TOKYO - Tokyo police carried out a search on a home-share facility and its operating company on Wednesday after investigators determined that the firm continued running its minpaku business on days explicitly banned under local ordinance and then submitted false reports to the authorities.
Minpaku services, which offer residential properties at relatively low cost, have become a common alternative for visitors and have seen demand rise each year alongside the growth in inbound tourism. At a minpaku property in Tokyo’s Arakawa Ward, a man with a large suitcase was seen leaving the house, and later a family exited the building as well, reflecting the site’s popularity. Yet nearby residents expressed frustration, saying they are often disturbed by loud voices late into the night, with some calling the police for help.
To protect the local living environment, Arakawa Ward introduced an ordinance in 2018 stipulating that home-share operators must not accept guests from Monday noon to Saturday noon. The day of our reporting fell on a Wednesday, which is within the prohibited period, yet the facility appeared bookable on hotel reservation websites.
Police entered the property and the office of K-Carve Life, the Shinjuku-based operator of the minpaku. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, the company is suspected of allowing guests to stay around August last year on days when operations were banned and subsequently submitting false reports to the ward while refusing to comply with an administrative order to improve its business practices.
Japan’s Private Lodging Business Act, known as the Minpaku Law, permits operators to run home-share businesses for up to 180 days a year in residential areas if they file the required notifications with local governments, but conflicts between residents and short-term guests continue to surface nationwide.
Security camera footage from a residential neighborhood in Chiba Prefecture shows large numbers of guests gathering near a local minpaku. One couple living nearby said they have faced repeated troubles, from littering to excessive noise. They recounted a recent incident involving a microbus carrying guests that blocked their driveway, with the driver ringing their doorbell and asking if he could leave the vehicle until morning and what time they planned to move their own car.
Despite consulting their local government multiple times, the couple said the situation has not improved. They expressed deep frustration, saying they feel abandoned by the authorities they had expected to help and now wish for the minpaku system itself to be abolished.
Yoshihisa Matsumura, a professor at Hannan University, said restrictions are needed on where minpaku operations can take place. He noted that residential areas and short-stay accommodations require a clearer separation, warning that mixing long-term residents and transient visitors is inherently risky.
Achieving a model of home-sharing that coexists smoothly with local communities still appears to be a distant goal.
Source: TBS
