Tourist Denied Entry to Japanese Hotel for Not Speaking Japanese

A story has surfaced about a Korean YouTuber traveling in Japan and was denied accommodation at a pre-booked hotel for not speaking Japanese.

The YouTuber “Kkujun,” with about 60,000 subscribers, recently posted a video titled “113-day journey, Fukuoka~Sapporo 1,118 miles Japan kickboard tour full version” on his YouTube channel.

The video included a scene where the YouTuber was denied accommodation at his booked place.

According to the video, when the YouTuber arrived at the hotel during his trip and told the guide in English that he had a reservation, a hotel staff member asked in Japanese if he could speak Japanese.

When the YouTuber answered that he couldn’t, another staff member appeared and asked again in Korean if he could speak Japanese and then refused his accommodation, saying, “If you can’t speak Japanese…”

Through a mobile phone translator, the YouTuber then said, “Please let me sleep here as it’s late and I have nowhere else to go. If there’s a problem, we can use a translator.”

However, a male staff member, assumed to be the person in charge, appeared and asked, “Have you ever used a Japanese bath?” “Do you know about Japanese customs?” and ultimately refused him again, saying, “If you don’t know Japanese and our customs, you can’t stay here.”

The YouTuber had already made a reservation online and received a confirmation email approving it. He expressed his disbelief, saying, “It’s not right to tell me to leave now.”

People who watched this video left comments criticizing the hotel, saying, “Seeing the episode of the Japanese capsule hotel where he was kicked out, it seems like he received unfair treatment, and I’m belatedly furious,” “It’s hard to understand being suddenly denied on the day because you’re a foreigner,” “Refusing entry because he can’t speak Japanese, that store must be crazy,” “As a fellow Japanese, I’m embarrassed.”

After the incident was revealed, the hotel apologized on its website. The hotel stated, “We sincerely apologize to the customer for the inconvenience caused by refusing accommodation to a foreigner who can’t speak Japanese,” and “We should have provided accommodation instead of refusing the guest. Our staff, who lacked proper training, gave an inappropriate response.”

They added, “We take this incident very seriously and will work hard to prevent it from happening again.”