Japan minpaku law for foreign property owners: notification, permit or special zone

The law described here is as it stood on 2 October 2026: the Private Lodging Business Act as in force from 1 June 2025, its joint ministerial ordinance (called "the Regulations" below) as in force from 1 April 2025, the Hotels and Inns Act as in force from 1 June 2025, and the National Strategic Special Zones Act as in force from 31 July 2026. The ministries' operating guideline (revised 24 December 2024), leaflets and question-and-answer pages are cited separately because they are guidance, not statute. All English renderings of Japanese legal terms are reference translations, not official English. In this guide, "minpaku" is the umbrella term, "private lodging" means only the notification route (住宅宿泊事業), and "simple lodging" means the permit route (簡易宿所). "Local ordinance" means a rule made by a prefecture or city; "immigration status" means status of residence.

The short answer for a foreign owner

Nothing in the statutes read for this guide makes nationality or immigration status a condition of running a minpaku. The Private Lodging Business Act lists in Article 4 the kinds of person who may not run the business, and none is defined by nationality; the Hotels and Inns Act and the special-zone provision contain no such condition either. This statement is limited to the provisions named in the sources below.

That is the easy half. The hard half is that a property has to qualify as a lodging in the first place, and the national law is only one layer. The statutory definition of a "residence", a condominium's own bylaws, a local ordinance and the zoning of the site can each limit what a property may be used for, whatever the national law, read alone, would allow. The sections below take them in the order a buyer would meet them.

Three routes, three sets of rules

A home can be offered to paying guests under one of three arrangements. The Private Lodging Business Act (住宅宿泊事業法, jutaku shukuhaku jigyo ho) is the notification route, often called the "new minpaku law". The Hotels and Inns Act (旅館業法, ryokan gyo ho) is the permit route, and its simple lodging category (簡易宿所, kani shukusho) is the one that fits a small property. The National Strategic Special Zones Act (国家戦略特別区域法) allows a certification in zones where the local authority has set one up. The authority in each case is the prefectural governor or, in a health-center city (a city with its own public health center) or special ward, its head. For the notification route, the city or ward acts only where it has taken over the work.

The zoning row comes from the Tourism Agency's own comparison table, not from the Building Standards Act, whose text does not use the term simple lodging at all. The notification and permit routes are mutually exclusive for the same property: the Tourism Agency Q&A says a facility holding a hotel and inn permit cannot be notified, and days operated under a permit do not count toward the 180.

The notification route and the 180-day count

Article 2(3) defines private lodging as lodging people in a residence for a fee, by someone who is not operating that house under a Hotels and Inns Act permit, where the number of days of lodging, counted as the Regulations set out, does not exceed 180 in a year. Article 3(1) lets a person who has notified the authority run the business without the permit that the Hotels and Inns Act would otherwise require. Article 3(2) of the Act has the notification made for each residence, and the Regulations require it no later than the day before the business starts.

The 180 days are not a calendar year. Article 3 of the Regulations counts the period from noon on 1 April to noon on 1 April of the next year, and each stretch from noon to noon the following day is one day. A single night therefore counts as one day. The Tourism Agency Q&A adds two practical points: the limit applies to each notified residence rather than to each person, and when the operator changes during the year, the count continues rather than restarting.

The number 180 appears in the Act in only one place, Article 2(3), inside the definition. No provision of the Act, the Regulations or the Hotels and Inns Act that was searched for this guide addresses a stay beyond 180 days as a separate matter. Read literally, an operation that goes over the line falls outside the definition of private lodging, and the ministries' guideline says so in terms. It states that where a notified operator lodges people for more than 180 days in a year and holds no Hotels and Inns Act permit, the excess lodging breaches Article 3(1) of that Act. It says the same of lodging in a facility that no longer meets the definition of a residence.

The "residence" test and a home bought only for lodging

The notification route is for a "residence" (住宅, jutaku), and Article 2(1) gives that word two conditions. The home must have the facilities needed to live in it, which Article 1 of the Regulations lists as a kitchen, bathroom, toilet and wash basin. And it must be one that people actually live in, as the Regulations define.

Article 2 of the Regulations lists three kinds of home that count, provided the home is not used for any business other than lodging people or housing tenants: a home currently used as someone's base of life; a home for which new residents are being sought; and a home used from time to time as the residence of its owner, tenant or sub-tenant. The guideline describes the third kind as an existing home not used as a true base of life but used from time to time by its owner or tenant, who has the right to use it and uses it at least once a year, and gives examples such as a holiday home used a few times a year by season and a weekend second home. Whether any particular property falls into one of the three is for the authority that receives the notification to decide, not for this guide.

The Tourism Agency Q&A (version dated 12 March 2021) says a property used only for minpaku meets none of these descriptions, whether it is a condominium or a detached house and whether new or old, and so cannot be run under the Private Lodging Business Act. As for the third kind (occasional residence), the guideline says that a new investment condominium, house or apartment built only for minpaku, with no history of anyone living in it, does not fall within it, although it adds that newness alone does not decide the matter and the authority judges each notified home on its actual circumstances. The Q&A edition read is dated 12 March 2021; a newer one was not located.

What the rules say about foreign operators

Article 4 of the Act has eight categories of person who may not run private lodging, including undischarged bankrupts, people recently sentenced to imprisonment under any law, or fined under this Act or the Hotels and Inns Act (less than three years after the sentence or fine has been served or ended), people with recent organised-crime links, and companies with such officers. None is defined by nationality. The word nationality does not appear in the Act, and the Hotels and Inns Act has no such word either.

The agencies treat foreign applicants as a normal case. The Tourism Agency Q&A says that where the applicant is foreign, the supporting documents must be issued by a foreign government approved by Japan, or by an authorised international body, or be equivalent. The guideline repeats this and adds that the documents are to be in Japanese, or in English with a Japanese translation attached (other languages only in special circumstances), and which documents are needed is for the authority that receives the notification to say.

Foreign guests are a different matter. If a guest is a foreign national with no address in Japan, Article 7(3) of the Regulations requires the guest register to record the nationality and passport number, and the guideline says to ask to see the passport and keep a copy. The register is kept for three years from the day it is made.

Staying away: the management company rule

The Act does not use the words host-present or host-absent. Article 11(1) sets two situations in which the operator must delegate the work to a registered management company, unless the operator is itself a registered management company and does the work itself: where the number of guest rooms exceeds five, and where the operator is away while guests stay, other than for a brief absence (the Regulations define that as an absence within the time needed for ordinary daily activities). For the absence situation only, the Regulations in Article 9(4) allow the operator to manage the lodging personally if two conditions are met together: the operator's own home is in the same building or on the same site as the lodging, or next to it (unless it is clear that the operator cannot notice noise from the lodging), and the operator manages no more than five rooms in all.

For an owner who lives abroad, the text points one way: a lodging the owner is not present at is, unless the owner is itself a registered management company, to be run through one. When the work is delegated, the Act says the operator's own duties on hygiene, guest safety, the guest register and complaints (Articles 5 to 10) are not applied to the operator, and the Tourism Agency Q&A says they become the management company's responsibility. This page does not name, compare or recommend any management company.

Condominium bylaws, ordinances and zoning

Condominium bylaws. For a unit in a building with several owners, the Regulations ask the notifier to state that the bylaws do not prohibit private lodging and to provide a copy of the bylaws on the use of the unit. Where the bylaws say nothing, the statement also has to cover that the owners' association has no intention of prohibiting private lodging, and the Regulations ask for a document confirming this alongside the copy of the bylaws; the guideline reads that as the absence of a prohibiting resolution by the association. The authority that receives the notification decides how it is handled in practice. The ministry's model bylaws, revised in 2025, say in the commentary to Article 12 that it is desirable for the owners' association (管理組合, kanri kumiai) to state expressly whether private lodging is permitted or prohibited. The commentary also says that lodging under a simple-lodging permit is normally not covered by the ordinary residential-use clause, so an owners' association that wants to allow it should say so. These are model texts; what binds an owner is the building's own bylaws. The Tourism Agency Q&A adds that a neighbourhood association's rule has no effect under the Private Lodging Business Act.

Local ordinances. Article 18 of the Act lets a prefecture, or a health-center city or special ward that has taken over the work, restrict by local ordinance the period in which private lodging may be run in a defined area, where needed to prevent a decline in the living environment. The Cabinet Order says the area and the period must each be ones where a restriction is particularly needed. The guideline says a blanket restriction for the whole year, or for a whole prefecture, goes beyond the purpose of the Act. The content of local ordinances varies by area, and this guide did not survey them.

Zoning. Article 21 of the Act says that in the Building Standards Act and its orders, references to a dwelling, row house, apartment house or dormitory include a notified residence. The Tourism Agency leaflet draws the conclusion that a notified home can operate without a change of use under the building rules. For the simple lodging route, the Building Standards Act does not use the term at all, so whether a site allows it rests on how the authorities read the category of hotel or inn. Appended Table 2 of that Act bars hotels and inns in some zones, such as the industrial zone, and does not list them among the buildings allowed in the first low-rise residential zone. We did not confirm how the ministry applies the table to a simple lodging beyond the leaflet, which says simple lodging cannot operate in exclusively residential zones.

The permit route under the Hotels and Inns Act

Article 3(1) requires anyone who wants to run a lodging business to hold a permit from the authority. Article 2(3) defines a simple lodging as a business that provides facilities whose structure and equipment are mainly for shared use by many people, other than a boarding house. The Cabinet Order sets a minimum total guest-room floor area of 33 square metres or, where the permit application sets the number of guests below ten, 3.3 square metres per guest, plus other standards on facilities. Article 3(2) lets the authority refuse a permit on grounds that include the applicant's disqualifications, and Article 3(3) on grounds that include a school or child-welfare facility within about 100 metres.

The Tourism Agency Q&A says the Hotels and Inns Act has no annual cap on days but restricts where the lodging can be, while the Private Lodging Business Act restricts the number of days but not the location. Under Article 10(i), operating without the permit is punishable by up to six months of custodial sentence, a fine of up to ¥1,000,000, or both. A notified operator within the 180 days does not need this permit, because Article 3(1) of the Private Lodging Business Act displaces it. Outside that protection, the guideline treats lodging beyond 180 days, and lodging in a facility that is not a residence, as a breach of Article 3(1) of the Hotels and Inns Act, which is the provision Article 10(i) punishes.

Special zones, and why Osaka matters

Article 13 of the Special Zones Act lets the authority certify a business that leases facilities to foreign visitors for stays of at least a minimum number of days, with foreign-language guidance and services. The conditions in Article 13 of the Cabinet Order include, in principle, at least 25 square metres per room, a minimum stay of 3 to 10 days set by local ordinance, a guest register, an explanation to nearby residents before applying, and a system for handling complaints. A certified business is exempt from the permit under Article 13(5). The people who cannot be certified are listed in Article 13(4), with no nationality condition; the word foreigner in Article 13 refers to the guest.

This route has largely closed in the place where it mattered most. On 29 May 2026, Osaka City ended new applications; certifications on or before that date continue as before. The Cabinet Office's figures as of 30 June 2026 count 10,683 certified facilities across the country, of which Osaka City holds 10,132, or about 95 percent by our own division, and Ota Ward in Tokyo holds 481. Whether a particular zone is accepting applications must be checked with its authority.

Records, reports and penalties

A notified operator must display a sign at each residence (Article 13), keep the guest register (Article 8), and report to the authority the days of lodging, the number of guests, the total guest-nights and a breakdown by nationality, every second month, by the 15th of February, April, June, August, October and December (Article 14 and Article 12 of the Regulations). The Act's penalties are mostly fines: up to ¥300,000 for a failure to keep the register, to display the sign or to report (Article 76), up to ¥500,000 for breaching the delegation rule (Article 75), and up to six months of custodial sentence, ¥1,000,000, or both for a false notification (Article 73(i)).

The Act's penalty chapter, Articles 72 to 79, contains no offence of running private lodging without notifying. The statute that punishes lodging for a fee without a permit is the Hotels and Inns Act, as described above.

Tax: one general view, and its age

The National Tax Agency published a general view in June 2018 on how income from private lodging is taxed. It says income from lodging in one's own residence is, in principle, miscellaneous income, and that it is business income where the activity is clearly a business, for example where it is the person's livelihood. The document says it is based on the law as of 1 April 2018, so whether it still reflects the agency's position was not confirmed. How that differs from ordinary rent is explained in the guide to rental income tax for foreigners. This page gives no amounts of tax.

What could not be confirmed

• ■The content of prefectural and city ordinances: none was surveyed.
• ■Whether running a minpaku requires permission to engage in activity outside one's immigration status: no ministry source was found, so that is a question for the Immigration Services Agency.
• ■The tax position of an owner who lives abroad.
• ■Whether any provision of the Special Zones Act other than Article 13 treats the operator's nationality.
• ■How a particular authority applies the guideline to a particular home, including a home bought only as an investment.

Nothing here is a reason to assume the answer on any of them.

How the layers fit together

Seen together, the rules are layers, and each can limit a plan on its own. The national statutes decide which route an activity belongs to and set the 180-day cap for the notification route. The Regulations' definition of a "residence", and the Tourism Agency's reading of it, decide whether a property bought only for lodging can use that route at all. A condominium's bylaws and a local ordinance sit on top, and neither is visible from the national law. The zoning of the site bears on the permit route, and the special-zone route depends on where the property is and whether that zone is still accepting applications.

For an owner abroad, the management-company rule adds that the day-to-day duties move to a registered company when the owner is not present. None of this says which route, if any, suits a given property. That is a matter for the authority that handles the notification, permit or certification and, for a condominium, for that building's own bylaws.

Sources

Statutory text was retrieved from e-Gov API version 2 with asof=2026-10-02. Ministry, city, Cabinet Office and National Tax Agency materials were read on the same date. The English descriptions are reference translations; the Japanese originals govern.

• Private Lodging Business Act (住宅宿泊事業法, Act No. 65 of 2017) — Arts. 2, 3, 4, 8, 11, 13, 14, 18, 21 and 72 to 79

  Read through e-Gov API version 2 with asof=2026-10-02, revision 429AC0000000065_20250601_504AC0000000068 (in force 1 June 2025; the penalty provisions read 拘禁刑, kokinkei, from that date). The only place the Act mentions 180 days is Article 2(3). The Act contains no word for nationality. The word 'foreigner' appears for guests and for foreign intermediaries, and the intermediaries' disqualification clause refers to foreign law.

• Enforcement Regulations of the Private Lodging Business Act (joint ministerial ordinance No. 2 of 2017; 'the Regulations') — Arts. 1 to 4, 7, 9 and 12

  Revision 429M60000900002_20250401_507M60000900002 (in force 1 April 2025), asof=2026-10-02. Three ministerial ordinances share this name; this is the joint ordinance of the health and land ministries that governs notification, the guest register and delegation. Article 2 lists the three kinds of residence, Article 3 sets the 180-day count, Article 4 governs notification, Article 7(3) requires the passport number of a foreign guest without an address in Japan, and Article 9 sets the delegation rules.

• Cabinet Order for Enforcement of the Private Lodging Business Act (Order No. 273 of 2017) — Art. 1

  Revision 429CO0000000273_20191216_501CO0000000183, asof=2026-10-02. Article 1 sets the standards a local ordinance must follow when restricting the period of lodging in an area.

• Hotels and Inns Act (旅館業法, Act No. 138 of 1948) — Arts. 2, 3 and 10

  Revision 323AC0000000138_20250601_504AC0000000068, asof=2026-10-02. Article 3(1) requires a permit; Article 10(i) punishes operating without it; the Act contains no word for nationality or foreigner. Its enforcement order (revision 332CO0000000152_20231213_505CO0000000330) sets the floor area for a simple lodging in Article 1(2).

• National Strategic Special Zones Act (国家戦略特別区域法) — Art. 13, and its Cabinet Order — Art. 13

  Act revision 425AC0000000107_20260731_508AC0000000029; Order revision 426CO0000000099_20260401_507CO0000000360 (link in the Act's e-Gov page), asof=2026-10-02. All sixteen paragraphs of Article 13 were read. Paragraph 4 lists who cannot be certified and contains no requirement of nationality or residence status. 'Foreigner' in Article 13 means the guest. The Act has amendments not yet in force; Article 13 reads the same at 31 December 2029.

• Building Standards Act (建築基準法) — Art. 48 and Appended Table 2

  Revision 325AC0000000201_20260527_508AC0000000023, asof=2026-10-02. The word for simple lodging (簡易宿所) appears nowhere in the Act or its enforcement order.

• Operating Guideline for the Private Lodging Business Act (住宅宿泊事業法施行要領, last revised 24 December 2024; 'the guideline')

  Joint guideline of the health and land ministries and the Tourism Agency, listed on the Tourism Agency's laws page. The PDF was downloaded and read on 2 October 2026. Source for: what the guideline says about lodging beyond 180 days or in a facility that is not a residence; the examples of second homes and the statement about new investment units never lived in; foreign applicants' documents; passport checks for foreign guests; and the limits on blanket restrictions by local ordinance. A guideline is administrative guidance, not statute.

• Japan Tourism Agency — Q&A on the Private Lodging Business Act (version dated 12 March 2021)

  Read on 2 October 2026. Source for: a property used only for minpaku is not a 'residence'; the 180 days apply per notified residence and carry over when the operator changes; a permit-holder's days do not count; foreign applicants' documents; the neighbourhood-association rule having no effect under the Act. This is an agency Q&A, not statute, and a newer edition was not located.

• Japan Tourism Agency — leaflet on starting a private lodging business (undated)

  Read on 2 October 2026. Its comparison table says private lodging can operate in exclusively residential zones, subject to local ordinances, while simple lodging cannot, and describes the special-zone stay as two nights and three days or more.

• MLIT — Standard Condominium Management Bylaws and commentary (revised 2025, single-building type), Art. 12

  Read on 2 October 2026. A model form issued by the ministry; the binding text is each building's own bylaws. The commentary says it is desirable to state expressly whether private lodging is permitted or prohibited, and that lodging under a simple-lodging permit is normally not covered by the ordinary residential-use clause.

• Osaka City — end of new special-zone applications (published 14 May 2026)

  Read on 2 October 2026. New applications ended on 29 May 2026; applications filed by that date and facilities certified on or before it are treated as before.

• Osaka City — criteria for special-zone certification

  Read in full on 2 October 2026. A city document, not statute. Shows the city's minimum stay of three days and 25 square metres per room, and a passport-copy method for confirming guests.

• Cabinet Office — special-zone minpaku results as of 30 June 2026

  Read on 2 October 2026 (parent page marked updated 17 September 2026). Source for 10,683 certified facilities nationwide, of which 10,132 are in Osaka City, and 481 in Ota Ward, Tokyo. The ratio of 94.8% is our own division.

• National Tax Agency — taxation of income from private lodging (information dated 13 June 2018)

  Read in full on 2 October 2026. The document states it is based on the law as of 1 April 2018. Whether the same view is held today was not confirmed.

Thank you for reading a guide that covers this much ground. We hope the map of the three routes helps you ask better questions of the authority that handles your case.