From January 29, Ota City in Tokyo will enact a new lodging ordinance to allow private residences and homes to be used as accommodation for tourists. The relaxed rules have shortened the minimum stay to 6 nights and 7 days (down from 30 days), and have reduced the need for hotel-like facilities such as a check-in counter. Hosts, however, must still be approved by Ota City before they can rent out their properties.

Ota ku January
A packed room for Ota City's information session held on January 27.

Over the past three months, Ota City has received over 120 inquiries from companies interested in applying for permission to operate lodgings under the newly relaxed rules, and is expecting to have applications for approximately 200 rooms by the end of March. At an information session held by the City on January 27th, 200 people showed up - twice the number expected by the City. One of the attendants was the president of a real estate company who was planning to lease between 50 ~ 100 rooms.

There are already over 300 rooms in Ota that are listed on online booking sites, the majority of which are operating without the legally required license.

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