Japan’s small-business succession crisis is deepening as owners retire without clear successors. Cafés, inns and other local businesses are turning to business-transfer platforms such as Relay and BATONZ to find new operators. For retiring owners, the issue is not only how to dispose of business assets, but also whether familiar local establishments can remain open. For younger entrepreneurs, taking over a business with an existing brand, equipment and customer base can offer a lower-cost route into a new industry.
A 31-year-old takes over a café for zero yen
Kengo Ohama, 31, works six days a week. Each morning, he rides his motorbike for about an hour from his home to Country Road café in Mihara, Hiroshima Prefecture. Starting at around 6 a.m., he cleans the premises, prepares pastries, roasts coffee beans and serves customers. After closing, he prepares for the next day and usually does not get home until around 11 p.m.
Ohama had long wanted to own a café. When he saw Country Road listed on Japan’s business-succession platform Relay, he decided to pursue the opportunity. The previous owners, an older couple preparing to retire, had become physically unable to continue running the café. They wanted someone who would take care of the shop and keep it active.
The agreement required Ohama to continue operating the café, while allowing him to redesign the interior himself. No business purchase price was paid. The operating assets—including the brand, furniture, kitchen equipment, recipes and supplier information—were transferred for zero yen. Ohama currently pays monthly rent of 50,000 yen.
The arrangement illustrates why some older owners are not focused solely on the sale price. Keeping the shop open can matter as much as recovering value from the business. For a successor, avoiding the cost of buying a brand and equipment frees up money and time for daily operations, renovation and marketing. It also leaves the new operator responsible for maintaining the business and rebuilding its earnings model.
57.4% of small businesses expect to close after the owner exits
A 2023 survey by the Japan Finance Corporation found that 57.4% of the small and midsize businesses surveyed expected to close after their current operators left, up from 52.6% in 2019. Many owners have no adult children who can inherit the business. Even when children are available, they may live elsewhere, have established careers or be unwilling to take on the demands of running a local small business.
The shortage of successors has created demand for specialist business-transfer platforms. Relay has listed about 900 businesses in total, with roughly 350 still actively listed. The owners on the platform are typically in their 60s or 70s, while potential successors are concentrated in their 30s and 40s.
BATONZ also handles conventional acquisitions by companies seeking to expand. As of March 2026, it had listed more than 42,000 businesses and facilitated matches between 3,421 buyers and sellers. The platform connects shops seeking successors after an owner’s retirement with individuals and companies looking to enter new regions or industries.
After a stroke, an inn owner looks beyond the family
Mori to Mizu Backpackers in Nagano Prefecture shows another form of succession need. Akitaka Mitsui, who had worked as an outdoor travel guide, opened the inn in 2011. The Covid-19 pandemic brought tourism to a standstill, forcing the inn to close temporarily. After reopening, Mitsui still had to reduce the scale of the business and cut staff numbers.
By 2022, visitor numbers had begun to recover, and Mitsui had considered expanding operations again. He then suffered a stroke. Although the condition was not severe, he required hospital treatment, and doctors never identified the cause, leaving open the possibility of another episode. Mitsui, 67, decided to stop operating the business and used BATONZ to seek a successor outside his family. He said he had never intended for his children to take over and wanted them to live according to their own choices.
The successor was 29-year-old Nagano native Kota Fujisawa. Fujisawa studied in Tokyo, later worked in consulting and had been looking for a way to contribute to the revitalisation of his home region. In May 2024, he took over the inn with two childhood friends; one later left the operating team. The property was subsequently renamed Local Knot Backpackers.
Fujisawa said the transaction price was below 10 million yen. The deal included the website, booking system and employees, but not the building in which the inn operates. The building’s monthly rent has not been disclosed.
Taking over an established business requires choices about what to preserve
Moving from a relatively stable office position at a consulting firm to running a small business required Fujisawa to take responsibility for the full chain of operations, including accommodation services, staff scheduling and the customer experience. Unlike his previous work, where he handled one part of large projects, he now has greater authority over decisions and direct contact with visitors from across Japan and overseas.
But taking over an established business does not mean starting from scratch. Fujisawa believes that changing everything would turn Local Knot Backpackers into an entirely different place. The new team has had to retain elements familiar to long-standing customers while revising parts of the operation that no longer fit current conditions.
For Japan’s small-business market, Relay and BATONZ do more than bring buyers and sellers together. They provide a route for businesses that might otherwise close for lack of a successor to remain in operation under a new generation of owners. Purchase prices, property leases, staffing and operating responsibilities still have to be negotiated case by case. The café and inn examples show that the succession gap is a shared problem for both sides of the market.