Rental Lab Space in Tokyo Area More Than Doubles Since 2010, Offering Opportunities for Companies with Limited Resources

By Yuto Inoue / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

7:00 JST, March 2, 2026

Rental laboratories in the Tokyo metropolitan area have been on the rise, more than doubling in space since 2010 to around 400,000 square meters.

These facilities have grown in popularity because they make it easy to connect with other industries and secure personnel, which means they are likely to expand further over the next five years.

Link Scholars’ Hub, or LiSH, located in Takanawa Gateway City, a redevelopment district in Minato Ward, Tokyo, is a rental research facility opened by East Japan Railways Co. in May last year. The about 1,000-square-meter site overlooking central Tokyo includes a shared lab and labs specializing in microorganisms, plants and aquatic environments, and they are equipped with freezers (minus 80 C and minus 30 C) and incubators.

Currently, the facility is used by around 150 companies, including those in the biotechnology and healthcare fields. Joint research is also being conducted on projects such as those aiming to regenerate seaweed and inspect cultured meat.

Metagen, Inc. a biotech venture based in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, moved its research base from Kawasaki to LiSH in October last year. The company, which has been working on controlling the intestinal environment for health improvements, said that being closer to central Tokyo makes it easier to interact with people from a variety of industries.

Lee Chol Gyu, 42, a researcher at the research base, said: “We can consult with other companies about our research, which could lead to new discoveries. Other companies sometimes invite us to collaborate on research, which gives us opportunities to try new things.”

There has been a surge in rental laboratories opening in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Mitsui Fudosan Co. has been expanding its rental lab business since 2019, setting up six facilities in the Tokyo area and Osaka. Nomura Real Estate Development Co. plans to complete a seven-story office building with rental laboratories in Yokohama in 2027.

According to a survey conducted by real estate service company Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc, the total floor area of rental research facilities in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama and Ibaraki prefectures increased from 140,000 square meters in 2010 to about 400,000 square meters by the end of 2025. It is expected to reach more than 700,000 square meters by 2030.

“Rental labs become a place for companies such as startups that don’t have enough funds to set up their own research facilities,” said Koji Naito, Research Director of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Capital Markets Division.

An official at Nomura Real Estate Development said, “We can expect demand in terms of securing human resources because of the number of researchers who want to work in central Tokyo.”

However, the trend could be a setback for regional areas that have been working to attract research facilities.

“The market for rental labs has yet to fully mature, and there are still opportunities in regional areas,” said Gaku Funada, principal at The Japan Research Institute, Ltd. “It’s important to create an environment that attracts labs by showcasing their unique characteristics through activities such as collaboration with local universities and industries.”