Japan Farm Stay Association

What Japan Farm Stay Association does

Japan Farm Stay Association (doing business as FARM STAY Japan) is a non-profit coordinating body that operates the 農泊総合情報プラットフォーム, a nationwide information and matching platform for agricultural stays across Japan. The platform aggregates registered facilities from regional agricultural stay councils (農泊協議会) across at least six prefectures, enabling travelers to search accommodations by region, map, and theme. Its core product integrates three service categories — 泊まる (Stay), 食べる (Eat), 体験する (Experience) — into a single searchable interface, with group and corporate travel booking supported via a dedicated matching site operated with the Japan Council for the Promotion of Agricultural Stay (JPCSA).

The platform serves three primary customer segments: individual travelers seeking authentic rural experiences, organizations coordinating corporate training and team-building retreats, and schools conducting experiential learning programs. Distribution is delivered through three specialized portals: a consumer-facing website (farmstay-japan.jp), a corporate portal (corp.farmstay-japan.jp) for travel operators, and a maintenance portal (maint.farmstay-japan.jp) for regional councils and content providers. Pricing for individual farm stay accommodations is set by each registered facility; the association does not appear to take a transactional cut.

The business model is non-profit and non-transactional in nature. Revenue sources are not publicly disclosed but likely derive from Japan's national 農泊 (Agricultural Stay) policy framework, government grants, regional council membership support, and partner contributions rather than direct platform fees. There are no funding rounds, no headcount data, no disclosed AI/ML capabilities, and no published pricing for platform services. Notable featured partners include regional councils in Iwate, Akita, Niigata, Mie, Kyoto, and Okinawa, plus case-study partners NPO G-net (corporate training) and Tokyo Sugamo Gakuen (educational trips).

Name

Japan Farm Stay Association

Legal name

Japan Farm Stay Association

Website

https://farmstay-japan.jp

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Japan Farm Stay Association operates FARM STAY Japan, a non-profit nationwide platform that aggregates farm stay accommodations, local dining, and rural experience programs from regional agricultural councils across Japan, serving individual travelers, corporate training groups, and schools seeking authentic agritourism.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Tourism Platform

SIC

Hotels, Rooming Houses, Camps & Other Lodging Places (7000)

akta.pro primary industry

Farm Stays & Agritourism Lodges (THAMADAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Farmstay Rooms (Working Farms/Ranches) (THAMABAG), Farmstay B&Bs & Agritourism Inns (THAGAHAG), Agritourism Eco-Lodges & Farm Nature Stays (THAAAHAL)

Keywords

• Agricultural tourism
• Farm stay services
• Rural experience booking
• Group travel coordination
• Agritourism platform

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

The Japan Farm Stay Association operates FARM STAY Japan, a nationwide agricultural stay (農泊) information platform that aggregates registered farm accommodations, local dining, and rural experience programs from regional agricultural councils across Japan. The platform enables individual travelers to search by region, map, or theme, and provides dedicated B2B portals for travel operators and regional councils to coordinate group travel, corporate training programs, and educational trips.

Product overview

FARM STAY Japan is a unified platform that serves as the comprehensive information hub for agricultural farm stays (農泊) across Japan. The platform integrates three main service categories — 泊まる (Stay/Lodging), 食べる (Eat/Dining), and 体験する (Experience) — into a single searchable interface. The platform aggregates data from regional farm stay councils nationwide, enabling users to search by geographic area, map, or themed categories. It features group and organization travel matching services and corporate training programs at farm stays.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• FARM STAY Japan Information Platform A comprehensive nationwide information platform for agricultural stays (農泊) across Japan that allows users to search, explore, and book farm accommodations, local dining, and rural experience activities from registered regional agricultural councils. Organized into Stay (泊まる), Eat (食べる), and Experience (体験する) categories and searchable by region, map, or theme.
• Group and Corporate Travel Matching Service A B2B service operated through the corporate portal (corp.farmstay-japan.jp) and the Farm Stay Region × Travel Operator Matching Site (jpcsa.org/matchingsite) that connects group/corporate travel organizers and travel operators with farm stay regions across Japan for coordinated group accommodations, corporate training, and educational trips at scale.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• 遠野山・里・暮らしネットワーク (Tonō Mountain, Village, Life Network)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional agricultural council in Iwate Prefecture registered with the FARM STAY Japan platform. Maximum accommodation capacity of 80 persons within region, expandable to 130 persons with neighboring area coordination. Represents the agricultural lifestyle and rural community experience network.
• 仙北市農山村体験推進協議会 (Akita Semboku City Agricultural Mountain Experience Promotion Council)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional council in Akita Prefecture promoting agricultural mountain village experiences. Maximum accommodation capacity of 140 persons within region, expandable to 240 persons with neighboring area coordination. Registered facility on FARM STAY Japan platform.
• 水沢棚田協議会 (HOME HOME NIIGATA) (Mizusawa Terrace Rice Paddies Council)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional council in Niigata Prefecture focused on terrace rice paddy agricultural experiences. Maximum accommodation capacity of 200 persons within region, expandable to 300 persons with neighboring area coordination. Part of HOME HOME NIIGATA initiative.
• 紀北町海山地区渚泊推進協議会 (Mie Kihoku Town Mountain-Sea Area Beach Stay Promotion Council)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional council in Mie Prefecture promoting combined mountain-sea area experiences and beach stays. Maximum accommodation capacity of 250 persons within region, expandable to 450 persons with neighboring area coordination.
• 南丹市美山観光まちづくり協会 (Kyoto Nantan City Miyama Tourism Town Development Association)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional tourism association in Kyoto Prefecture promoting Miyama area agricultural experiences. Maximum accommodation capacity of 40 persons within region, expandable to 120 persons with neighboring area coordination.
• おおぎみまるごとツーリズム推進協議会 (Okinawa Kunigami Village Whole Tourism Promotion Council)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional council in Okinawa Prefecture promoting comprehensive village tourism experiences. Maximum accommodation capacity of 50 persons within region, expandable to 270 persons with neighboring area coordination.
• NPO法人 G-net (G-net)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNPO G-net provides corporate training programs utilizing agricultural stays. Their representative (南田修司代表理事) is featured as an advocate for agricultural stays as a solution-oriented corporate training and co-creation learning venue.
• 東京・巣鴨学園 (Tokyo Sugamo Gakuen)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducational institution featured as a case study for using agricultural stays as experiential learning environments. The school is described as utilizing farm stays as learning spaces for students without predetermined answers, emphasizing the value of hands-on rural experiences in education.
• 農泊地域×旅行事業者 マッチングサイト (Farm Stay Region × Travel Operator Matching Site)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMatching platform connecting farm stay regions with travel operators for group and organizational travel bookings. Operated through the Japan Council for the Promotion of Agricultural Stay (農泊)等団体旅行促進連絡会議), this matching site facilitates B2B connections between rural regions and travel industry professionals.

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Hipcamp: Hipcamp is a US-based marketplace for farm stays, camping, and rural outdoor accommodations. It is the most analogous farm-stay-focused platform globally, sharing the same core model of curated rural/farm lodging discovery.
• StayJapan: StayJapan is Japan's best-known direct farm stay / vacation rental booking marketplace. It is the closest direct competitor to FARM STAY Japan, targeting the same travelers and hosts in the same agricultural and rural niche within Japan.

Broad incumbents

• Rakuten Travel: Rakuten Travel is one of Japan's largest domestic travel platforms covering hotels, ryokans, and rural lodgings. It competes for the same domestic traveler booking flow but without an agritourism specialization.
• Airbnb: Airbnb is the dominant global short-term rental platform. While it offers rural and farm-adjacent listings in Japan and runs an 'Experiences' product, it is a broad incumbent rather than a specialized agritourism operator.
• Booking.com: Booking.com is one of the largest global lodging platforms with extensive Japanese rural inventory. It overlaps with FARM STAY Japan on accommodation discovery but does not specialize in farm stays or agritourism.
• Jalan (Recruit): Jalan is a leading Japanese travel and leisure booking platform operated by Recruit. It covers a broad set of domestic accommodations and competes for general travel demand rather than specialized farm stays.

Emerging players

• Wabunka: Wabunka is a curated marketplace for authentic Japanese cultural and rural experiences. It is an emerging player that targets international travelers seeking rural and experiential programs — directly competing with FARM STAY Japan's experiential and educational segments.
• WWOOF Japan: WWOOF Japan links volunteers with organic farms for work-stay experiences. It overlaps with FARM STAY Japan's rural experiential offering but is structured around work-exchange rather than paid farm stays.

Regional players

• Vacation Farm (農林漁業体験民宿) — Japan MAFF: The MAFF-administered Vacation Farm (体験民宿) registry is a parallel Japanese government-affiliated farm stay framework. It is comparable because it aggregates the same supply category under a different official registry.
• FarmStay US: FarmStay US is a directory-style farm stay association for the United States. It is comparable as a national farm stay aggregator, but operates in a different geography than Japan.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Japan Farm Stay Association