Complaints about minpaku — private homes and apartments rented to tourists — have clustered on Awaji Island, the resort area in Hyogo Prefecture, as residents report late-night noise, barbecues, fireworks, illegal parking and rule-breaking on rubbish disposal.
Hyogo Prefecture received more than 30 complaints about minpaku facilities in the six months to the end of September this fiscal year. Of those, 29 came from the Awaji area.
Video shot by residents shows guests talking loudly in a garden at night. "I understand they're having fun, but when it goes on every day it's hard," one nearby resident said. Another told of being unable to live a normal life.
Kansai cities tighten the door
Elsewhere in Kansai, local governments have moved to restrict short-term rentals. Kyoto plans to effectively ban new minpaku in residential areas next year. Osaka stopped accepting new applications for special-zone minpaku in May.
Awaji Island has been drawing more visitors. Overnight stays topped 1.25 million in fiscal 2025, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, and hotels are going up across the island.
At the Awaji Island Kanko Hotel, which has operated for 65 years, the okami — the woman who runs the inn — Sanae Uemura said demand recovered faster on Awaji than anywhere else in the Kansai region after the pandemic, with room occupancy up about 10 percentage points. Inbound guests account for only 2 to 3 percent of visitors, she said, with the rest traveling from elsewhere in Japan.
Another long-established hotel plans to open a property aimed at wealthy guests at around ¥300,000 a night, and an all-inclusive hotel that folds meals into the room rate, from next year onward.
A sign cut with a saw
Residents have put up signs warning visitors about noise and other rules. One operator cut a sign to pieces with a saw, according to FNN Prime Online.
The prefecture says it will strengthen regulation.