Photo/Illutration Kyoto city officials speak to the media June 21 about administrative guidance issued to a local hotel that refused accommodation to an Israeli national earlier this month. (Fuka Takei)

A hotel in Kyoto refused accommodation to an Israeli national on grounds he might have ties to his country’s military conflict in the Gaza Strip.

Kyoto city authorities said the hotel had no right under the Hotel Business Act to refuse accommodation and issued administrative guidance concerning the operation of its management.

It said the hotel, which is in the city’s Higashiyama Ward and has six rooms, refused to accommodate the Israeli man earlier this month even though he had made a reservation. It concluded, based on information available online, that the man might be a member of the Israeli army involved in the operation in Palestinian territory.

Alerted to the situation on June 17, Kyoto city authorities interviewed the hotel and confirmed the facts.

The Hotel Business Act prohibits the refusal of accommodation except in specific circumstances, such as a guest having a specified infectious disease.

The city judged that refusing accommodation on grounds of nationality or occupation was in breach of the law.

On June 20, it issued verbal instructions to the hotel regarding its management and followed up with written guidance on June 21.

“We have asked our lawyers for help with this matter, and at the moment we can’t say anything,” stated the president of the hotel management company. “I can’t answer about the circumstances or the Israeli side’s response at the moment.”

The Israeli Embassy in Tokyo said it had sent a letter to the hotel stating that the refusal to accommodate the guest was “clear discrimination” and that the case “cannot be tolerated by any means.”

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