Accommodation tax in Japan: what you pay per night in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Hokkaido and 40 other places, and what changes in 2027

What is Japan's accommodation tax?

The accommodation tax (shukuhaku-zei) is a local tax that a prefecture or a city levies on everyone who spends a night in a hotel, inn, hostel or licensed private lodging within its borders. It is charged per person, per night, it is worked out from the room charge excluding meals and consumption tax (service charges count as part of the room charge), and it is collected by the lodging, which adds it to your bill at check-in or check-out and passes it on to the local government. There is no national version: the only nationwide tax on your room is the 10% consumption tax, which is already inside the price you see.

Two things make it a trap for visitors. First, many booking sites show the room price without it, so a "total" paid online is not the total; expect a small extra charge, sometimes cash only, at the desk. Second, it is spreading fast. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, which must consent to each ordinance, listed seven prefectures and 42 municipalities with an accommodation tax as of mid-2026, most of them added since 2025, and more take effect in 2027.

The amounts are small next to a hotel bill, a few hundred yen a night in most places, but they are not trivial for a family on a two-week trip in Kyoto, where the top band is 10,000 yen per person per night, or in Tokyo once the 3% rate begins in April 2027. The tables below give every verified rate. Where a town has a tax whose amount this site has not confirmed from the ordinance, it is listed by name and start date only.

Tokyo accommodation tax: today and from April 2027

Tokyo's tax currently applies only to hotels and ryokan, not to hostels, capsule hotels or private lodgings, and only to rooms costing 10,000 yen or more per person per night.

From stays beginning on 1 April 2027 the system changes completely. The revised ordinance, announced by the metropolitan government on 30 June 2026 once the ministry had consented to it, replaces the flat amounts with 3% of the room charge, keeps a zero band for rooms under 13,000 yen per person per night, and extends the tax to simple lodgings (hostels and capsule hotels) and private lodgings (minpaku). As plain arithmetic, a 20,000-yen room that pays 200 yen per person today will pay 600 yen; a 50,000-yen room goes from 200 to 1,500 yen. Cheap rooms are unaffected.

Osaka accommodation tax

Osaka's tax is prefectural, so it applies in Osaka city, Sakai, the Universal Studios area and everywhere else in the prefecture, and it covers hotels, ryokan, simple lodgings, special-zone minpaku and ordinary minpaku. The current bands took effect on 1 September 2025.

Kyoto accommodation tax (Kyoto city)

Kyoto city has the highest top rate in Japan and no zero band: every paying guest is taxed (school trips are exempt). The new bands apply to stays from 1 March 2026.

Note that this is the city of Kyoto. Uji, Nara and other places nearby have no accommodation tax at the time of writing.

Fukuoka accommodation tax

Fukuoka prefecture and its two biggest cities have charged the tax since 1 April 2020. The prefectural and municipal parts are collected together as a single amount.

Kanazawa accommodation tax

Kanazawa's accommodation tax predates the current wave of new taxes; a zero band for cheap rooms was added on 1 October 2024.

Hokkaido accommodation tax: Sapporo, Hakodate, Niseko and Kutchan

Hokkaido introduced a prefecture-wide tax on 1 April 2026 covering hotels, ryokan, simple lodgings and minpaku. More than a dozen municipalities charge their own tax on top, and the two are collected together, so what you pay depends on the town.

Hakodate lowers its bathing tax from 150 to 100 yen while its accommodation tax applies.

The ski resorts are different again and charge a percentage:

• Kutchan (Niseko Hirafu and the rest of the town): 3% of the room charge, prefectural and town tax combined, from 1 April 2026.
• Niseko Town: from 1 April to 31 October 2026 a combined flat scale of 200 yen (under 5,001 yen), 300 yen (5,001 to 19,999), 700 yen (20,000 to 49,999), 1,500 yen (50,000 to 99,999) and 2,500 yen (100,000 and above); for stays from 1 November 2026, 3% combined, in line with Kutchan.

Otaru, Asahikawa, Kushiro, Obihiro, Kitami, Abashiri, Furano, Otofuke, Koshimizu, Toyako, Shintoku, Rusutsu and Shimukappu (Tomamu) also add a municipal tax from 1 April 2026. This site has not confirmed their amounts from the ordinances, so ask the hotel or check the town's website; expect the prefectural amount plus a few hundred yen.

Miyagi and Sendai

Miyagi prefecture's tax began on 13 January 2026: 300 yen per person per night, with nothing charged on rooms under 6,000 yen. In Sendai the same 300 yen is split between the prefecture (100 yen) and the city (200 yen), so the guest pays the same amount anywhere in the prefecture.

Hiroshima prefecture

From 1 April 2026, 200 yen per person per night on rooms of 6,000 yen and above, anywhere in Hiroshima prefecture, including Hiroshima city and Miyajima (Hatsukaichi). Nothing under 6,000 yen.

Nagano prefecture: Matsumoto, Karuizawa, Hakuba and Nozawa Onsen

Nagano's prefectural tax started on 1 June 2026. The standard rate is 300 yen per person per night, reduced to 200 yen for the first three years, with nothing charged on rooms under 6,000 yen. In Matsumoto, Karuizawa, Achi, Hakuba and Nozawa Onsen, which have their own municipal taxes, the prefectural share is halved to 150 yen (100 yen for the first three years) and the town's tax is added; the municipal amounts have not been verified for this page, so ask at check-in.

Other cities and towns with an accommodation tax

These places also charge an accommodation tax. This site has not verified their amounts against the ordinances, so they are listed by start date only; in every case expect a few hundred yen per person per night and ask the hotel.

Coming in 2027

• Oita prefecture (Beppu, Yufuin): from January 2027.
• Okinawa prefecture: from 1 February 2027, 2% of the room charge per person per night, capped at 2,000 yen. In municipalities with their own tax (Ishigaki, Nago, Miyakojima, Motobu, Onna and Chatan are planned) the prefecture takes 0.8% (cap 800 yen) and the municipality 1.2% (cap 1,200 yen), so the guest still pays 2% in total.
• Wakkanai (Hokkaido) and Shirahama (Wakayama): from 1 March 2027.
• Tomakomai (Hokkaido), Yamagata city, Fujiyoshida and Fujikawaguchiko (the Fuji Five Lakes), Unzen (Nagasaki), Kagoshima city and Ibusuki: from 1 April 2027.
• Tokyo: 3% with a 13,000-yen threshold, extended to hostels, capsules and minpaku, from 1 April 2027 (see above).
• Kitahiroshima (Hokkaido): from 1 October 2027.

The bathing tax at hot-spring inns

Separate from all of the above is the bathing tax (nyuto-zei), a municipal tax on people who bathe in a hot spring. The standard rate set by national law is 150 yen per person per day, and the inn or bath house collects it with your bill; municipalities may set other amounts (Hakodate, for example, charges 100 yen while its accommodation tax runs), and some reduce or waive it for day visitors or children. At an onsen ryokan you will usually see it as a separate line of 150 yen per person per night, on top of any accommodation tax. Some inns include it in the quoted price; most do not.

How to budget for it

Count the people, count the nights, and add the local rate: a couple spending four nights in a mid-priced Kyoto hotel pays 400 yen × 2 × 4 = 3,200 yen at the desk; the same couple in a 12,000-yen Tokyo room pays 100 × 2 × 4 = 800 yen today and nothing from April 2027 (the room is under the new 13,000-yen threshold). Hotels will add the tax to a card payment, but small inns and hostels sometimes ask for it in cash, so keep a few thousand yen in notes on check-in day; our cash or card guide covers where cash is still needed. Receipts from the hotel show the tax as a separate line, which matters if you are claiming the trip as a business expense.

To cite or link to this page: Accommodation tax in Japan: what you pay per night in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Hokkaido and 40 other places, and what changes in 2027 — Japan Pocket Guide, https://japanpocketguide.com/plan/accommodation-tax/ Copy