{"id":15051,"date":"2018-06-30T07:34:45","date_gmt":"2018-06-30T17:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15051"},"modified":"2018-07-24T11:48:42","modified_gmt":"2018-07-24T21:48:42","slug":"reuters-asahi-new-law-stifles-homesharing-with-tourists-on-grounds-insinuating-foreigners-are-unsafe-for-children-walking-to-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15051","title":{"rendered":"Reuters\/Asahi: New “minpaku” law stifles homesharing with tourists, on grounds insinuating foreigners are “unsafe” for children walking to school! (or ISIS terrorists)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. \u00a0Here’s a new twist to the “Blame Game” often played whenever there’s a foreigner involved with any economy in Japan. \u00a0I started talking about this in earnest in my Japan Times column of August 28, 2007, where I pointed out how NJ were being falsely blamed for crime, SDF security breaches, unfair advantages in sports, education disruptions, shipping disruptions, and even\u00a0labor shortages<\/a> (!!). \u00a0That soon expanded to false accusations of workplace desertion (remember the fictitious “flyjin” phenomenon of 2011<\/a>?) and looting<\/a>, despoiling sumo<\/a> and fish markets<\/a>, and even for\u00a0crime committed by Japanese<\/a>! \u00a0More here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now we have recycled claims<\/a> of disruptive NJ tourism. \u00a0But as submitter JDG points out<\/a>, this time it’s getting mean. \u00a0In the same vein of a World Cup 2002 Miyagi Prefectural Assemblyman’s claim that visiting foreigners would rape Japanese women and sire children<\/a>, we have official insinuations at the local government level that renting your apartment or room out to NJ would be “unsafe” — not only for Japanese in the neighborhood, but for children walking to school in Shibuya! \u00a0(Or, according to the JT update below, NJ might be ISIS terrorists.) \u00a0At this point, this is hate speech<\/a>. \u00a0Dr. Debito Arudou<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

In Japan, new rules may leave Airbnb industry out in the cold<\/strong>
\nREUTERS\/ASAHI SHINBUN,\u00a0April 23, 2018<\/strong>, \u00a0courtesy of JDG, with underlined emphases added
\nhttp:\/\/www.asahi.com\/ajw\/articles\/AJ201804230010.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Japan’s new home-sharing law was meant to ease a shortage of hotel rooms, bring order to an unregulated market and offer more lodging options for foreign visitors ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Instead, the law is likely to stifle Airbnb Inc. and other home-sharing businesses when it is enacted in June and force many homeowners to stop offering their services, renters and experts say.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The “minpaku,” or private temporary lodging law, the first national legal framework for short-term home rental in Asia, limits home-sharing to 180 days a year, a cap some hosts say makes it difficult to turn a profit.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

More important, local governments, which have final authority to regulate services in their areas, are imposing even more severe restrictions, citing security or noise concerns.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For example, Tokyo’s Chuo Ward, home to the tony Ginza shopping district, has banned weekday rentals on grounds that allowing strangers into apartment buildings during the week could be unsafe.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That’s a huge disappointment for Airbnb “superhost” Mika, who asked that her last name not be used because home-renting is now officially allowed only in certain zones.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

She has enjoyed hosting international visitors in her spare two-bedroom apartment but will stop because her building management has decided to ban the service ahead of the law’s enactment.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“I was able to meet many different people I would have not met otherwise,” said Mika, 53, who started renting out her apartment after she used a home-sharing service overseas. “I may sell my condo.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mika added that if she were to rent the apartment out on a monthly basis, she would only make one-third of what she does from short-term rentals.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The ancient capital of Kyoto, which draws more than 50 million tourists a year, will allow private lodging in residential areas only between Jan. 15 and March 16, avoiding the popular spring and fall tourist seasons.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Similarly, Tokyo’s trendy Shibuya Ward will permit home-sharing services in residential areas only during school holidays, with certain exceptions, so children won’t meet strangers on their way to class.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In short, renters and experts say, the new law is doing more to hurt than help, even as a record 28.7 million tourists flocked to Japan last year, up 19 percent from the year before. Japan aims to host 40 million foreign tourists a year by 2020.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yasuhiro Inaoka, who manages about 15 properties for Airbnb hosts in Tokyo, says the net effect of the law is “banning individuals from offering home lodging.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018STRANGE PRACTICE\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Central government officials say that excessive local limits could defeat the law’s objectives, but that they cannot force local governments to loosen their policies.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“Restricting home rental due to vague concerns that foreigners are unsafe<\/span> or that it is a strange practice goes against the concept of the new law,” said Soichi Taguchi, an official at the government’s Tourism Agency.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The annual cap of 180 days for home sharing and stricter rules set by local governments is a victory for the hotel industry, which opposes private properties being used for tourist accommodation.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“While each city and town is unique, we believe that by following the national recommendations, all Japanese cities and communities will be able to benefit from the growing economic opportunity provided by home sharing and short-term rentals,” said Jake Wilczynski, spokesman for Airbnb in Asia Pacific.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

About 62,000 Airbnb listings have sprung up in Japan, far smaller than other major tourist destinations, such as Italy, which has 354,400 listings, or France, with 490,000.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Asia, Singapore allows home sharing, but requires a minimum period of three months. Two Airbnb hosts were fined S$60,000 ($45,800 or 4.9 million yen) each by a local court in April for unauthorized short-term letting.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hyakusenrenma Inc., a Japanese rival to Airbnb, has 2,000 listings for its “Stay Japan” service, and online travel agency Booking Holdings’s Booking.com and Chinese agents have also entered the Japanese market.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The new law requires home owners to register rental properties for short-term stays with the local government by undergoing fire safety checks and submitting proof that the owner is not mentally disturbed.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

San Francisco-based Airbnb said it would obey the new law and remove all the non-compliant listings from its site by June.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But the company is also confident the number of listings will bounce back and eventually exceed the current level because Japan still has a great deal of potential to expand, said country manager Yasuyuki Tanabe.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“We will have clear rules for home lodging, which will encourage more people to list their properties,” Tanabe said.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

HOTEL LICENSE<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

One alternative for home renters is to apply for a hotel license. That process has been simplified to relax requirements for a reception area and no longer mandate a minimum number of rooms.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

One 42-year-old man who asked not to be named has gone this route. He stopped renting out Airbnb apartments in Tokyo and instead obtained a license to run a five-room hotel out of a converted traditional wooden “machiya” house in Kyoto.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

He still advertises on his property in Kyoto on Airbnb and the hotel license frees him from the 180-day limit.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“With the hotel license I can provide the service all year round,” he said.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But for many, this isn’t an option because their buildings won’t allow home-sharing at all, regardless of licensing.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

When the land ministry asked apartment management unions to decide whether to permit short-term rentals, only 0.3 percent of them nationwide said they would, according to the Condominium Management Association.<\/em><\/strong>
\nENDS
\n==============================<\/p>\n

UPDATE JUN 30:<\/strong><\/p>\n

— Japan Times also reports on the backlash to this policy, with the same undertones, except this time foreigners might be “terrorists”. Excerpt:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Implementation of minpaku laws lambasted
\nThe Japan Times, June 30, 2018
\n<\/strong>BY MARK SCHREIBER<\/strong>
\nhttps:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/news\/2018\/06\/30\/national\/media-national\/implementation-minpaku-laws-lambasted\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[…]
\nOn its morning program on June 15, NHK Radio chimed in with its own justification for the crackdown on minpaku. Citing the Nov. 13, 2015, attacks by ISIS terrorists in Paris in which 130 people were killed and another 413 injured, the broadcast implied that minpaku might serve as a base for terrorists \u2014 despite there being no evidence that the attackers in France had availed themselves of online booking services.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, at the urging of the Metropolitan Police Department ahead of the 2020 Olympics, minpaku hosts will be encouraged to report any \u201csuspicious behavior\u201d on the part of guests, including refusing to allow their passport to be photocopied<\/a>, referring to a memo or other separate document when transcribing their own name or address, or when the actual number of staying guests turns out to vary from what was initially reserved.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s possible terrorists will choose to stay at minpaku, where identification checks are vague,\u201d explained Isao Itabashi, head of the Research Center at the Council for Public Policy, during the broadcast, adding, \u201cSo it\u2019s important that along with sharing data on suspicious guests, the minpaku operators liaise closely with the police.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Full article at https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/news\/2018\/06\/30\/national\/media-national\/implementation-minpaku-laws-lambasted\/<\/a>
\n==============================<\/p>\n

Do you like what you read on Debito.org? \u00a0Want to help keep the archive active and support Debito.org’s activities? \u00a0Please consider donating a little something. \u00a0More details here<\/a>. Or even click on an ad below.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reuters\/Asahi: Japan’s new home-sharing law was meant to ease a shortage of hotel rooms, bring order to an unregulated market and offer more lodging options for foreign visitors ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Instead, the law is likely to stifle Airbnb Inc. and other home-sharing businesses when it is enacted in June and force many homeowners to stop offering their services, renters and experts say… <\/p>\n

Local governments, which have final authority to regulate services in their areas, are imposing even more severe restrictions, citing security or noise concerns. For example, Tokyo’s Chuo Ward, home to the tony Ginza shopping district, has banned weekday rentals on grounds that allowing strangers into apartment buildings during the week could be unsafe… Similarly, Tokyo’s trendy Shibuya Ward will permit home-sharing services in residential areas only during school holidays, with certain exceptions, so children won’t meet strangers on their way to class… “Restricting home rental due to vague concerns that foreigners are unsafe or that it is a strange practice goes against the concept of the new law,” said Soichi Taguchi, an official at the government’s Tourism Agency.<\/p>\n

COMMENT: Here’s a new twist to the “Blame Game” often played whenever there’s a foreigner involved with any economy in Japan. \u00a0I started talking about this in earnest in my Japan Times column of August 28, 2007, where I pointed out how NJ were being falsely blamed for crime, SDF security breaches, unfair advantages in sports, education disruptions, shipping disruptions, and even\u00a0labor shortages (!!). \u00a0That soon expanded to false accusations of workplace desertion (remember the fictitious “flyjin” phenomenon of 2011?) and looting, despoiling sumo and fish markets, and even for\u00a0crime committed by Japanese!<\/p>\n

Now we have recycled claims of disruptive NJ tourism. \u00a0But as submitter JDG points out, this time it’s getting mean. \u00a0In the same vein of a World Cup 2002 Miyagi Prefectural Assemblyman’s claim that visiting foreigners would rape Japanese women and sire children, we have official insinuations at the local government level that renting your apartment or room out to NJ would be “unsafe” — not only for Japanese in the neighborhood, but for children walking to school in Shibuya! \u00a0(Or, according to the JT update below, NJ might be ISIS terrorists.) At this point, this is hate speech.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,43,36,34,33,52,73,4,11,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-embedded-racism","category-bad-business-practices","category-bad-social-science","category-exclusionism","category-fingerprinting-nj","category-hate-speech","category-japans-blame-game","category-japanese-government","category-problematic-foreign-treatment","category-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15051"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15079,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15051\/revisions\/15079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}