Three different laws license paid lodging in Tokyo, and which one a room sits under decides more than the neighbourhood does. A hotel, a ryokan and a simple lodging house are licensed under the Hotel Business Act; a minpaku listing is registered under the Housing Accommodation Business Act and may host guests on no more than 180 days a year; a room in Ota Ward can instead be certified under the national strategic special zone scheme, which sets a minimum stay of two nights and three days and no annual cap at all.
That is why a Shinjuku listing in an exclusively residential zone cannot take a Tuesday, why an Ota Ward listing insists on two nights, and why the lodging tax on a Tokyo room in 2027 is not the tax on it today.
The 180-day cap is counted from noon, not from midnight
The Japan Tourism Agency’s minpaku portal states the ceiling plainly: the number of days on which people are accommodated must not exceed 180. The portal also states how the count runs — from noon on 1 April each year to noon on 1 April the following year, with each day measured from noon to the following noon.
Two consequences follow from the arithmetic. A calendar year has 365 days, so a listing that uses its full allowance is unavailable for 185 of them. And because the allowance resets on 1 April rather than 1 January, nights sold in December and nights sold the following March are drawn from the same 180, while nights sold in April start a fresh count.
The same portal states that the framework lets prefectures and municipalities restrict the business by ordinance in order to reflect local circumstances. That is where Tokyo stops being one place.
Shinjuku’s ordinance closes minpaku from Monday noon to Friday noon
Shinjuku Ward publishes its own rules under the Ordinance on Securing the Proper Operation of the Housing Accommodation Business. In the ward’s exclusively residential zones, the ward states that the business cannot be carried out from noon on Monday to noon on Friday. Outside those zones, the ward states that operation is allowed on any day of the week, up to the 180 days the national law provides.
Multiply the restriction out and it binds harder than the national cap does. Noon Friday to noon Monday is three nights. Across 52 weeks that is 156 nights, which is 24 short of 180. In a Shinjuku exclusively residential zone the national ceiling is not the operative limit; the ward’s calendar is. Neither body publishes that 156 figure — it is arithmetic from the two published rules — but it is the number that determines whether a listing can take a Wednesday booking at all.
Ota Ward runs a different scheme with no annual cap and a two-night floor
Ota Ward operates the national strategic special zone lodging scheme, which is a certification under different legislation rather than a notification under the minpaku law. The ward’s own question-and-answer document, version 4 updated on 8 April 2026, answers both questions in a single line: there is a minimum stay restriction of two nights and three days, and there is no restriction on the number of operating days per year.
The ward’s procedure page lists the zones in which certification is possible: category II residential, quasi-residential, neighbourhood commercial, commercial and quasi-industrial zones, plus category I residential zones at 3,000 square metres or less.
| What the room is licensed as | Governing law | Annual limit on nights | Minimum stay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hotel, ryokan or simple lodging house | Hotel Business Act | Not stated on the pages checked | Not stated on the pages checked |
| Minpaku (notified listing) | Housing Accommodation Business Act | 180 days, noon 1 April to noon 1 April | Not stated on the pages checked |
| Minpaku in a Shinjuku exclusively residential zone | Housing Accommodation Business Act plus ward ordinance | 180 days, and no operation from noon Monday to noon Friday | Not stated on the pages checked |
| Special zone lodging, Ota Ward | National strategic special zone scheme | None, per the ward’s Q&A | Two nights, three days |
A notified listing carries a sign, and the law lists what else the host owes
The same national portal sets out what a notified minpaku host is obliged to do. Operating at all requires a notification under Article 3, paragraph 1 of the Housing Accommodation Business Act. Where the host lives in the property, the duties the portal lists are measures to secure hygiene, explaining noise prevention to guests, dealing with complaints from neighbours, drawing up and keeping a guest register, and displaying a sign.
The sign is the item on that list a guest can check from the doorstep. Everything else on it happens out of sight, before or after the stay; the sign is the one obligation whose fulfilment is visible on arrival.
The Tokyo lodging tax changes on 1 April 2027, and changes who pays it
The Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Taxation currently levies a flat accommodation tax per person per night: ¥100 where the charge is ¥10,000 or more but under ¥15,000, and ¥200 where it is ¥15,000 or more. The bureau’s page describes the tax as one paid by people staying at a hotel or ryokan in Tokyo.
The bureau’s revision page sets out what replaces it from 1 April 2027. The fixed amounts become a rate of 3 percent. The exemption threshold rises from under ¥10,000 to under ¥13,000 per person per night. And the tax base is widened to cover simple lodging houses and both kinds of minpaku — special zone and notified — on the stated ground that treating minpaku guests the same as those of ryokan and hotels is appropriate. The bureau estimates revenue after the revision at about ¥19 billion.
| Charge per person per night | Tax today, hotel or ryokan | Tax today, minpaku | Tax from 1 April 2027, any of them |
|---|---|---|---|
| ¥12,000 | ¥100 | Not named as taxable | Exempt, below ¥13,000 |
| ¥15,000 | ¥200 | Not named as taxable | ¥450 |
| ¥30,000 | ¥200 | Not named as taxable | ¥900 |
The ¥30,000 line is the one worth reading twice. The tax on that room goes from ¥200 to ¥900, a rise of ¥700, which is four and a half times the current figure. At ¥12,000 the direction reverses and the room stops being taxed at all.
What this settles, and what it does not
Two of Tokyo’s special wards are quoted above. Each ward with its own public health authority sets its own ordinance, so a rule confirmed for Shinjuku says nothing about Taito, Chuo or Setagaya; those have to be read one at a time on each ward’s own pages. The Hotel Business Act cells in the first table are marked as not stated because the sources above set out the minpaku and special zone limits, not a hotel’s operating calendar.
Both tax pages name simple lodging houses, alongside the two kinds of minpaku, as additions to the tax base from 1 April 2027, and the current page lists today’s payers as guests of hotels and ryokan only. A simple lodging house therefore sits outside the tax today and inside it from 2027, on the same timetable as a minpaku.
None of this tells you which district suits a trip. It tells you what a listing is legally permitted to sell you, which is the part that fails after booking rather than before.
An airport bath is not a lodging licence, and its charges work differently: the Terminal 3 spa at Haneda adds 4,000 yen for anyone inside between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.
Sources Checked
Japan Tourism Agency — Minpaku portal, outline of the Housing Accommodation Business Act
Confirmed that the number of days on which guests are accommodated may not exceed 180, that the count runs from noon on 1 April to noon on 1 April of the following year with each day measured noon to noon, and that ordinances may restrict the business to reflect local circumstances. Confirmed that operating requires a notification under Article 3, paragraph 1 of the Act, and that for the owner-resident type the listed obligations are measures to secure hygiene, explanation of noise prevention to guests, response to complaints from neighbours, preparation and keeping of a guest register, and display of a sign.
https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/minpaku/overview/minpaku/law1.html
Shinjuku Ward — Housing accommodation business and Shinjuku’s rules
Confirmed the ordinance name, that in exclusively residential zones the business cannot be carried out from noon on Monday to noon on Friday, and that outside those zones operation is permitted on any day of the week up to the statutory 180 days.
https://www.city.shinjuku.lg.jp/kenkou/eisei03_002086.html
Ota Ward — Questions and answers on special zone lodging certification, version 4, updated 8 April 2026
Confirmed the answer that there is a minimum stay restriction of two nights and three days but no restriction on the number of operating days per year.
https://www.city.ota.tokyo.jp/seikatsu/hoken/eisei/riyoubiyou/tetuduki/kokkasenryakutokku.files/QA.ver4.20260408.pdf
Ota Ward — Procedures for the special zone lodging business
Confirmed the permitted zones: category II residential, quasi-residential, neighbourhood commercial, commercial and quasi-industrial zones, and category I residential zones of 3,000 square metres or less.
https://www.city.ota.tokyo.jp/seikatsu/hoken/eisei/riyoubiyou/tetuduki/kokkasenryakutokku.html
Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Taxation — Accommodation tax
Confirmed the current rates of ¥100 for a charge of ¥10,000 or more but under ¥15,000 and ¥200 for ¥15,000 or more, that the rate applies per person per night, that stays under ¥10,000 are not taxed, and that the tax is described as one paid by people staying at a hotel or ryokan in Tokyo. Confirmed that the same page lists the payers from 1 April 2027 as guests of hotels, ryokan, simple lodging houses and minpaku of both kinds.
https://www.tax.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/kazei/leisure/shuk/2
Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Taxation — Revision of the accommodation tax
Confirmed that the change takes effect on 1 April 2027, that the fixed amounts become a 3 percent rate, that the exemption threshold rises to under ¥13,000 per person per night, that simple lodging house guests and minpaku guests of both kinds — special zone and notified — are added to the tax base, the minpaku addition being made on the ground that treating them the same as ryokan and hotels is appropriate, and that the bureau estimates revenue of about ¥19 billion.
https://www.tax.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/kazei/leisure/shuk/shuk_minaoshi
Last updated: September 2026
