1st case of unlicensed private lodging sent to prosecutors

"My airbnb was closed down. Totally safe and renovated. My life savings in lingo. To reopen I have to fill in a million forms and pay ¥200000. As I only work part time it going to be next year." No you don't - we did it and both of us work full time - 7 forms and we got it done before the deadline so we could continue to operate.

People should focus, be happy being employed. It is not upto Joe public to be innovative and try to make extra, really be happy with what you are given. Shinzo is so smart he knows what's good for all of us. Know your place and be content. You will be happy. Let's all march together for a happy future.

The four admitted to the allegation, telling the police that it was too much work to renovate the property in order to comply with the law.

Wanted to run a business but wasn't bothered about the law, neighbours and the safety of the guests. How can anyone support this kind of thing?

My airbnb was closed down. Totally safe and renovated. My life savings in lingo. To reopen I have to fill in a million forms and pay ¥200000. As I only work part time it going to be next year.

I live in a decent condo I am renting and there is now one owner renting it out AirBnB since you can get four times the monthly rental which is very smart; however, for the poor families living on that floor I pity them. Constant problems each week from late night parties on weekdays to having 14 people in a condo only suited for 5 at the most. Trash overflowing cause they refuse to follow the city garbage regulations to one time having about 10 people sitting right outside the condo using the wifi since they were former tenants and knew the passcode. I agree with the new law, as it puts some civility into private rentals. Most people on here have never experienced and AirBnB rental in their building, but when you do you will understand why this new law is good.

“Japan is not known for organized public pressure in support of dramatic economic and societal change.”

And yet Japan is a country that has never been averse to taking full advantage elsewhere of that very quality of openness that they decry here. The road to becoming an export powerhouse and status as one of the wealthiest countries in the world was in no small measure aided by the willingness of other nations to accept some measure of societal change consequent to their penetration by Japanese exports.

Foreign nations could have but elected not to deny Japan access to markets and technological advances pioneered there, yet Japan stonewalls without end when it comes to others seeking reciprocal rights here. The rhetoric we are hearing from Trump about the need to recalibrate a trade relationship that is seriously skewed by one side’s propensity to want to play by two sets of rules, one for itself and the other for everyone else, is a consequence of such zero sum game thinking.

Private lodging such as AirBnB is a cancer to the actual residents. The government should bans this all together.

I live in a apartment block which now have private lodging. Every 2-3 days there would be tourists who party until 3am, and there's nothing the regular residents with jobs to go to the next morning can do.

Once I hit my renewal period I would move out and find a place which bans private lodging.

Being a tourist brings the worst out of people. Some tourists have the base so loud that it shakes the whole building.

This is primarily about controlling tax revenue. By making a regulation hurdle which forces them to register, you implement a system that makes it easier to track the properties and keep on top of the tax revenue generated by each property. It’s the same with all of the sharing/gig economy. Uber is another example. Municipalities wish to outlaw Uber because the taxi service is a monopwhere the government forces taxi companies to pay large licensing fees in order to operate. Uber undercuts this system and licensing revenue has dropped dramatically everywhere they operate. Only in areas where public pressure to keep the gig economy open is greater than the pressure to close it by the business owners losing revenue is it allowed to flourish. Japan is not known for organized public pressure in support of dramatic economic and societal change.

20 million foreign visitors to Japnnin 2016. Abe sets a target of 40 million inn2020 yet accommodations ordinances become stricter.

This is like saying prostitutes are responsible for creating the demand for their services. Japan could very easily shut down these accommodation providers by announcing that it will be going after the customers of these illegal services, without whom there would be no lodgings in the first place. Afraid of the damage this would cause to its international image however, you can be sure that’ll never happen.

Hotel lobby are the Yakuza

Guess they are be afraid that these establishment might harm their tourist or do shady things that aren't normally allow. With 2020 Olympics nearing,the police with go on full crackdowns on every crime there is. A lot of them better shape up and start going straight. I think Tokyo already has way too much tourists. It's going to be a nightmare in 2020.

 Tokyo's Meguro Ward, for example, has banned private lodging businesses on weekdays across the ward.

This is is a perfect example of flipping stupid this situation is. I’m curious to know what the term of stay is for it to be considered short-term lodging. I’ve got a spare room and am considering letting it out, not just for the Olympics though.

At what length of stay does it become a share-house? I lived in a share-house a few years ago and some people stayed for two or three years while others stayed two or three weeks. This whole thing seems to be a huge cluster-truck of Japanese micro-management. I understand there are many unscrupulous people cramming people into dig boxes, but people who are prepared to open up their homes for short-term leasing are just being punished because of the hotel chains, who are the ones that had these regulations pushed through.

How could these people sink so low? This it very disappointing. I mean there is a Law and these people blatantly ignored it. People could have died! Who are they to take the law into their own hands so recklessly? For the sake of safety throughout all of Japan we need prosecute these perpetrators to the full extent of the law. If need be even the death penalty might be considered. Yeah.... laying the sarcasm on thick because this shouldn't even be an issue in the first place nor should there be a law.