The sharing economy is catching up with Japan

Japan’s approach to the sharing economy is that if a service such as minpaku , or short-term private lodging, operates like a hotel, it should be regulated as one. | Getty Images

Nov 1, 2026

If sharing is caring, one part of Tokyo just doesn’t care anymore.

Shinjuku is moving to restrict minpaku, the practice of letting out apartments and houses for platforms such as Airbnb, following a surge of complaints. Residents of the neon-lit area that’s home to the world’s busiest railway station are unhappy about tourists causing noise late at night, jamming apartment building corridors with suitcases and failing to correctly put out garbage. Shinjuku has the most minpaku properties of any municipality in the country, a stock that has more than doubled in just three years.

The mayor, a longtime opponent of short-term rentals, said that the “lofty ideals” of this type of platform — hosts earning a little side money from utilizing unused rooms, perhaps introducing their guests to the neighborhood — simply haven’t materialized. Some 2,000 existing properties will be hit by the changes.

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