The Osaka Municipal Assembly had voted down a plan to allow property owners to open up vacant condominiums and apartments to lodge visitors — an idea based on a central government deregulation drive and aimed at meeting the growing number of foreign visitors to the city.
An assembly committee rejected a bill proposed by the municipal government, with support for the legislation coming only from Osaka Ishin-no Kai (Osaka Restoration Association), a local chapter of Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party), which is co-led by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto.
A similar bill is expected to be introduced in the Osaka Prefectural Assembly. Given that the Hashimoto-led group doesn't have a majority there either, the idea appears doomed to fail.