TOKYO -- A growing number of municipalities in Japan are introducing lodging taxes as overseas tourists continue to flood into the country, while cities and towns are also devising new taxes that only target visitors while exempting local residents.
On April 1, the city of Atami in Shizuoka prefecture began collecting a lodging tax of 200 yen ($1.40) per person per night. It became the 12th Japanese locality to introduce such a tax since Tokyo first did so in 2002. Atami expects to raise about 600 million yen annually from the tax, which will be used to fund the new Atami Tourism Bureau and events like fireworks festivals.
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