Japan's Accommodation Tax, City by City

Japan accommodation tax is not one national charge but a set of city-by-city taxes that stack on top of your room rate.¹ The practical consequence is simple: budget a small per-night line item for each city on your route, and expect to pay it at the property rather than inside the booking headline price.¹

Confirm current details with official sources

Fees, rules, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Taxation, the Osaka Prefecture tax pages, Kyoto City tourism and tax pages, and JNTO-linked official sources before you book.

Overview

There is no single Japanese lodging tax that covers the whole country. Each prefecture or city adopts its own ordinance with its own bands, thresholds, and exemptions.¹

The charge is always calculated per person, per night, on top of the room rate. It applies across hotels, 旅館 (ryokan, "traditional Japanese inn"), and licensed 民泊 (minpaku, "private lodging") inside a levying municipality, and the property collects it at the stay.²³¹

Revenue stays local. Tokyo directs it to visitor-environment measures, Osaka to tourism promotion and multilingual support, and Kyoto to congestion relief and cultural-asset preservation, among other uses.⁴²⁵

How the Tax Works Nationwide

The national picture is a shared mechanism with local numbers. The mechanism is stable across cities; the amounts are not, so never carry one city's rate into another city.¹

Per person, per night, on top of the room rate

The tax base is the per-person, per-night room charge before tax. For a shared room, divide the room-only total by guests first, then read the band for that per-person figure; each guest pays the band amount.¹

Room charge for tax purposes generally means room-only fees plus related service and mandatory cleaning charges. It excludes meal charges, consumption tax, bath tax, and the accommodation tax itself.²³

The accommodation tax is also separate from Japan's 10 percent consumption tax on lodging.⁶ Treat them as two different lines: consumption tax inside the stay economics, accommodation tax as the municipal add-on.

The key term is 宿泊税 (shukuhakuzei, "accommodation tax"), sometimes rendered as hotel tax or lodging tax.¹ The base it applies to is the 宿泊料金 (shukuhaku ryokin, "room charge").²

Collected at the property, rarely in the booking headline price

The property collects the tax together with the room charge as special collector for the city or prefecture.⁴²³ Tokyo's own guidance notes guests may pay it separately from travel charges at the front desk.⁴

Even a prepaid booking-platform rate usually leaves the tax payable separately on site.¹ Whether a specific property takes it in cash or adds it to the card settlement varies by property, so read the booking confirmation and expect a separate line at check-in or check-out.⁴¹ Kyoto City adds one qualifier: amounts paid to a reservation site or travel agent sometimes already include the tax, so confirm with the facility itself.⁷

Keep small bills ready for check-in payments

Some smaller properties collect the tax separately in cash at the front desk. Keeping small yen notes on hand avoids a second trip to an ATM after a long travel day.¹

Tokyo: Tiered Per-Night Tax

Tokyo runs its own tiered per-night system, and only Tokyo's numbers apply in Tokyo. Tokyo introduced the tax in October 2002, the first system of its kind in Japan.¹

Tokyo's current bands are narrow: stays under 10,000 yen per person per night are exempt, stays of 10,000 yen or more and under 15,000 yen incur 100 yen, and stays of 15,000 yen or more incur 200 yen per person per night (as of 2026-06; confirm current figures with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Taxation).⁴

Tokyo band (per person per night, room charge)	Tax per person per night	As of	Source
Under 10,000 yen	Exempt	2026-06	4
10,000 yen or more and under 15,000 yen	100 yen	2026-06	4
15,000 yen or more	200 yen	2026-06	4

A budget business-hotel night under the threshold legally incurs no Tokyo tax. A mid-range or luxury night above it incurs the flat 100 or 200 yen amount for that band.

Tokyo's system is scheduled to change from April 1, 2027 to a flat 3 percent of the room charge for stays of 13,000 yen or more per person per night, with stays below that exempt (as of 2026-06).⁴ That scheduled system would also extend coverage to simple lodgings and minpaku alongside hotels and ryokan.⁴⁸

Tokyo rate bands and exemption

School-trip stays fall under the ordinance's exemption framework in Tokyo, as they do in other cities with their own procedures.⁴ Ordinary leisure and business travelers should assume the bands above apply to them and check the current threshold before assuming an exemption.

Osaka: Tiered Per-Night Tax

Osaka's tax is a prefecture-wide system, and only Osaka's numbers apply in Osaka. The prefecture has levied it since January 1, 2017, and there is no separate Osaka City tax on top; the prefecture collects it.²¹

Osaka's current bands, in force for stays from September 1, 2025, are: under 5,000 yen exempt, 5,000 yen or more and under 15,000 yen 200 yen, 15,000 yen or more and under 20,000 yen 400 yen, and 20,000 yen or more 500 yen per person per night (as of 2026-03; confirm current figures with Osaka Prefecture).²³

Osaka band (per person per night, room charge)	Tax per person per night	As of	Source
Under 5,000 yen	Exempt	2026-03	2
5,000 yen or more and under 15,000 yen	200 yen	2026-03	2
15,000 yen or more and under 20,000 yen	400 yen	2026-03	2
20,000 yen or more	500 yen	2026-03	2

For stays through August 31, 2025 the earlier bands were under 7,000 yen exempt, 7,000 yen or more and under 15,000 yen 100 yen, 15,000 yen or more and under 20,000 yen 200 yen, and 20,000 yen or more 300 yen (as of 2026-03).² That history matters only if you are reconciling an old receipt; new bookings use the current table.

Osaka rate bands and exemption

Osaka's taxpayer definition expressly covers licensed hotels, inns, and simple lodgings plus special-zone private lodging and residential-accommodation minpaku facilities in the prefecture.²³ School-excursion students and their leaders staying in the prefecture are exempt.³

Osaka City has no separate tax on top

Osaka's accommodation tax is levied prefecture-wide by Osaka Prefecture. A stay in Osaka City uses the same prefectural bands above, not an additional city layer.²

Kyoto Structure Without the Full Detail

Kyoto City runs its own structure, and only Kyoto's numbers apply in Kyoto. The city has imposed the tax on all overnight guests in the city since October 1, 2018 to fund tourism promotion and sustainable urban development.⁵⁷

From March 1, 2026 Kyoto uses a five-tier system ranging from 200 yen at the bottom band to 10,000 yen at the top luxury band per person per night (as of 2026-02; confirm current figures with Kyoto City).⁵ The top tier applies at room charges of 100,000 yen or more per person per night, which makes Kyoto the steepest system in the country at the luxury end.⁵

Before March 1, 2026 the tiers were under 20,000 yen 200 yen, 20,000 yen to 49,999 yen 500 yen, and 50,000 yen or more 1,000 yen (as of 2026-02).⁵ Participants in school trips and their chaperones are exempt.⁵

Why Kyoto gets its own article

Kyoto's tier math, luxury-tier impact, and revenue-for-crowd-management framing deserve a dedicated explanation. For full band-by-band budgeting and the policy rationale, read the dedicated Kyoto lodging-tax article; this city-by-city guide carries only the summary above so the two articles do not duplicate figures that move on different schedules.

Other Municipalities That Levy a Tax

Beyond the big three, a growing set of prefectures and cities levies its own tax, each with its own bands. The implemented set described here reflects sources compiled in spring 2026 and keeps growing, so check each stop on your route individually (as of 2026-04; confirm current figures with each municipality).¹

Municipality	Band summary	Tax per person per night	As of	Source
Kanazawa City	Under 5,000 yen exempt; 5,000 yen or more and under 20,000 yen; 20,000 yen or more	Exempt; 200 yen; 500 yen	2026-04	1
Fukuoka City (combined prefectural plus municipal total)	Under 20,000 yen; 20,000 yen or more	200 yen; 500 yen	2026-04	1
Kitakyushu City and rest of Fukuoka Prefecture	Per person per night	200 yen	2026-04	1
Hiroshima Prefecture	Under 6,000 yen exempt; 6,000 yen or more	Exempt; 200 yen	2026-04	1
Miyagi Prefecture and Sendai City	6,000 yen or more	300 yen	2026-04	1
Hokkaido Prefecture plus listed municipalities	Varies by municipality, layered with prefectural tax	Varies; both can apply on one stay	2026-04	1

Kanazawa City has levied its tax since April 2019 with the bands in the table above (as of 2026-04).¹ The Fukuoka set has applied since April 2020 as a combined total collected together at the property, with the Fukuoka City figures including 50 yen of prefectural tax (as of 2026-04).¹

Hokkaido Prefecture started its tax in April 2026 alongside additional municipal taxes in listed municipalities including Sapporo, Otaru, Kutchan, Niseko, Hakodate, Asahikawa, and Furano-area and eastern municipalities (as of 2026-04).¹ In layered areas such as Hokkaido municipalities, Fukuoka, and Miyagi with Sendai, prefectural and municipal amounts are collected together as a single total, so one stay can attract both (as of 2026-04).¹

Hiroshima Prefecture started in April 2026 with a simple threshold of 200 yen at 6,000 yen or more (as of 2026-04).¹ Miyagi Prefecture and Sendai City started in January 2026 at 300 yen for 6,000 yen or more, with the Sendai City figure including 200 yen of prefectural tax (as of 2026-04).¹

Established levying cities and the growing list

New levies also started through 2025 and early 2026 in places such as Tokoname, Takayama, Atami, Gero, Hirosaki, Matsue, Gifu City, Yugawara, and Toba, with Nagano-area municipalities from June 2026 and further starts scheduled for Kumamoto City, Miyazaki City, Morioka City, Nasu Town, Okinawa, and Fuji-area municipalities into 2027. The table above covers the highest-traffic examples; treat any city not listed here as check-before-you-go rather than tax-free by default.

Good to know

Budget it per city, not once for Japan

Add the tax stop by stop. Tokyo's 100 or 200 yen bands tell you nothing about Osaka's 200 to 500 yen bands or Kyoto's wider range, and Fukuoka's combined prefectural-plus-municipal total is its own arithmetic.⁴²⁵¹

For a mid-range multi-city trip the total is usually a small fraction of lodging cost. At Kyoto luxury tiers it becomes a real line item, so run that city's math before locking a high-end Kyoto booking.⁵

Assume it is not in the headline price

Booking platforms typically show the room rate without the accommodation tax.¹ The property then collects the tax separately at check-in or check-out, which is why the charge surprises travelers who assumed the prepaid total was final.¹

Check the confirmation message for a lodging-tax line. If none appears, assume a separate payment at the property rather than assuming no tax applies.

Licensed minpaku pays the same city tax

A licensed private lodging inside a levying municipality collects the same city tax as a hotel on the same street.²³¹ Osaka's ordinance names special-zone and residential-accommodation facilities as taxpayers alongside hotels and inns, and the pattern holds across almost all taxing municipalities.²³

Unlicensed listings operate outside the law and are not a way to avoid the tax. Book licensed minpaku and expect the same per-person, per-night line as a hotel stay.¹

The list of taxing cities keeps growing

The list of taxing cities keeps growing, with starts in January and April 2026 and more scheduled into 2027.¹ A city that had no tax on your last trip may have one on your next trip.

Check the official page of each municipality on your route shortly before booking. Municipal pages carry the current bands and any threshold change faster than general guides.¹

See also

• Extra Fees When Visiting Japan: Destination and Activity Charges
• Japan's International Tourist Tax: The Departure Tax Every Visitor Pays
• Ryokan Cost Tiers: What You Actually Get at Each Price Point
• Vacation Rental Platforms in Japan: Airbnb, Vrbo, and Domestic Alternatives
• Kyoto's 2026 Tiered Lodging Tax, Explained

References

Footnotes

1. LIVE JAPAN (Gurunavi-affiliated travel guide with named editorial standards). "Japan's New Accommodation Tax (2026): What Travelers Should Know" (updated 2026-04-06). https://livejapan.com/en/article-a0005857/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³²

2. Osaka Convention and Tourism Bureau (Osaka Info). "Information on the Accommodation Tax" (English summary of Osaka Prefecture system, with pre/post September 1 2025 tables). https://osaka-info.jp/en/information/to-tourist/news-lodging-tax/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷

3. Osaka Prefecture. 「宿泊税」 official tax page (Japanese). https://www.pref.osaka.lg.jp/o050040/zei/alacarte/shukuhaku.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

4. Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Bureau of Taxation. 「宿泊税」 overview page. https://www.tax.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/kazei/leisure/shuk/2 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

5. Kyoto City Tourism Association (DMO Kyoto, City of Kyoto official guide). "Kyoto's Accommodation Tax to Change Starting March" (2026-02-26). https://kyoto.travel/en/news/tax-change ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

6. JNTO (Japan National Tourism Organization). "Accommodation" (official guide, lodging types and consumption-tax note). https://www.japan.travel/en/in/accommodation ↩

7. Kyoto City. 「宿泊税について」 official tax page (Japanese). https://www.city.kyoto.lg.jp/gyozai/page/0000236942.html ↩ ↩²

8. The Japan Times. "Tokyo government to shift to fixed-rate accommodation tax" (2025-11-27, Jiji-sourced). https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/11/27/japan/accommodation-tax-fixed-rate-tokyo/ ↩