神戸市内の住宅街で、ラブホテルが禁止地区に「旅館」として営業していた問題で、兵庫県警生活環境課などは１４日、ホ
テルを経営している大阪市天王寺区の経営コンサルタント業「ＧＨＰ」代表の男性（３９）ら３人と、同社を１５日にも風営法違反（禁止区域営業）容疑で書類
送検する方針を固めた。「偽装ラブホテル」の立件は異例という。
調べでは、代表は今年１月中旬ごろ、風営法でラブホテル営業が禁止されている神戸市中央区山本通で、事実上のラブホテル「チャペルスイート」を旅館として市の許可を受け、営業した疑いが持たれている。
県警は今年１月、ホテルを捜索。旅館業法でビジネスホテルや旅館に義務づけられている宿泊者名簿がない▽外観が派手▽建物の外に宿泊料金が表示されている▽成人向けの自動販売機がある−ことなどが判明。ラブホテルとして営業していたと判断したもようだ。
同市によると、同ホテルは捜索を受けた後、設備や構造を改善して営業を再開したという。
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/affairs/crime/080415/crm0804150136004-n1.htm
In the residential area of Kobe city, in an area where Love Hotels are prohibited, there was an incident of a Love Hotel operating under a ryokan license. On the 14th, the Hyogo Prefectural Police served a summons of breach of the Adult Entertainment Law to 3 officers of the Osaka office of the hotel operator, called "GHP" GHP ウェブサイト
KPGウェブサイト
Investigators allege that according to their investigations, that the accused have around mid January this year, in Chuo-ku, Kobe, Yamamotodori, operated a love hotel business called Chapel Suite Chapel Hotels ウェブサイト, even though this is prohibited in this area under the Adult Entertainment Laws. while they had only received the permission of the city to operate as an Inn, they were in fact operating a love hotel de facto.
In January this year, prefectural police searched the hotel. They found that in contravention of the laws, there were vending machines for adult toys, that room rate is displayed on the outside of the flashy building, there is no hotel guest roster as is required for inns business hotel in the Hotel Business Law. According to these matters, it was determined to have been opearting as a love hotel.
According to city, after receiving the search, the hotel that was reopened by improving the structure and equipment.
Showing posts with label regulation of Japanese love hotels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label regulation of Japanese love hotels. Show all posts
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Sunday, January 16, 2011
2011 Revised Japan Leisure Hotel laws: What changes?
On July 6 of this year, the Diet approved proposed revisions of Japanese law regarding “adult entertainment” establishments (風俗営業等の規制及び業務の適正化等に関する法律). The laws are periodically revised as police attempt to keep up with and keep control over the country’s ever-expanding adult entertainment venues. Information on the changes is slightly difficult to come upon, but this site reportedly has the low-down on what will be different.
The upcoming revisions will hit two types of businesses that have been identified as problems in recent years: gisou love hotels and deai-kissa. Gisou love hotels are establishments registered as hotel or ryokan that are effectively operating as love hotels. They include small spaces that don’t resemble love hotels but can be rented for short-term trysts much like this unfortunate punter did. This allows the gisou love hotel to dodge regulations that bind normal love hotels to certain districts, allowing them to set up shop near schools, residential neighborhoods and other areas. Easiest way to beat the competition is monopolise an area they can’t touch, right?
While both gisou love hotels and deai kissa have trampled the grey line of adult entertainment laws, as of January 1, 2011, this will no longer be the case.
The revisions have redefined what a love hotel is in order to re-evaluate businesses and close many of the loop holes gisou love hotels have been taking advantage of. As of January 1, businesses that do one or more of the following may be classified as love hotels:
- Are available for “rest” use
- Have dining and lobby floor area that are less than legal standards set by capacity
- Have an entryway or reception area that is hidden from the outside
- Take payment through a machine or tube
- Use signage to direct customers to rooms instead of staff guidance
- Have installed a form of obstruction to prevent face-to-face interaction between customers and staff
The rules get complicated from there. For example, hotels that have signage to guide customers and obstructions so they may not come face-to-face with staff qualify as love hotels if payment for the room is made through a machine. If a hotel has very little restaurant or lobby space, displays “rest” prices, and has a reception that’s difficult to see, they must have a rotating or vibrating bed, a mirror in the room where people can observe themselves while lying down, “facilities that incite sexual curiosity” such as S&M goods or glass walls in the bathroom, and/or adult toys for sale in vending machines. Whew. Also, spaces which exist particularly to be rented at “rest” rates by members of the opposite sex fall under the love hotel article.
Some say that, under these restrictions, there are almost no entertainment district in which new businesses will be able to set up.
As a requirement, businesses must submit up-to-date blueprints or measurements of the entire premises together with their application. Other information that must be submitted includes:
- Method of doing business
- Map of the surrounding area (at least 200m)
- A diagram of the entryway and lobby
- Certificate of residence if the owner is a private individual
- In the case of a company, the above for all executives as well as company registration
Police say they will only accept applications until January 31, with all businesses neglecting to register before that presumably being slowly shut down. Ultimately, the authorities get to determine what qualifies and what does not under such complex stipulations. Whether this results in loads of shutdown or loads of bribery (or both) remains to be seen, but expect a large shift in the love hotel landscape over the upcoming year.
Memo From Jake: Every change in the law has interesting ripple effects. I can’t help but speculate on the effects this time around. There are now several “love hotel” funds–investment trusts that are involved in the love hotel industry. It’ll be interesting to see how the new laws will effect the value of those funds or whether it will have any effect at all. What puzzles me about the changes in the laws is why do the authorities even feel they are needed? I can see that there are some problems with the Deaikai cafes, but other than that, is an abundance of love hotels bad for Japanese society? Many people using love hotels are couples who live with their parents, or have room-mates and want some privacy to fool around. They are also used by married couples with children that don’t have space in the house to really enjoy their marital bliss. For a nation concerned about a declining birth-rate, you’d think Japan would actually be encouraging love hotel construction. I know of at least one child that was probably conceived in a love hotel because her over-worked father had to sneak out of the office to rendezvous with his wife on her ovulation day, knowing that he’d be trapped at the office all night. Ahem.
2011 Revised adult entertainment laws: What changes?
The upcoming revisions will hit two types of businesses that have been identified as problems in recent years: gisou love hotels and deai-kissa. Gisou love hotels are establishments registered as hotel or ryokan that are effectively operating as love hotels. They include small spaces that don’t resemble love hotels but can be rented for short-term trysts much like this unfortunate punter did. This allows the gisou love hotel to dodge regulations that bind normal love hotels to certain districts, allowing them to set up shop near schools, residential neighborhoods and other areas. Easiest way to beat the competition is monopolise an area they can’t touch, right?
While both gisou love hotels and deai kissa have trampled the grey line of adult entertainment laws, as of January 1, 2011, this will no longer be the case.
The revisions have redefined what a love hotel is in order to re-evaluate businesses and close many of the loop holes gisou love hotels have been taking advantage of. As of January 1, businesses that do one or more of the following may be classified as love hotels:
- Are available for “rest” use
- Have dining and lobby floor area that are less than legal standards set by capacity
- Have an entryway or reception area that is hidden from the outside
- Take payment through a machine or tube
- Use signage to direct customers to rooms instead of staff guidance
- Have installed a form of obstruction to prevent face-to-face interaction between customers and staff
The rules get complicated from there. For example, hotels that have signage to guide customers and obstructions so they may not come face-to-face with staff qualify as love hotels if payment for the room is made through a machine. If a hotel has very little restaurant or lobby space, displays “rest” prices, and has a reception that’s difficult to see, they must have a rotating or vibrating bed, a mirror in the room where people can observe themselves while lying down, “facilities that incite sexual curiosity” such as S&M goods or glass walls in the bathroom, and/or adult toys for sale in vending machines. Whew. Also, spaces which exist particularly to be rented at “rest” rates by members of the opposite sex fall under the love hotel article.
Some say that, under these restrictions, there are almost no entertainment district in which new businesses will be able to set up.
As a requirement, businesses must submit up-to-date blueprints or measurements of the entire premises together with their application. Other information that must be submitted includes:
- Method of doing business
- Map of the surrounding area (at least 200m)
- A diagram of the entryway and lobby
- Certificate of residence if the owner is a private individual
- In the case of a company, the above for all executives as well as company registration
Police say they will only accept applications until January 31, with all businesses neglecting to register before that presumably being slowly shut down. Ultimately, the authorities get to determine what qualifies and what does not under such complex stipulations. Whether this results in loads of shutdown or loads of bribery (or both) remains to be seen, but expect a large shift in the love hotel landscape over the upcoming year.
Memo From Jake: Every change in the law has interesting ripple effects. I can’t help but speculate on the effects this time around. There are now several “love hotel” funds–investment trusts that are involved in the love hotel industry. It’ll be interesting to see how the new laws will effect the value of those funds or whether it will have any effect at all. What puzzles me about the changes in the laws is why do the authorities even feel they are needed? I can see that there are some problems with the Deaikai cafes, but other than that, is an abundance of love hotels bad for Japanese society? Many people using love hotels are couples who live with their parents, or have room-mates and want some privacy to fool around. They are also used by married couples with children that don’t have space in the house to really enjoy their marital bliss. For a nation concerned about a declining birth-rate, you’d think Japan would actually be encouraging love hotel construction. I know of at least one child that was probably conceived in a love hotel because her over-worked father had to sneak out of the office to rendezvous with his wife on her ovulation day, knowing that he’d be trapped at the office all night. Ahem.
2011 Revised adult entertainment laws: What changes?
Nintendo Gets Tough on Love Hotels's Renting Games
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Revised love hotel regulations
From January 2011, a revision to the section of the nationwide Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses that pertains to love hotels will come into force, and, as Shukan Asahi Geino (Oct. 7) reports, the industry will be in for a shake up.
The weekly tabloid explains that the revisions are intended to remove prostitution and underage porn shoots from hotel premises.
“There are two types of love hotels,” explains journalist Akihira Otani. “Those operating under the approval of the Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses and those operating as lodging entities under the conventional lodging law, just as with any hotel or ryokan you may see.
“Giso (camouflaged) love hotels operate under the conventional lodging law yet provide adult-oriented gear, such as dildos,” he continues. “In both cases, one can go straight to a room without being seen. This is believed to be a contributing factor to crimes for which this revision is designed to counter.”
There are 3,590 of these pseudo-love hotels and that number matches the figure for those operating under the adult-entertainment law.
“The revised law will extend the list of requirements for love hotels to become eligible,” says a reporter who covers social issues.
The changes can be found here in Japanese. Most notably, guests will be asked to register personal information at the front desk. Other measures mainly deal with the establishment’s facilities and layout.
“Infrastructure must be in place to ensure that room fees are clearly shown and automatic room-fee payment machines are situated in every guest room,” continues the source. “Further, the entire building must be designed so that guests will not be visible by staff members in common areas.
(Ostensibly, these latter requirements are to specifically impact pseudo-love hotels, which contain nearly standard hotel rooms and open hallways and common areas.)
“While some of the pseudo-love hotels may apply for the license under the Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses,” the reporter adds, “the current design of the buildings will result in rejection. Many will be forced to redesign their hotels.”
Asahi Geino believes that some may be forced to close altogether as they will not be able to afford such renovations.
While this revision is targeting certain crimes, it is actually nonsense, according to Ikkyon Kim, a part-time professor and author of the book “The Evolution of the Love Hotel,” published by Bunshun Shinsho.
“It is old fashioned to separate love hotels from regular hotels,” she says. “City hotels nowadays offer short-stay programs. It will be just a continuous game of cat-and-mouse between the hotels and law enforcement.”
Will this revision end the problem? Journalist Otani is skeptical. “Is a front desk clerk likely to determine whether a female is a high school girl or not?” he asks. “Unless the roots of the problems are resolved, it may simply shift the crime scenes to city hotels.”
A male guest laments the move. “Checking in and facing the staff members defeats the whole point of the love hotel,” he says. “It’s intended to be a discrete environment.”
Revised love hotel regulations to pinch prostitution and underage porn | The Tokyo Reporter - "All the News That's Fit to Squint"
The weekly tabloid explains that the revisions are intended to remove prostitution and underage porn shoots from hotel premises.
“There are two types of love hotels,” explains journalist Akihira Otani. “Those operating under the approval of the Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses and those operating as lodging entities under the conventional lodging law, just as with any hotel or ryokan you may see.
“Giso (camouflaged) love hotels operate under the conventional lodging law yet provide adult-oriented gear, such as dildos,” he continues. “In both cases, one can go straight to a room without being seen. This is believed to be a contributing factor to crimes for which this revision is designed to counter.”
There are 3,590 of these pseudo-love hotels and that number matches the figure for those operating under the adult-entertainment law.
“The revised law will extend the list of requirements for love hotels to become eligible,” says a reporter who covers social issues.
The changes can be found here in Japanese. Most notably, guests will be asked to register personal information at the front desk. Other measures mainly deal with the establishment’s facilities and layout.
“Infrastructure must be in place to ensure that room fees are clearly shown and automatic room-fee payment machines are situated in every guest room,” continues the source. “Further, the entire building must be designed so that guests will not be visible by staff members in common areas.
(Ostensibly, these latter requirements are to specifically impact pseudo-love hotels, which contain nearly standard hotel rooms and open hallways and common areas.)
“While some of the pseudo-love hotels may apply for the license under the Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses,” the reporter adds, “the current design of the buildings will result in rejection. Many will be forced to redesign their hotels.”
Asahi Geino believes that some may be forced to close altogether as they will not be able to afford such renovations.
While this revision is targeting certain crimes, it is actually nonsense, according to Ikkyon Kim, a part-time professor and author of the book “The Evolution of the Love Hotel,” published by Bunshun Shinsho.
“It is old fashioned to separate love hotels from regular hotels,” she says. “City hotels nowadays offer short-stay programs. It will be just a continuous game of cat-and-mouse between the hotels and law enforcement.”
Will this revision end the problem? Journalist Otani is skeptical. “Is a front desk clerk likely to determine whether a female is a high school girl or not?” he asks. “Unless the roots of the problems are resolved, it may simply shift the crime scenes to city hotels.”
A male guest laments the move. “Checking in and facing the staff members defeats the whole point of the love hotel,” he says. “It’s intended to be a discrete environment.”
Revised love hotel regulations to pinch prostitution and underage porn | The Tokyo Reporter - "All the News That's Fit to Squint"
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Valuation of Japanese Leisure Hotels Impacted by New Laws
There have been a number of recent articles about the change in the laws regulating Leisure Hotels in Japan
http://japanrealestatecommentary.blogspot.com/2011/01/leisure-hotels-law-changes-forcing.html
http://www.japantrends.com/love-hotels-to-halve-next-year
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko-2DY3RPrU
Some of the articles are predicting that the number of love hotels will halve in 2011 as hotels which are close to schools and hospitals will be forced to close and also due to many hotels not being able to pay for the necessary renovations or new licensing costs.
Japanese Article links -
http://diamond.jp/articles/-/10125
http://www.j-cast.com/2010/11/22081522.html
We first posted on this topic back in May 2010 -
http://japanrealestatecommentary.blogspot.com/2010/05/japan-leisure-hotels-law-to-change.html
The recent articles do seem to evidence that there have been significant impacts on the industry; with many operators being forced into renovation capex or additional costs arising from the new licensing procedures.
What is clear is that there seems to be a lot of confusion about the new law and its application. All of which suggests to us that valuations will be under pressure until the impacts of the new law become clear.
It will certainly be interesting to watch what happens to valuations in the leisure or love hotel sector in the next few months.
http://japanrealestatecommentary.blogspot.com/2011/01/leisure-hotels-law-changes-forcing.html
http://www.japantrends.com/love-hotels-to-halve-next-year
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko-2DY3RPrU
Some of the articles are predicting that the number of love hotels will halve in 2011 as hotels which are close to schools and hospitals will be forced to close and also due to many hotels not being able to pay for the necessary renovations or new licensing costs.
Japanese Article links -
http://diamond.jp/articles/-/10125
http://www.j-cast.com/2010/11/22081522.html
We first posted on this topic back in May 2010 -
http://japanrealestatecommentary.blogspot.com/2010/05/japan-leisure-hotels-law-to-change.html
The recent articles do seem to evidence that there have been significant impacts on the industry; with many operators being forced into renovation capex or additional costs arising from the new licensing procedures.
What is clear is that there seems to be a lot of confusion about the new law and its application. All of which suggests to us that valuations will be under pressure until the impacts of the new law become clear.
It will certainly be interesting to watch what happens to valuations in the leisure or love hotel sector in the next few months.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Leisure Hotels Law Changes Forcing Capex and Changed Operations
Those who stroll along the streets adjacent to drinking areas these days may notice a large number of “love hotels” undergoing what appears at first glance to be major renovations.
“Revisions in the law controlling public morals will take affect from January, and without the changes we’d be forced to shut down,” the operator of one such establishment explains to Shukan Post (Dec 10). “That’s because we fall under the category of ‘resembling a love hotel.’”
Supervision of hotels in Japan is performed by two separate agencies. The National Police Agency supervises love hotels based on the law controlling public morals; the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare oversees general accommodations facilities such as hotels and ryokans based on a separate statute. One major difference between the two is that zoning laws ban love hotels from operating in certain areas. Such hotels may also be subject to other local ordinances.
The category of “resembling a love hotel” is being applied to establishments that, while licensed as a general hotel, essentially function as love hotels—which also enables them to operate in zones where love hotels are supposed to be banned.
“Because the excluded zones for the love hotels usually include favorable locations, such as in entertainment areas or streets fronting on train stations, these ‘resembling love hotels’ can boost their occupancy, thanks to their general hotel license,” a reporter for a nationally circulated newspaper tells Shukan Post. “About half of the estimated 30,000 love hotels in Japan are believed to be of this type.”
“One reason for this crossover,” explains the aforementioned operator, “is due to the vague distinction between love hotels and ordinary hotels. If an establishment provides a lobby and dining facilities above a designated amount of floor area, then the hotel will come under control of the law for hotels and ryokan. Many hotels are adding these modifications to the building afterwards. If they can be designated as a hotel/ryokan, they’ll be inspected by the local heath department instead of the police, and the likelihood of being charged with some violation would be low.”
The National Police Agency’s rationale for the crackdown on love hotels is that they have become a hotbed—if you’ll excuse the expression—for juvenile prostitution, and therefore act to “inhibit the wholesome upbringing of young people.”
“If the love hotels currently operating in excluded zones want to stay in business, they will have to spend large outlays for modifications,” says hotel management consultant Kazumi Yamauchi. “It also means they won’t be able to operate like they did before.”
When querying the National Police Agency regarding its campaign to quell juvenile prostitution, the magazine was told, “The ‘resembling love hotel’ establishments are a problem, because their premises tend to be utilized more for violations of the juvenile prostitution law than do regular love hotels.”
Love hotel operators found this explanation to be ludicrous. “All it’s going to do is drive the ‘enjo kosai’ activities to rental rooms and Internet cafes,” sighed the operator of one Osaka love hotel.
In Shukan Post’s view, the notion that love hotels situated near schools create a “hotbed of crime” is absurd, since no high school girl would risk being spotted accompanying a john into a hotel close to her own school.
The underage females engaged in such activities are no doubt having a good chuckle at the expense of the “shallow-brained bureaucrats” who imposed the current crackdown, the magazine concludes.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi-shukan-post/view/shallow-brained-bureaucrats-crackdown-on-love-hotels-unlikely-to-thwart-teen-prostitution
“Revisions in the law controlling public morals will take affect from January, and without the changes we’d be forced to shut down,” the operator of one such establishment explains to Shukan Post (Dec 10). “That’s because we fall under the category of ‘resembling a love hotel.’”
Supervision of hotels in Japan is performed by two separate agencies. The National Police Agency supervises love hotels based on the law controlling public morals; the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare oversees general accommodations facilities such as hotels and ryokans based on a separate statute. One major difference between the two is that zoning laws ban love hotels from operating in certain areas. Such hotels may also be subject to other local ordinances.
The category of “resembling a love hotel” is being applied to establishments that, while licensed as a general hotel, essentially function as love hotels—which also enables them to operate in zones where love hotels are supposed to be banned.
“Because the excluded zones for the love hotels usually include favorable locations, such as in entertainment areas or streets fronting on train stations, these ‘resembling love hotels’ can boost their occupancy, thanks to their general hotel license,” a reporter for a nationally circulated newspaper tells Shukan Post. “About half of the estimated 30,000 love hotels in Japan are believed to be of this type.”
“One reason for this crossover,” explains the aforementioned operator, “is due to the vague distinction between love hotels and ordinary hotels. If an establishment provides a lobby and dining facilities above a designated amount of floor area, then the hotel will come under control of the law for hotels and ryokan. Many hotels are adding these modifications to the building afterwards. If they can be designated as a hotel/ryokan, they’ll be inspected by the local heath department instead of the police, and the likelihood of being charged with some violation would be low.”
The National Police Agency’s rationale for the crackdown on love hotels is that they have become a hotbed—if you’ll excuse the expression—for juvenile prostitution, and therefore act to “inhibit the wholesome upbringing of young people.”
“If the love hotels currently operating in excluded zones want to stay in business, they will have to spend large outlays for modifications,” says hotel management consultant Kazumi Yamauchi. “It also means they won’t be able to operate like they did before.”
When querying the National Police Agency regarding its campaign to quell juvenile prostitution, the magazine was told, “The ‘resembling love hotel’ establishments are a problem, because their premises tend to be utilized more for violations of the juvenile prostitution law than do regular love hotels.”
Love hotel operators found this explanation to be ludicrous. “All it’s going to do is drive the ‘enjo kosai’ activities to rental rooms and Internet cafes,” sighed the operator of one Osaka love hotel.
In Shukan Post’s view, the notion that love hotels situated near schools create a “hotbed of crime” is absurd, since no high school girl would risk being spotted accompanying a john into a hotel close to her own school.
The underage females engaged in such activities are no doubt having a good chuckle at the expense of the “shallow-brained bureaucrats” who imposed the current crackdown, the magazine concludes.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi-shukan-post/view/shallow-brained-bureaucrats-crackdown-on-love-hotels-unlikely-to-thwart-teen-prostitution
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Japan Leisure Hotels Law to Change
Articles in today's Nikkei and other major Japanese newspapers report on the announcement by the National Police Agency of implementation of changes to the Japanese "fuieho" (Entertainment Law) which will come into effect on 1 January 2011.
The article says this is first change in 26 years for the industry. The Police say that they currently have 3,590 hotels registered as "love hotels" under the fueiho ho; however, there are more than 30,000 other hotels which act in a similar way.
The NPA are trying to bring this industry under their supervision by requiring hotels which are defined as "love hotels" to require licensing from the Police and the Police say that they expect that the number of hotels subject to their jurisdiction will substantially increase.
Under the new laws, hotels will be defined as "love hotels" if they
1.advertise day time pricing or
2.allow customers direct access to rooms or
3. use the "in room payment machines" which have long been a "grey area" in this industry.
This is quite a significant development for this large Japanese industry - which some say is larger than Toyota - because licensing by the Police will reduce valuations of hotels and also liquidity in this market segment.
Due to the negative impacts on valuation and liquidity for hotels under Police licensing, we can expect cashed up hotel owners to renovate their properties so that they do not fall within the above definition of "love hotels"; but owners without the necessary funds will be in a difficult situation and will be squeezed.
Shinsei Bank and listed Japanese property fund, Kenedix both have direct holdings in leisure hotels and they may be required to dispose of these assets by TSX rules if the new laws impact their hotels.
They will be selling into a buyers market.
Previous post on Leisure Hotels - http://japanrealestatecommentary.blogspot.com/2010/01/japanese-retail-investors-look-to.html
http://www.nikkei.com/news/latest/article/g=96958A9C93819695E0E4E2E7968DE0E5E2E7E0E2E3E29180E2E2E2E2
http://www.jiji.com/jc/zc?key=%C9%F7%B1%C4%CB%A1&k=201005/2010052700249
http://mainichi.jp/select/wadai/news/20100527k0000e040019000c.html
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/affairs/crime/100527/crm1005271040012-n1.htm
The article says this is first change in 26 years for the industry. The Police say that they currently have 3,590 hotels registered as "love hotels" under the fueiho ho; however, there are more than 30,000 other hotels which act in a similar way.
The NPA are trying to bring this industry under their supervision by requiring hotels which are defined as "love hotels" to require licensing from the Police and the Police say that they expect that the number of hotels subject to their jurisdiction will substantially increase.
Under the new laws, hotels will be defined as "love hotels" if they
1.advertise day time pricing or
2.allow customers direct access to rooms or
3. use the "in room payment machines" which have long been a "grey area" in this industry.
This is quite a significant development for this large Japanese industry - which some say is larger than Toyota - because licensing by the Police will reduce valuations of hotels and also liquidity in this market segment.
Due to the negative impacts on valuation and liquidity for hotels under Police licensing, we can expect cashed up hotel owners to renovate their properties so that they do not fall within the above definition of "love hotels"; but owners without the necessary funds will be in a difficult situation and will be squeezed.
Shinsei Bank and listed Japanese property fund, Kenedix both have direct holdings in leisure hotels and they may be required to dispose of these assets by TSX rules if the new laws impact their hotels.
They will be selling into a buyers market.
Previous post on Leisure Hotels - http://japanrealestatecommentary.blogspot.com/2010/01/japanese-retail-investors-look-to.html
http://www.nikkei.com/news/latest/article/g=96958A9C93819695E0E4E2E7968DE0E5E2E7E0E2E3E29180E2E2E2E2
http://www.jiji.com/jc/zc?key=%C9%F7%B1%C4%CB%A1&k=201005/2010052700249
http://mainichi.jp/select/wadai/news/20100527k0000e040019000c.html
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/affairs/crime/100527/crm1005271040012-n1.htm
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