The Japan Tourism Agency has asked Airbnb, the operator of a major intermediary website for private lodgings, to investigate listings on its site that potentially violate the Private Lodging Business Law.
According to the agency and the Kyoto municipal government, there were at least 44 minpaku private lodging facilities in Kyoto listed on Airbnb's website for which operators had not submitted notifications to the city government as of June 15, the day the law took effect.
The city government submitted a report to the agency, which on Monday called on the company to investigate the report's findings.
The so-called minpaku law prohibits intermediary business operators from advertising facilities for which notifications have not been sent. Before the law went into effect, Airbnb took such measures as canceling a number of reservations at unlawful facilities listed on its website.
Regarding whether unlawful facilities were listed on its website, the company told The Yomiuri Shimbun it was "unable to respond" and "We will continue to implement measures under the instruction of the agency."
According to a survey released by the agency on Wednesday, the number of private lodging facilities of which municipalities were notified under the law stood at 3,728 as of June 15.
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