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Agence France-Presse

After travelling to Tokyo for meetings, Yoshiki Kojima’s IT company employees crash out in a capsule hotel, as a tourism boom makes regular rooms too pricey for business trips.
A weak yen is attracting more visitors than ever to Japan, with the country logging more than 36.8 million tourist arrivals in 2024, topping 2019’s record of nearly 32 million, according to estimates from the Japan National Tourism Organisation.
But that is also raising prices for Kojima’s staff and other Japanese business travellers.
Capsule hotels, a Japanese institution, offer claustrophobic bed-sized pods, often double-stacked in rows.
They have a “shabby” reputation, Kojima said, so he found a more comfortable establishment that boasts high-end mattresses and a television in each capsule.
“It’s clean, convenient and has a traditional shared bath house. My employees say it’s fun,” he said.

A night in a standard capsule there starts at 5,000 yen ($30) – but its rates are rising, according to Kojima.
It is still cheaper than a basic private room at a business hotel, which in the Japanese capital cost 20,048 yen (US$130) on average in November.
That’s up from the pre-pandemic peak of 12,926 yen in April 2019, shows research by Tokyo Hotel Kai, a group of around 200 hotels.
“I’m happy there are so many visitors to Japan, but I’m agonising every day about finding a flexible way” to run the business, said Kojima, who needs to bring around 20 to 30 employees to the capital for companywide meetings.
The Japanese economy has benefited from the surge in foreign tourists because it creates jobs and the visitors spend money, analyst Takuto Yasuda of NLI Research Institute said.

“But it has a negative impact as well, such as Japanese people not being able to travel, or their daily lives being affected by overtourism,” he said.
Japan’s chronic labour shortages and an increase in hotel supply costs are also pushing up the fees, he added.
Keisuke Morimoto, who runs a kimono shop in Japan’s western Nara region, was shocked when he learned a two-night stay at a Tokyo hotel would cost him 60,000 yen.
“Seriously, what do I do for the hotel for my business trip?” he wrote on social media.
Morimoto said he was thinking of using short-term rental platform Airbnb, which has cheaper options.
Some tourist spots are fighting back against overtourism, including the ancient capital of Kyoto, where residents have complained of visitors harassing the city’s famed geisha.

Now Kyoto plans to increase its accommodation taxes, including by up to 10 times for top-end hotels, the mayor said on Tuesday.
Japan wants to welcome 60 million visitors a year by 2030.
This could mean even more expensive domestic business trips to Tokyo, Osaka and major cities, where demand for hotel bookings has spiked thanks to crowds of first-time visitors.
The number of foreign visitors to Tokyo has doubled since 2019, and was up 1.5 times in Osaka, government data shows.
To even things out, the government wants tourists to visit lesser-known destinations, encouraging them to stay at least two nights in rural towns.
Yasuda agrees that funnelling visitors elsewhere is key to easing pressure on city hotels.
The occupancy rate in 2024 for business hotels in Tokyo run by major operator Fujita Kanko was 88 per cent, and average rates were up 26 per cent from last year, the company said.
“Currently, demand is concentrated in major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka, so we are hoping that this will spread to Sapporo, Naha and other smaller regions,” the firm said.
IT company boss Kojima may resort to drastic measures.
“I’m thinking of moving our headquarters to Sapporo, or organising a meeting in a hot spring town near Tokyo,” he said.
“There are many areas that aren’t flooded with tourists, and we can take advantage of that.”


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Tourists walk past shops and restaurants in Kyoto on Monday. Photo: AFP

Inside a conventional capsule rooms at a capsule hotel in Tokyo. Photo: AFP

Travellers queue up with their bags to board a high-speed train at a station in Tokyo on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Tourists walk through the streets of Kyoto on Monday. The country logged more than 36.8 million tourist arrivals in 2024. Photo: AFP

Japan’s Kyoto to sharply raise hotel tax in bid to curb overtourism – will it work?

Thousands of people attending a procession ahead of the climax of the Gion festival in Kyoto. Photo: AFP

Kiyomizu temple chief Buddhist priest Seihan Mori writes the kanji character ‘Kin’ meaning ‘gold’ or ‘Kane’ meaning ‘money’ at the temple in Kyoto, Japan, on December 12, 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE

Maple leaves in autumn colours are lit up along with World Heritage site Byodoin Temple’s Phoenix Hall in Kyoto Prefecture. Photo: Kyodo

In Japan, foreign tourists’ misdeeds stir outrage, debate: ‘who does something like that?’

People walk past a torii gate at Meiji shrine in Tokyo. An American tourist was arrested for etching letters into a traditional wooden gate at a Tokyo shrine. Photo: AFP

Scratches are seen on a torii gate at Meiji shrine in Tokyo, in the latest example of bad behaviour by visitors in Japan. Photo: AFP

A man bows before he goes through a torii gate that has been fenced off at Meiji shrine. Photo: AFP

Welcome to Tokyo: Asia’s new sex tourism capital?

An older man approaches a woman near Okubo Park in Tokyo’s notorious Kabukicho district. Photo: Eric Fior

A woman looks out at the Tokyo skyline. Photo: AFP

An older man approaches a woman near Okubo Park in Tokyo, presumably to solicit sexual services. Photo: Eric Fior

Men interact with young women waiting in the street around Okubo Park in Tokyo. Photo: Eric Fior

Tokyo’s notorious Kabukicho district – a maze of bars, love hotels and host clubs. Photo: Eric Fior

Japan aims to smash tourism record in 2025, as more travellers eye ‘dream holiday’

People having their photographs taken in front of Japan’s Mount Fuji in Gotemba city, Shizuoka prefecture. In an encouraging sign, some 3.8 million visitors travelled to Japan last year. Photo: AFP

The Japan National Tourism Organization holds an event in Beijing on February 4, 2023, to promote inbound tourism to Japan. Photo: Kyodo 

People ride cable cars in Hakone, Kanagawa prefecture. Photo: AFP 

News

Asia

East Asia

The Japanese economy has benefited from the surge in foreign tourists – but it has a negative impact as well


The Japanese economy has benefited from the surge in foreign tourists – but it has a negative impact as well.


Tourism

Asia travel