On August 24, 2026, the mayor of Kamakura, and on the following day the mayor of Okayama, each announced plans to submit a lodging tax ordinance to their September regular council sessions. Kurashiki has already run a public comment process in July on a draft ordinance setting the tax at ¥200 per person per night, and the Hakone town council is deliberating a lodging tax ordinance at its September regular session, which opened at the end of August. Institutional groundwork for local tourism funding has reached a clear peak in autumn 2026.

This article tabulates the tax designs of the three cities whose bills converged on these “September councils” (Kamakura, Okayama and Kurashiki), estimates the effective burden rate by applying each tax amount to the city’s prevailing room rates, and maps the nationwide distribution of municipalities with a lodging tax in effect or scheduled as of 2027. Finally, it sets out the practical issues for accommodation operators. It does not evaluate the merits of any individual municipality’s design.

Three Cities at the September Councils — Tax Amount, Exemption Threshold and Timing

First, a side-by-side view of the three designs. All three share a flat amount per person per night, but they differ on the tax amount and the treatment of an exemption threshold. Kamakura is ¥300; Okayama and Kurashiki are ¥200. On the exemption threshold, Okayama intends to make no exceptions, including for low-priced stays and school trips, whereas Kurashiki’s draft exempts stays under ¥5,000 per person per night. Whether a threshold exists turns out to be decisive in the effective burden estimates below.

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from each city’s announcements and press reports (July–August 2026)

The same “¥200 for stays of ¥5,000 or more” design has also been adopted by Izumo in Shimane Prefecture, so a common template is emerging in the Chugoku region. Kamakura’s bill covers about 370 facilities in the city and is set to include private lodgings (minpaku) in the taxable scope.

Applying the Tax to Actual Rates — Estimated Settled ADR, Not Listed Price

Which price goes in the denominator largely determines the effective burden estimate. Under most ordinances, the tax base is the “accommodation charge,” meaning a room-only equivalent that excludes meals, service charges and consumption tax. Using the all-plan average listed price, which includes meal-inclusive plans, would therefore understate the burden.

The chart below compares the listed price (all-plan average, tax included) and the estimated settled ADR (tax-excluded equivalent) for the three cities and the main comparison municipalities. In Kurashiki, the listed price of ¥23,800 compares with an estimated settled ADR of ¥8,500, a ratio of 2.8x. Two-meal plans at ryokan around the Bikan historical quarter push up the listed price, while many of the rooms that actually sell are at business hotels near the station. All estimates in the rest of this article use the estimated settled ADR as the denominator.

Source: Prepared by HotelBank Editorial Team from MetroEngines Research (average of the 12 settled months, September 2025–August 2026)

Source: Prepared by HotelBank Editorial Team from MetroEngines Research (September 2025–August 2026, 12 settled months average; N is the monthly minimum–maximum)

*For Okayama City and Kyoto City, ward-level rows are weighted by the number of listed properties to return to a city-wide level. Kamakura’s settled ADR sample of 15–19 properties is relatively small, so its month-to-month swings are larger than in other cities.

Effective Burden Estimates — Okayama 4.94%, Kurashiki Zero Due to the Exemption Threshold

A flat-amount lodging tax is levied “per person per night,” whereas the rates we track are per room. We therefore estimated the effective burden in two ways: a room used by one guest (charge per person = estimated settled ADR) and a room used by two guests (charge per person = estimated settled ADR ÷ 2). Actual occupants per room vary by property and guest mix, so the two figures are best read as an upper and lower bound.

Source: Prepared by HotelBank Editorial Team from MetroEngines Research (each ordinance’s tax amount applied to the September 2025–August 2026 12 settled months average)

Source: Prepared by HotelBank Editorial Team from MetroEngines Research (blue shading marks the three cities whose bills went to the September councils)

Three points stand out from the estimates.

First, Okayama’s ¥200 produces a relatively high burden for a flat-amount tax because its rates are low. At 4.94% for 2 guests per room and 2.47% even for 1 guest, it sits close to the 3% rate Tokyo will introduce in April 2027. By contrast, Hakone (¥350), with an estimated settled ADR in the ¥26,000 range, stays at 1.33–2.65%. A flat amount is structurally heavier in areas with lower rates.

Second, Kurashiki’s ¥5,000 exemption threshold bites across a wide range of 2-guest stays. Kurashiki’s estimated settled ADR is about ¥8,500; split between two guests, that is about ¥4,200 per person, below the threshold. Taxability is of course determined booking by booking based on the actual accommodation charge, so not every 2-guest stay will be exempt, but the fact that the city’s typical rate sits near the threshold affects both revenue projections and collection practice. It is probably no coincidence that Kurashiki has not published a revenue estimate at the draft stage, given how hard this line is to read.

Third, Kamakura’s ¥300 lands in the middle on burden because its rates are high. At 1.51–3.03%, it is below Kyoto City (2.35–4.71%) and Osaka Prefecture (1.93–3.86%). Working back from a taxable base of about 370 facilities and projected revenue of ¥150 million a year implies roughly 500,000 taxable guest-nights a year.

Flat-Amount Burden Swings Widely by Rate Band — The Tax Curve

The difference in character between flat-amount and flat-rate taxes can be visualized with a burden curve plotted against the room charge per guest-night. A flat amount traces a hyperbola that shoots up as rates fall; a flat rate is a horizontal line. Designs with an exemption threshold drop to zero below it.

Source: Prepared by HotelBank Editorial Team from each municipality’s ordinance or draft ordinance

Okayama’s ¥200 overtakes Tokyo’s 3% rate at ¥6,700 per guest-night. For inventory in the ¥3,000–5,000 band, such as dormitories, capsule hotels and room-only budget properties, the burden reaches 4–7%, while above ¥15,000 it stays at about 1.3% or less. Kamakura’s ¥300 crosses over at ¥10,000; given the city’s estimated settled ADR of ¥19,800, the typical per-guest rate at 2 guests per room (about ¥9,900) sits right around that line.

The 6-tier graduated design adopted by Nasu smooths this hyperbola into steps, ranging from ¥100 below ¥10,000 to ¥3,000 at ¥100,000 or more. Kurashiki’s ¥5,000 exemption threshold likewise works to contain the upward swing at the low end. The three design options — “flat amount + exemption threshold,” “graduated” and “flat rate” — can be read as different answers to the same question.

Nationwide Distribution as of 2027 — 43 Points in Effect, 15 Scheduled

Lodging taxes are non-statutory earmarked taxes under the Local Tax Act, set by each municipality by ordinance. Starting with Tokyo in 2002, followed by Osaka Prefecture in 2017 and Kyoto City in 2018, they have spread rapidly over the past two years. We confirmed effective dates for 61 municipalities (Tokyo is counted once, for its 2002 introduction, and not again for its April 2027 switch to a flat rate), of which 31 took effect in 2026 and 13 are scheduled for 2027.

Source: Prepared by HotelBank Editorial Team from each municipality’s ordinances and published materials (N=61 municipalities)

The map below plots these municipalities by status. Where a prefecture and its capital city both levy the tax — Miyagi/Sendai, Hokkaido/Sapporo and Fukuoka Prefecture/Fukuoka City — they are combined into a single point, giving 58 pins. Adding the four municipalities deliberating at their September regular sessions (Kamakura, Okayama, Kurashiki and Hakone) brings the total shown to 62 points.

Source: Prepared by HotelBank Editorial Team from each municipality’s ordinances and published materials

The distribution is densest in Hokkaido (the prefectural tax plus 19 municipalities) and Nagano (the prefectural tax plus 4 municipalities), to which Okinawa (the prefectural tax plus 6 municipalities, effective February 2027) is being added. Conversely, gaps remain in Tohoku, northern Kanto, Shikoku and Hokuriku, where Morioka (October 2026), Yamagata (April 2027, planned) and Nasu (October 2026) are the early movers. In the Chugoku region, Okayama, Kurashiki and Izumo are moving after Hiroshima Prefecture (April 2026) and Matsue (December 2025), and the map is filling in toward FY2027.

By design type, flat amounts are the most common nationwide, followed by graduated and flat-rate designs. Flat rates are limited to Tokyo (April 2027), Yamagata, Tomakomai and Kitahiroshima (all planned), Kutchan and Okinawa Prefecture; because revenue automatically tracks rising rates, they tend to be adopted in areas with strong rate growth. A comprehensive list of tax amounts and effective dates nationwide is available in Japan Lodging Tax 2026: All 62 Municipalities.

Practical Issues for Operators — Registration, Collection Timing and System Changes

Between enactment and the effective date, there is a preparation period of about one year in Kamakura and roughly one to one and a half years in Okayama and Kurashiki. The work operators need to do in that time falls into four broad areas.

Source: Prepared by HotelBank Editorial Team from each municipality’s published materials and guidance for accommodation operators

Especially where two cities in the same prefecture, like Okayama and Kurashiki, start at around the same time, operators running multiple properties in the prefecture will handle two rule sets in parallel: the same tax amount, but with and without an exemption threshold. Kurashiki’s design requires a “¥5,000 per person per night” test, and how the charge is apportioned when several guests share a room will shape the specification of system changes. Running your own booking data against the draft to estimate the taxable share, without waiting for the ordinance to be finalized, gives a clearer sense of the scale of system changes and the revenue impact.

Subsidy programs are also worth checking. Some municipalities where the tax is already in effect offer subsidies for system changes needed to handle the lodging tax. Application windows are often set around six months before the effective date, so it is worth confirming with the municipality’s tourism department early after the ordinance passes.

Summary

The three cities that moved in the September 2026 council rush all adopt a flat amount per person per night, but their designs split on the tax amount (Kamakura ¥300 / Okayama and Kurashiki ¥200) and the exemption threshold (none in Okayama / stays under ¥5,000 exempt in Kurashiki). Applied to estimated settled ADR, the effective burden at 2 guests per room is 4.94% in Okayama, 3.03% in Kamakura and 0.00% in Kurashiki (exempt due to the threshold), confirming that the same “flat ¥200” can produce very different results depending on the combination of rate level and exemption threshold.

With these three cities and Hakone added, the number of municipalities with a lodging tax in effect or scheduled is expected to reach 65. For operators, the three issues to start on 6 to 12 months before the effective date are special-collector registration, collection rules for bookings that straddle the effective date, and system changes including exemption-threshold logic. Please check each city’s published materials for the status of the ordinances and confirmed effective dates.

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