Amid record-high unemployment and spiraling deflation, some leisure-related businesses are offering time-share deals for the right to share villas, luxury cars or pleasure boats in an attempt to lure customers.

A time-share participant talks to a Ceez Co. employee in front of the firm's office in Tokyo's Meguro Ward before taking his first ride in a Ferrari.

The businesses offer members the right to stay in a villa for a specified period each year for 10 or 20 years. The same concept is applied to the use of luxury cars and pleasure boats.

The time-sharing formula reportedly originated in the United States in the 1970s as a means for the real estate industry to effectively utilize unsold resort condominiums.

Tokyu Corp.'s "Big Week" program offers villas in domestic resorts. The year is divided into 51 segments and those segments are sold for periods of 10 or 20 years.

The price varies on the time of year, with more than 4 million yen demanded for the 20-year rights to popular holiday periods and around 300,000 yen for the 10-year rights to rainy season periods.

Tokyu, a major Tokyo railway with about 400 group companies, said it has already sold more than 1,500 contracts. It expects to have 10 villas available nationwide within the next few years.

Shinji Souda, deputy chief of Tokyu's resort section, said eliminating "redundant" facilities has cut prices; customers are asked to eat at nearby restaurants.

Tokyu touts the convenience of having a predetermined period booked each year, and points out that customers can conditionally swap rights with others, enabling them to avoid spending holidays in the same place at the same time each year.

Misawa Resort Co., affiliated with major wooden prefabricated house builder Misawa Homes Co., offers a similar service at about 40 facilities.

Company officials said their service has been popular, particularly with working women.

Hidekazu Matsunaga, president of Tokyo-based Nurselog Co., pointed out that normal resort dwellings are too expensive for the average person and, in many cases, may only be bought by a group of investors.

His company has been operating "membership villas" for the past two years, which are trailers at an auto camp on the Nasu Heights in Tochigi Prefecture.

Members pay 300,000 yen to 500,000 yen in membership fees and security deposits plus nominal monthly fees that were unspecified.

Tokyo-based Nurselog Co. offers these camping trailers in the Nasu Heights resort.

Tokyo-based Ceez Co. brokers the use of luxury automobiles such as Ferraris, Porsches or BMWs. The company stores and maintains the vehicles, which are jointly purchased by customers.

Company President Kazutoshi Niizuma said he started the firm during the asset-inflated bubble economy in the 1980s, adding that many Japanese still "yearn" for luxury cars.

If 10 people jointly buy a vehicle priced at around 15 million yen, each would pay a little over 2 million yen for the car, its registration and maintenance. This entitles each to drive the vehicle for 70 days over two years.

Yamaha Motor Co. in the spring began offering a time-share deal on boats. Their formula groups four people and allows one week of use per person per month.

While the time-share notion has yet to take off because the ideal of ownership remains intrinsic among Japanese, a Tokyu official said the prolonged recession has not dampened the demand for leisure, a fact that bodes well for his business.

Analysts reckon the key to success is to meet demand without undermining quality and convenience.