With more than 100 million yen in underreported income, questions are being raised over the morals of profiting from overseas tourists.
A lot of businesses and organisations in Japan are seeking to make the most of the current boom in tourism by finding new ways to promote themselves and appeal to the foreign tourist market.
However, when that organisation is tied up with religion, it can blur the lines between what’s morally right and wrong, which is the situation that Japan’s world-famous religious site Mt Koya has now found itself in.
Located in the mountains of Wakayama Prefecture, Mt Koya has long been a revered religious site for pilgrims, and is so special it’s part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site draws tourists from around the world, with many wanting to fully immerse themselves in the otherworldly spirit of the holy mountain by staying in temple accommodation, known as shukubo.
▼ Mt Koya, or “Koyasan” as it’s known in Japanese.
Following a recent tax investigation, it was found that religious corporations operating shukubo on Mt Koya had underreported more than 100 million yen (US$650,000) in income collectively, with around 90 million yen attributed to one temple, Sojiin. In this case, the family of the chief priest was found to have used income from the temple lodging for personal expenses over a three-year period. The tax authorities treated this as undeclared remuneration, and the religious corporation was hit with around 40 million yen in additional taxes and penalties.
The issue came to light on 10 September, when reports emerged that the Osaka Regional Taxation Bureau had investigated more than 10 religious corporations operating shukubo on Mt Koya, with more than half of those investigated found to have failed to properly declare income. The news was widely reported in Japan, putting the spotlight on how religious organisations are making money from the current tourism boom.
In terms of taxes, income from religious activities such as donations and offerings is generally exempt from taxation, while income earned through revenue-generating businesses such as accommodation is taxable. So although staying at a temple may be part of a spiritual or cultural experience, if that temple is operating accommodation as a business, the income it earns from those stays is subject to tax.
▼ Mt Koya is dotted with moss-covered religious sites and graves.
There’s certainly plenty of money being made from tourist stays. Mt Koya has 117 temples, 51 of which operate shukubo, and in 2025 around 117,500 foreign guests stayed overnight on the mountain, a 10-percent increase from the previous year. Shukubo, which traditionally provided accommodation for monks and pilgrims, have become increasingly popular with tourists from overseas, offering experiences such as Buddhist vegetarian meals, morning services, meditation and sutra copying.
As the number of foreign visitors has increased, so too has the price of temple stays, with some rooms on Mt Koya now costing more than 150,000 yen for two adults per night. According to one visitor, the same temple charging those prices now was only charging roughly 20,000 to 30,000 yen per person just four years ago.
The Koyasan Shukubo Association says that around 40 years ago, a one-night stay with two meals cost about 7,000 yen. Since the pandemic, government subsidies helped some lodgings upgrade their facilities, contributing to what the association describes as a move towards more luxurious accommodation. Today, some shukubo can offer rooms and facilities that look more like those of a luxury ryokan than the humble temple lodgings used by visitors in the past.
▼ Many of the temples on Mt Koya have histories that stretch back hundreds of years.
From the standpoint of the temples, running accommodation requires staff, food, maintenance and other expenses, and they are operating in a tourism market where visitors are increasingly willing to pay for a more comfortable and exclusive experience. At the same time, these are still religious sites, and the more they resemble luxury hotels and charge luxury prices, the more questions are raised about where the line should be drawn between providing a sustainable service and commercialising a sacred space.
However, the rising prices have not gone over well with a lot of tourists, with Japanese visitors also asking the question: “Are temples supposed to be profit-seeking?”
It’s a tough balance to strike between providing a religious service and earning money to keep old traditions alive. But with the weak yen making experiences that are expensive by Japanese standards seem incredibly cheap to overseas tourists, price increases in the tourist sector are now becoming increasingly common.
Whether these increases are justified or not is up for debate, but when one of the country’s most famous temple communities is involved, there needs to be extra transparency in income reporting and careful thought given to how much is too much when charging for overnight stays.
Sources: Yomiuri Shimbun, Sankei via Yahoo! Japan News
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Pakutaso (1, 2, 3)
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