Osaka Allowing Apartments To Be Rented As Hotel Rooms

Above, an Osaka Castle moat. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Since the rise in foreign tourism during the past several years, there have been shortages of available hotel and ryokan accommodations, particularly in the major cities. The pressure has caused room rates to rise as well.

The city of Osaka has taken a step to help alleviate this problem.

The Asahi Shimbun reported:

OSAKA--With the sharp rise in the number of foreign tourists, particularly from China, vying for increasingly scarce accommodations, apartment building operators will soon be allowed to rent out vacant rooms on a short-stay basis. 

The Osaka prefectural assembly on Oct. 27 approved for the first time in Japan a bill allowing vacant apartments to be rented out as hotel rooms. 

The approval was granted with the support of Osaka Ishin no Kai, the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito and the Japanese Communist Party.

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