' 

Ko Sasaki for The Wall Street Journal.

田原来未（右）和喜多夏菜成立了名为“东京女孩置业”的房产中介“我的室友很爱干净，也非常有礼貌。” 奥莉维亚说道。她已经在日本住了七年，以前在加拿大也跟人一起合租。“但这里的观念跟西方完全不同，人们很自然地都不喜欢共用东西。”

Japan has no real tradition of roommates: People have preferred to live in their own tiny places. Now, fed up with a dearth of desirable, reasonably priced apartments in desirable Tokyo neighborhoods, a growing number of relatively affluent women in their 20s and 30s have started to create demand for a radical new segment of the Japanese real-estate market: apartments to share.

日本没有真正意义上的合租传统，人们喜欢住在自己的小房子里。但现在，由于东京地区缺少条件好、价格合理的公寓，越来越多二十到四十岁经济收入尚可的女性开始自发地形成一个日本房地产的全新领域：合租市场。

The timing of the trend coincides with a glut of upscale apartments in Tokyo, which have flooded the market since the collapse of Lehman Brothers last year. Foreign bankers decamped, leaving behind many three- and four-bedroom apartments, popular with expatriates, which have been vacant for months.

这一趋势正好赶上东京高级公寓的供大于求，2008年雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)倒闭后，这类住宅大量涌入市场，外国银行家纷纷搬家，留下很多三四个卧室的大房子。这类房源以前深受外派人员的青睐，如今却会空置好几个月。

Kumi Tahara, 27, and Kana Arai, 32, stepped into the void, founding a real-estate agency named 'Tokyo Girls' Real Estate.' They persuaded some landlords to let them slice up four-bedroom apartments into as many as 10 smaller rooms, which they then started renting out to young Japanese women. 'After the Lehman shock, a lot of gaijin [foreigners] left, and there are some places that have been vacant for more than half a year,' says Ms. Arai, who wears a pink sequined bow on her head and favors miniskirts and knee-high boots. 'The landlords pay the redesign fees and we're able to increase the rent.'

 27岁的田原来未和32岁的喜多夏菜发现这一市场空白，成立了一家名为“东京女孩置业”的(Tokyo Girls' Real Estate)地产中介，说服一些房东把四个卧室的公寓改造成十个小房间，然后开始向年轻的日本女性出租。“雷曼事件之后，很多外国人离开，有些房子都空置了半年以上。” 喜多说道。她头戴一个粉红闪光片的蝴蝶结，身着一套迷你裙，脚穿一双长筒皮靴。“房东支付重新布局的费用，这样我们就能提高租金。”

One apartment in Roppongi, the expat mecca in Tokyo, commanded 450,000 yen a month (about $5,000) before its previous tenants left. Ms. Tahara and Ms. Arai redesigned the place, chopping it up into eight small rooms that are about 100 square feet each, which they rented for 80,000 yen apiece. The net result: They increased rental income by 190,000 yen a month, of which they receive a 10% cut.

 东京的六本木(Roppongi)是外派人员的聚居地。这里有一套公寓，上一个房客支付的每月租金为45万日圆（约合5,000美元），田原和喜多将房子重新布局，改造成八个小房间，每间约9平方米多一点，出租价为8万日圆。就这样，她们把整体房租每月提高了19万日圆，并从中得到10%的佣金。

'The market is improving a little bit, but it's nowhere near as robust as it was before' Lehman's woes says Keiko Matsumoto, a manager at Ken Real Estate Investment Advisors Ltd., an agent that caters to expats and high net-worth Japanese. 'I think the idea of facilitating shared housing is very smart in this environment.'

“现在市场有点起色，但跟雷曼倒闭前还是没法比。”专为外派人员和日本富人服务的凯恩房地产投资咨询公司(Ken Real Estate Investment Advisors Ltd.)的经理松本惠子(Keiko Matsumoto)说，“我认为在这种环境下开发合租市场是个很好的想法。”

In Tokyo, one of the world's most densely populated cities, the concept of having roommates or sharing quarters has never been popular. The majority of young Tokyoites choose to live in cramped, cluttered, soulless studios known as usagi goya in Japanese, or 'rabbit hutches.'

在东京这个全世界人口最密集的都市之一，跟人合租的观念从未盛行过，东京绝大多数的年轻人选择住在拥挤、杂乱、没有情调的小房子里，日语中称之为usagi goya，即“兔子窝”。

It has been thought preferable to live in a shoebox than to share a space with strangers. The lack of roommate-friendly apartments was also driven by developers who built up apartment complexes over the decades that were often chopped up into tiny, single rooms to maximize rental income.

日本人一直认为，蜗居总比跟陌生人合租要好。此外，几十年来房地产开发商都将公寓设计成一个个很小的单间，从而有利于租金的最大化，但也因此导致市场上缺乏适合多人合租的公寓。

Ms. Tahara, a former Japan Airlines check-in attendant, and Ms. Arai met at a real-estate agency and took note of the numerous requests for roommates they received from young, female clients. They sensed there was a business idea in all of the requests and started their company two years ago. Since the inception of Tokyo Girls' Real Estate, they have placed more than 100 women in 12 properties.

 田原以前在日本航空公司(Japan Airlines)做地勤，她和喜多在一家地产中介那里相识，发现有大量的年轻女性客户提出合租需求。她们察觉到了这种需求蕴含的商机，两年前成立了自己的公司。自“东京女孩置业”公司创立以来，她们已在12处房子里为100多名女性客户提供合租服务。

Ms. Tahara says the company is profitable. Theirs is the only agency in Tokyo that caters exclusively to working women in their 30s. Other 'shared housing' businesses exist, but most handle old buildings in less desirable locations that cater to backpackers, foreigners on a short stay or old people.

田原说，公司能够盈利，这是东京唯一一家为30多岁工作女性提供服务的地产中介。当然，市场上也有其他公司提供合租服务，但大多数地产的位置都不太好，目标客户主要是短期停留的背包客、外国人或老年人。

Central to the success of Ms. Arai and Ms. Tahara's business is that they redecorate and redesign interiors themselves, adding touches such as claw-footed bathtubs, gold wallpaper, pink rhinestones and disco balls. The uninspiring apartments end up as fantasy playlands. 'I used to live in a shared home in Tokyo, but it was so old and falling apart -- freezing in the winter, and sweltering in the summer,' says Ms. Arai. 'These represent the dreams of these women, transformed into reality. We put lights on mirrors, so when they put on makeup they feel like actresses.'

 喜多和田原的公司之所以能够成功，核心在于她们会亲自重新装饰和设计房子内部，增加一些更具特点的东西，如爪形浴缸、金色壁纸、粉色假钻和迪斯科摇滚灯，从而让呆板的公寓变成一个梦幻王国。“我在东京跟人合租过，但房子老旧不堪，冬天冷得要命，夏天挥汗如雨。” 喜多说，“我们布置的房子把女人的梦想变成现实，我们在镜子上方装上镜灯，让她们在化妆时觉得自己就像演员一样。”

But the newness of this roommate culture in Japan means that many young women aren't prepared for what it's like to share housing. Ms. Arai and Ms. Tahara, who mediate disputes, say one of the biggest issues is hair clogging up the shower drain.

 然而，合租在日本尚属新鲜事物，这意味着很多年轻女人还没有准备好如何跟人合租。喜多和田原经常调解合租中出现的矛盾，她们说最大的纠纷之一就是头发阻塞了浴室的下水道。

And men aren't ever allowed inside the women's shared homes. Ms. Tahara and Ms. Arai believe that the apartments should be a refuge for women. 'If there was some sort of problem, then we couldn't be responsible for it,' says Ms. Tahara. 'And if a guy ended up staying over a lot and used water and electricity, it would create an unfair burden on the others.'

女性合租房里永远不允许男人进入，田原和喜多认为，她们安排的合租屋应该是女性的避难所。“如果发生什么问题，我们无法对此负责。” 田原说，“如果一个男人经常在里头过夜，用水用电，对其他的合租者也不公平。”

Ms. Arai and Ms. Tahara interview all of the potential tenants before they sign a lease.

在签署租赁合同之前，田原和喜多会与所有的可能租客进行面谈。

Demographic shifts in Japan have created a breed of single women who work late, are often out on the weekends and just want a convenient place to crash. 'The average age for marriage in Japan is steadily increasing, and fewer females want to live at home with their parents,' says Takanori Nakamura, a senior research and development director at Hakuhodo Inc, a Japanese advertising agency. 'Meanwhile, salaries are decreasing and women want to maintain their lifestyles. Rent is the first thing they cut.'

日本的人口趋势变化已经造就一类新的群体：单身年轻女性，工作到很晚，周末经常出去， 想找一个就近的住所一头栽倒睡觉。“日本的平均结婚年龄正在稳步上升，越来越少的女性愿意和她们的父母住在一起。”一家日本广告公司Hakuhodo Inc.的资深研发主管中村孝则说，“与此同时，工资水平在下降，而女性不想因此影响到生活品质，房租是她们第一个会削减的开支。”

Each apartment that Ms. Arai and Ms. Tahara redecorate is done with a concept in mind. The theme of the Harajuku apartment, where Ms. Burrell lives, is 'Saturday Night Fever.'

田原和喜多装饰的每一套公寓都有一个主题。波瑞尔住的那套原宿的公寓主题是“周六晚上的热情”。

'The design here is very cute,' says Sachiko Saito, a 28-year-old systems engineer who moved into the apartment last week. 'Japanese people aren't used to the idea of sharing an apartment, but I don't think it's very difficult. I specifically looked for places on the Internet that I could share with others.'

“这里的设计非常可爱，”上周搬进公寓的28岁系统工程师斋藤幸子(Sachiko Saito)，“日本人还不习惯跟人合租一套公寓，但我觉得没什么问题，我在网上专门找那些可以合租的房子。”

Ms. Burrell, who speaks Japanese, says she was bummed out at first about the 'no men' rule. 'I was a little disappointed because I have a lot of male friends, but, ultimately, it makes sense. There are a lot of good things about sharing. After living alone for so long here, I needed to be more conscious of people. I'll learn a lot.'

波瑞尔会讲日语，她说自己刚开始的时候被“不许进男人”的规定吓了一跳。“我有点失望，因为自己有很多男性朋友，但最后我觉得这个规定是有道理的。合租有很多好处，我在日本一个人住了很久，需要多跟人接触，我会从中学到很多东西。”