Tourist taxes in Japan: hotel tax, departure tax and the tax-free refund

How accommodation taxes work

A city or a prefecture can charge a tax on hotel nights. It is per guest per night, not per room: a room for 30,000 yen shared by two is 15,000 yen a guest. The price is the room-only price with its service charge, before the 10% consumption tax; meals and drinks are left out.

The hotel adds the tax to the bill, often at check-in, and booking sites do not always include it in the price they show. Where both the prefecture and the city charge, the bill shows one amount or two lines.

The exemptions differ from place to place. Most do not tax school trips; some leave out children under 12, and others tax every guest who pays for a room. Each city's page in the table lists its own.

Changes already enacted: Niseko moves to 3% of the price on 1 November 2026; all of Okinawa charges 2% (at most 2,000 yen) from 1 February 2027; Tokyo moves to 3% from 1 April 2027, with nothing below 13,000 yen a guest; Nagasaki changes its bands and Tomakomai and Yamagata City start on 1 April 2027; Oita Prefecture starts on 1 June 2027 and Kitahiroshima on 1 October 2027. Miyajima's visit tax is not an accommodation tax: 100 yen a visit, paid with the ferry fare.

The departure tax

Everyone who leaves Japan by plane or ship pays the international tourist tax (国際観光旅客税) once per departure, Japanese and foreign travellers alike: ¥3,000 for departures from 1 July 2026, ¥1,000 before that. The airline or the shipping line adds it to the ticket.

Not taxed: children under 2, transit passengers who leave within 24 hours of arriving, and crews.

A ticket bought before 1 July 2026 for a date fixed at the time keeps the old ¥1,000, unless its terms collect the tax apart from the fare, the date was changed later, or it was an open ticket. Airline tickets usually list the tax apart from the fare.

Tax-free shopping from 1 November 2026

From 1 November 2026 tax-free shops charge the full price with tax. Show your passport, keep the goods unused and with you, and before you check in your bags at the airport, scan your passport at a tax-free kiosk; if customs asks, show the goods. Once customs has confirmed that they leave Japan, the shop pays the tax back.

The minimum is ¥5,000 before tax at one shop on one day, food and other goods together. Receipts from the same shop on another day do not add up. Customs must see the goods within 90 days, counted from the day after the purchase.

Until 31 October 2026 the shop still leaves the tax off at the till. The two methods do not run side by side: the day of the purchase decides.

Only visitors can shop tax-free: anyone who lives in Japan with a residence card pays the tax. For one receipt, the 10% and 8% rates and the rounding, use the consumption tax calculator.