New | Tokyo ward becomes first area in Japan to regulate Airbnb-type home-sharing

A local authority in Tokyo started accepting applications from residents wanting to rent out their homes for short-term lodging through matchmakers such as Airbnb Inc, making it the first in Japan to regulate the practice.

Residents of the southeast Tokyo ward of Ota, home to Haneda Airport, Japan’s busiest aviation hub, will be able to rent their personal space to tourists for a minimum of seven days provided they register with the local authority. Matchmakers can collect revenue from connecting homeowners to guests.

The move comes as the host city of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games suffers a shortage of accommodation after a push to boost tourism brought Japan a record 19 million foreign visitors last year, 1 million shy of the government’s end-decade target.

With the pace of hotel construction lagging the influx of tourists, the government is exploring short-term home-sharing which, at present, falls under hospitality regulations. Those rules dictate conditions private homeowners invariably cannot meet, such as providing receptions and separate toilets.

“Providing safe accommodation through regulated home-sharing will be good for visitors as well as locals because the scheme will stimulate business in the area,” Ota mayor Tadayoshi Matsubara told reporters earlier this week.

The government has designated Tokyo and Osaka in western Japan as special zones as part of its overall economic growth strategy. That allowed Ota - the biggest of Tokyo’s 23 wards - to pass a bylaw on home-sharing late last year.