Local Authorities in Tokyo Tightening Rules on Minpaku Private Lodging Services amid Complaints about Noisy Groups and Marauding Crows

The Yomiuri Shimbun

20:00 JST, September 16, 2025

Complaints about garbage and noise related to minpaku private lodging services have led some municipal governments in Tokyo to order some operators to temporarily suspend business or to plan to toughen relevant regulations.

Along with an increase in minpaku facilities, trouble between guests of the private lodgings and nearby residents have been increasingly serious.

On Friday, the Shinjuku Ward Office announced that it had issued 30-day business suspension orders to 12 operators of minpaku private lodging services in the ward under the Private Lodging Business Law.

Though the law obliges minpaku operators to regularly report to administrative authorities about such details as the number of days when the private lodging service is used, the 12 service operators did not follow the rule and did not obey orders to improve their business operations.

It was the first time in Tokyo that a business suspension order was issued under the law.

Plan to prohibit new facilities

Toshima Ward, Tokyo, plans to limit the periods of operation for minpaku private lodging services in the ward to summer and winter vacation seasons and also to prohibit opening new facilities in some designated areas.

The ward office judged that a certain degree of restriction is necessary as an increasing number of ward residents have complained of issues with minpaku users, such as noise or improper handling of trash.

Trouble with the minpaku services has occurred also in other wards of Tokyo, and thus municipal governments have begun toughening regulations or are considering doing so.

Kiyoshi Sakakibara, 78, chairman of a community association in the Ikebukuro Honcho 2-chome area, said with a sigh: “Since minpaku began increasing in this area, garbage left outside has always been ravaged by crows. I wonder how we should deal with it.”

In and around the area, several minpaku service operators have started the business using units in condominiums and stand-alone houses since the COVID-19 pandemic eased in Japan about two years ago.

According to Sakakibara, since the same period, there has been a string of such troublesome cases as unsorted garbage being left out on days that were not collections dates and rolling suitcases being left unattended on roads.

He said that even when he protested to the minpaku operators, they brushed off his complaints by denying there was proof that such acts were done by their minpaku guests.

He said, “Toughening regulations is necessary to make [minpaku users] follow the rules.

No restriction, more emergence

The number of minpaku private lodging facilities in the ward was 1,473 in the last fiscal year. The number doubled from 657 in fiscal 2018, when the law was enacted.

Along with the increase, complaints from residents near the facilities have also risen. Last fiscal year, the number of minpaku-related complaints reached 120.

In addition to problems related to putting out garbage, many of the complaints cited such issues as minpaku users noisily pulling rolling suitcases early in the mornings or late at night and gaggles of users making loud noises.

An official of the ward office said, “Because we have not set regulations on the business, openings of new minpaku facilities were more concentrated here than in other wards [of Tokyo] where wards’ own regulations were imposed.”

The official added: “As there are cases in which the operators of the business live overseas, we were unable to contact them when trouble occurred. Responding to the problems is difficult.”

In the wake of such problems surfacing, the Toshima Ward Office aims to revise its local ordinance about minpaku private lodging and limit the periods when the businesses are allowed to operate in the ward to a summer vacation season, which is July and August, and a winter one, which is from Dec. 20 to Jan. 10.

The ward office will not allow private lodging services in areas designated exclusively for residential purposes or those in which many schools are located.

The revised ordinance will oblige minpaku business operators to hold explanation meetings for nearby residents when they will begin the services and oblige operators living overseas to assign agents inside Japan.

The ward office will hold public hearings in the middle of this month and submit a bill to revise the ordinance during a regular session of the ward assembly in November. Then, the ward office plans to enforce the revised ordinance in July next year.

Other wards to follow suit

In Tokyo’s Kita Ward, too, residents continue voicing complaints about minpaku private lodgings.

The Kita Ward Office received 53 minpaku-related complaints last fiscal year. The number was the highest ever.

This year, the ward office has held consultative meetings for establishing its own local ordinance about the minpaku business.

The ward office is considering a plan to impose certain criteria on operating the businesses in specific areas, such as those exclusively for residential purposes.

An official of the ward office’s living and sanitary conditions division said, “To prevent living conditions of ward residents from worsening, we want to ensure appropriate ways of operating minpaku businesses.”

The Arakawa Ward Office and the Koto Ward Office have also established their own restrictions on minpaku businesses.

In the whole of the two wards, minpaku services are only allowed to be offered between noon on Saturdays and noon on Mondays.