"Three Rooms, Great Views, Near the Station"... Japan's Shady Rental Scheme Infiltrates Luxury Apartments at 1 Million Won a Night

Guests Recruited via Chinese Social Media; Bookings and Payments Made in Foreign Languages
Complaints Rise, but Crackdowns Prove Difficult... Fears of Criminal Exploitation

Luxury high-rise condominiums known as tower mansions in central Tokyo are being used to operate illegal short-term rentals.

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On October 13, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) reported that cases of tower mansions in central Tokyo being used as unregistered accommodations are occurring one after another. Guests are recruited through Xiaohongshu, a Chinese social media platform.

According to Nikkei, a unit on the 38th floor of a 45-story tower mansion in Tokyo's Minato Ward was listed on Xiaohongshu as a short-term rental. The post read, "Best views, available for short-term stays," and included details such as "80 square meters, three rooms" and "a three-minute walk from the station."

When reporters inquired, the poster initially quoted a rate of 90,000 yen per night (about 760,000 won), then raised it to 120,000 yen (about 1.01 million won) during the conversation. A minimum booking of three nights was required, and the poster demanded a total of 380,000 yen (about 3.2 million won), including a 20,000-yen cleaning fee (about 170,000 won).

Reporters checked the property's registry and found that it was owned by a real estate brokerage and short-term rental company in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. The company president is believed to be Chinese. A company employee said, "The property was purchased as an investment," and denied that the company operated a short-term rental in the tower mansion.

Another suspected case of an unregistered short-term rental was found in a 32-story tower mansion in the same ward. The unit that Nikkei reporters booked through a Xiaohongshu post was about 60 square meters and could accommodate up to six people. Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge were visible from the windows. The two-night stay cost 104,000 yen (about 880,000 won).

Neither unit appeared on the list of short-term rental facilities published by Minato Ward. The building's management rules also prohibited short-term rental operations. The ward's public health center said it had received inquiries about the matter but had not obtained conclusive evidence. The unit owners and the people named on the payment accounts also denied suspicions of operating unauthorized short-term rentals.

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Minato Ward has begun cracking down on unregistered short-term rentals but is struggling to identify the actual operators. Reservations and payments are often made through foreign-language websites, and it can also be difficult to prove that a unit is being used for paid accommodation when guests claim they are visiting a friend's home.

Complaints related to short-term rentals are also increasing. In Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, complaints about illegal short-term rentals in fiscal 2025 rose by about 80% from the previous year, exceeding 400. Last month, the ward announced that it would, in principle, prohibit short-term rental operations in residential-only areas and around schools.

There are also concerns that the anonymity of central Tokyo's tower mansions, where neighbors have little interaction, could be exploited for criminal activity. In Japan, cases have in fact been uncovered in which tower mansion units were used as illegal gambling dens. Critics say illegal activities can be difficult to uncover because it is hard to determine how units are being used from outside and residents have little interaction with one another.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.