"This Is What I Think They Should Have Done From the Start": Why Shinjuku Is Banning Airbnb-Style Rentals in Tokyo's Residential Areas

What Japanese people said — picked from the top 200 of 264 comments

• Just imagining the house next door turning into a minpaku would genuinely make me depressed, I bet.

  隣の家が民泊になったらと思うと本当に鬱になるだろうね。

  — @petrucci0307440 likes

• I welcome banning minpaku in residential areas, but how do they intend to take responsibility for having permitted minpaku there in the first place? If it's banned before an operator who started one under the ordinance's rules has recovered their capital, what were they supposed to trust when going into business? Going forward, don't issue any more minpaku permits. For ones already operating, I think the reasonable approach would be: if there's a complaint from the area, give administrative guidance, and only suspend the business if it isn't improved.

  住宅地の民泊廃止は歓迎しますが、住宅地での民泊を許可した責任はどう取るつもりなのか？条例に沿って民泊を始めて資本を回収する前に禁止されたのでは何を信頼して商売をしたら良いのか？これからは民泊の許可を出さない。既に営業している民泊は、たとえば付近から苦情があってそれに対して行政指導をして改善されなければ営業停止、の流れが相当だと思います。

  — @mandamnippon10 likes

• Do this in all 23 wards.

  23区全てやってくれ

  — @takashiaoi428 likes

• The ward assembly and the ward office actually did their job.

  区議や区役所が仕事したね

  — @ブブブ-h9h317 likes

• Minpaku itself has been a breeding ground for shady operators since the early days. It should be banned nationwide, and abolished.

  民泊そのものが初期段階から怪しい輩の温床になっていた。全国レベルで禁止、そして廃止するべし。

  — @centergrass4498304 likes

• Ban minpaku outright. It was originally just a stopgap measure for the hotel shortage around the Olympics, wasn't it?

  民泊自体禁止しろ。元々オリンピックの宿泊施設不足の暫定処置だろ。

  — @ささみチーズ-r3m269 likes

• Do something about Osaka too.

  大阪もなんとかして

  — @MienyanExtra229 likes

• Obviously.

  当たり前！

  — @こぐま-i5e226 likes

• Why did they even deregulate into such a nuisance system in the first place?

  何でこんな迷惑な制度解禁したんだよ

  — @karuchieable161 likes

• Real estate has a convenient term for this: a "nuisance facility."

  不動産には「嫌悪施設」という便利な呼び方がある

  — @SL-nb5fr148 likes

• All minpaku should be abolished.

  全ての民泊を廃止にすべき

  — @PhantomMax126 likes

• I want Osaka City to follow this example too!

  大阪市も見習って欲しい！

  — @HK-hy7wo99 likes

• It'll probably just flow into other wards. Ban it completely everywhere soon, or the area's finished.

  他の区に流れてくるだろな。早く全面禁止にしないと地域が滅びるぞ

  — @zawadyeen69 likes

• And on top of that, nobody takes responsibility. It's that "shame while traveling is shame you can throw away" mentality, isn't it. No wonder residents lose it lol

  しかも誰も責任とらない。旅の恥はかきすてだもんなぁ。そりゃ住民キレるｗｗｗ

  — @HI-cc6jf63 likes

• Most of it's illegal, isn't it? The judiciary and the legislature have really gotten sloppy. The decline in the quality of lawmakers is terrifying.

  殆どが違法だろ？ ほんと司法も立法も杜撰になったよ。 議員の質低下が恐ろしいわ

  — @上田Uえだ11 likes

• What era are you talking about? Minpaku is legal right now.

  いつの時代の話？いまは民泊は合法だよ。

  — @KS-qt7nj2 likes

• Even if Shinjuku ward regulates it, minpaku will probably just increase in Setagaya or Suginami instead.

  新宿区が規制しても、世田谷や杉並で民泊が増えるんだろうな。

  — @notexy210 likes

• Suginami ward, hurry up and do this too. Rentals near the station are disappearing and rent is going up.

  杉並区も早くやって。駅近の賃貸が減って家賃上がってるわ

  — @KI-gy7ek0 likes

• Japan has had minshuku since long ago. They should just run those instead, plain and simple.

  日本には昔から民宿がある。普通に民宿しとけばいい。

  — @masayukimatsue7 likes

Is Airbnb-style short-term renting (minpaku) actually legal in Japan?

Yes. Since 2018, Japan's Housing Accommodation Business Act (the "minpaku law") lets a registered private home take paying guests for up to 180 nights a year, counted from noon on 1 April to noon the following 1 April. Operators who want to run every day of the year switch to a hotel-style ryokan business license instead, which runs 365 days — the workaround one commenter flags directly, that cracking down on minpaku alone misses the point when a full ryokan license lets the same building keep operating anyway.

Sources: mlit.go.jp — checked 2026-09-08

What exactly is Shinjuku planning to do, and when does it start?

Shinjuku ward, which already has more registered minpaku than anywhere else in Japan, is drafting an ordinance to ban them in residential and school-zone neighborhoods, and says roughly 2,000 already-operating properties would be affected, not just new applications. As of September 2026 this is still a plan: the ward intends to submit the amended ordinance in 2027, so it is not yet in force and does not change a booking made today. A national government notice in July 2026 is what opened the door for wards to go this far.

Sources: nikkei.com · everychoice.info — checked 2026-09-08

Will other parts of Tokyo, or other cities, follow?

Possibly. Ota ward is separately considering a ban on new minpaku registrations of its own. Under this news, Japanese commenters predict operators pushed out of Shinjuku will relocate to neighboring wards such as Setagaya and Suginami rather than close down, and a Suginami commenter is already blaming a nearby drop in long-term rental supply on that trend. Nothing nationwide has been decided, and rules are still set ward by ward and city by city.

Sources: nikkei.com — checked 2026-09-08

Does this affect a minpaku booking I've already made, or want to make?

Not directly, not yet. Since the ban is still a draft ordinance headed for 2027, a booking made today at a currently licensed property is not affected by this specific plan. The practical risk it points to is different: an unlicensed or unmanaged listing, one with no on-site manager and no one to call about noise, trash, or a lockout, is exactly what the Japanese comments underneath this news are complaining about, and that risk exists wherever the license isn't checked. If you want the same room-with-a-kitchen convenience without gambling on management quality, a registered ryokan-license property or a traditional minshuku carries fewer open questions.

Sources: nikkei.com — checked 2026-09-08