The lodging tax charged to hotel and inn guests in Tokyo will change from a fixed-amount system to a percentage-based one. Because the tax burden grows heavier the more expensive the room, analysts view the change as effectively a sharp increase.
According to Kyodo News on Sunday, Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi approved the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's lodging tax overhaul on June 30. The plan replaces the flat charge of 100 to 200 yen (about 955 to 1,911 won) per night with a percentage-based system that levies 3 percent of the room rate.
As the tax burden grows heavier, the exemption threshold was raised somewhat. The lodging tax exemption was expanded from rooms priced below 10,000 yen (about 95,500 won) to those below 13,000 yen (about 124,200 won).
The perceived increase is considerable. For a guest staying at a hotel with a nightly rate of 15,000 yen (about 143,300 won), the lodging tax will more than double from the previous 200 yen to 450 yen (about 4,300 won). The revised plan takes effect next April and includes private lodging (minpaku), which had previously been excluded, as a taxable category.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government spent 30.6 billion yen (about 290 billion won) on tourism policy in fiscal 2025 (April 2025 to March 2026), but the previous lodging tax could cover only 6.9 billion yen (about 66 billion won). By switching to the percentage-based system, Tokyo estimates its annual tax revenue will swell to 19 billion yen (about 180 billion won).
This trend is not limited to Tokyo. Seven local governments received approval from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on the same day to establish new lodging taxes, including Wakkanai in Hokkaido, Fujiyoshida in Yamanashi Prefecture, and Nago in Okinawa Prefecture. They each chose either a flat rate of 200 yen per night or a percentage-based rate of 1.2 to 3 percent of the room rate. With this, the number of Japanese local governments that have introduced a lodging tax has surged to 62, up sharply from 17 at the end of last year.
Movements at major tourist destinations are even steeper. Kyoto raised its lodging tax ceiling from 1,000 yen (about 9,550 won) to 10,000 yen (about 95,500 won).
Behind this is a surge in tourism demand. According to the Mainichi Shimbun, the number of tourists visiting Kyoto last year reached 62.79 million, surpassing 60 million for the first time, while tourism spending also exceeded 2 trillion yen for the first time ever, reaching 2.0474 trillion yen (about 19.56 trillion won), topping the previous record set the year before.
Kyoto is going a step further, considering a "differential fare system for tourists" that would charge tourists 350 to 400 yen (about 3,344 to 3,822 won) for city bus fares — roughly double the rate for residents — under the banner of responding to "overtourism."
