Tokyo hotel sued for denying stay to Korean resident of Japan over refusal to use Japanese name

South Korean passport / gettyimagesbank

A Tokyo hotel is facing legal action after refusing accommodation to a Korean-Japanese woman who declined to use a Japanese name instead of her Korean name. According to a report Friday by The Mainichi, the hotel also unlawfully demanded to see the guest's passport, despite her being a legal resident of Japan.

The woman, identified as a third-generation Korean resident in Japan and university professor living in Kobe, filed a lawsuit at the Kobe District Court. She is seeking 2.2 million yen ($1,530) in damages against the operator of the hotel, located in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

According to the report, the incident occurred in September last year when the woman booked a room online at Hotel B in Shinjuku using her Korean name and home address in Kobe.

Upon checking in, hotel staff requested her passport. Under Japan’s Inns and Hotels Act, only foreign nationals without a registered address in Japan are required to present their passports. Since the woman is a resident of Japan, the request was both unnecessary and in violation of the law.

She explained that she was born and raised in Japan and, as a resident, was not required to carry a passport. She instead presented her health insurance card and work ID as proof of her residency. However, hotel staff insisted that check-in was not possible without a passport.

The situation escalated when the hotel demanded that she fill out check-in documents using a Japanese name rather than her Korean one. When she refused, the hotel ultimately denied her stay.

According to The Mainichi, the woman argues that the hotel’s actions amount to discriminatory treatment and a violation of her human rights. She was quoted as saying, “Requiring a passport from someone with a Japanese address is unreasonable discrimination, and the demand to use a Japanese name is a human rights violation.”

The hotel has not offered an apology and maintains that its actions were appropriate. In a statement, it claimed the passport was requested only to verify her domestic address and denied that any discrimination occurred.

The woman's lawsuit is not solely about her individual case. According to the Center for Human Rights Education and Multiethnic Coexistence, which is supporting her case, similar complaints from foreign residents being asked to show passports at hotels are widespread. “We frequently receive reports from foreign residents who are unfairly asked to present their passports,” the group said.

“I filed the lawsuit because I don't want anyone else to go through the same unpleasant experience,” the woman told the outlet.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.