Smoking Policy for Japan Short-Term Rentals: What We Allow, What We Ban, and Why
Guests from abroad are often surprised by smoking in Japan. Many cities ban smoking on the street, yet you can still find a smoking room in an izakaya. A lot of locals have moved to heated tobacco like IQOS, which plenty of people don’t count as “smoking” at all. Inside a short-term rental, that confusion lands on you as the operator, usually at 11pm, as a message reading “Is it OK if I smoke on the balcony?”
We’ve changed our policy a few times over the years. This post covers where we ended up and why. It also covers the things nobody warned us about: heated tobacco, balconies, and what getting smoke smell out of a room involves and why it can disrupt bookings.