Japan Tourist Tax 2026: The ¥3,000 Departure Tax and Every Hotel Tax, City by City

When people search for the Japan tourist tax, they usually mean one of three different charges. The national departure tax, officially the International Tourist Tax, went from ¥1,000 to ¥3,000 on 1 July 2026 and is paid by everyone who leaves the country. Local hotel taxes are charged per person, per night, and every city sets its own rates; Kyoto’s now reach ¥10,000 a night. And a handful of places charge visitors to get in, from Miyajima’s ¥100 ferry levy to ¥4,000 for climbing Mount Fuji. Here’s each one, with the current rates.

Japan departure tax: ¥3,000 since July 2026

Japan introduced its International Tourist Tax in January 2019 at ¥1,000, and it soon picked up the nickname “sayonara tax”. The ruling parties wrote the Japan tourist tax increase into the tax reform outline for fiscal 2026, and since 1 July 2026 it’s ¥3,000 for each departure from Japan by air or sea.

You never hand it over in person. Airlines and shipping companies collect it by adding it to the ticket price, and it shows up in the taxes and fees on your booking. It applies whatever your nationality. Japanese citizens flying out on holiday pay it too, which is one reason the government avoids calling it a tourist tax.

The one timing rule worth knowing: if your ticket was issued on or before 30 June 2026, you pay the old ¥1,000 rate even if you fly after 1 July. Tickets issued since then carry ¥3,000. The Japan Tourism Agency says the money goes on three things: smoother travel and better information for visitors, measures against crowding and bad behavior, and faster entry and exit plus the upkeep of cultural and natural sites. Self-service bag drops, smart bins and hiking trail repairs are among the examples it gives.

Japan hotel tax: the accommodation tax, city by city

Accommodation taxes are local, so the amount depends on where you sleep and how much the room costs per person, per night. The price bands are usually worked out on the room charge alone, before meals and consumption tax. Most places charge nothing or very little for cheap rooms and step up for expensive ones.

Kyoto is the one that changed the maths. Before March 2026 the top rate was ¥1,000. Now two people sharing a ¥30,000 double pay ¥400 each, ¥800 a night, which is barely noticeable. The same couple in a ¥120,000 suite pay ¥4,000 each, or ¥8,000 a night on top of the room. School trips are exempt in Kyoto and Sapporo, but ordinary tourists, domestic or foreign, are not.

Tokyo is next. The Metropolitan Government announced in July 2026 that it plans to replace its flat ¥100 and ¥200 charges from April 2027: nothing on stays under ¥13,000 per person per night, and 3% of the room rate above that. Private rentals of the Airbnb type, exempt until now, will be covered too.

Entry fees and other small taxes

Miyajima, the island with the floating torii near Hiroshima, charges a visitor tax of ¥100 per person per visit. You pay it with your ferry fare, at the ticket window or the gate, so there’s nothing extra to do. Preschool children are exempt, and regular visitors can pay ¥500 for a year instead.

Mount Fuji now costs ¥4,000 per climber on all four main trails. On the Yamanashi side (the Yoshida Trail) it’s a toll; on the Shizuoka side (Fujinomiya, Gotemba and Subashiri) it’s an entry fee that comes with a short online course and quiz. On every trail, climbing between 2 pm and 3 am is banned unless you’ve booked a mountain hut. The refund rules differ: Shizuoka refunds until the day of the climb, Yamanashi is much stricter.

Hot spring towns add a bathing tax, the nyuto-zei, when you stay at an onsen hotel. The standard rate under Japan’s Local Tax Act is ¥150 per person per day, though towns can set their own, and it’s normally just a line on the ryokan bill.

The tax you can get back: consumption tax

Everything you buy in Japan includes 10% consumption tax (8% on takeaway food), and shelf prices have to show it. As a short-term visitor you can reclaim it on goods you take home, when you spend ¥5,000 or more before tax in one shop on one day. The system changes on 1 November 2026: instead of paying tax-free at the till, you’ll pay the full price and claim the refund at a kiosk in the departure hall, within 90 days of purchase. Our Japan tax-free shopping guide covers the old and new procedures.

What it all adds up to

Less than the headlines suggest. Take a two-week, mid-range trip with rooms at ¥10,000 to ¥20,000 per person: hotel taxes come to a few hundred yen a night at most, a few thousand yen in total, plus the ¥3,000 departure tax. Against the roughly ¥340,000 such a trip costs, that’s under 3 percent. Our breakdown of what a trip to Japan costs has the rest of the budget.

The exception is the top end in Kyoto, where ¥10,000 per person per night is real money, and anywhere the ¥100 and ¥200 bands are about to become percentages. We think more cities will follow Kyoto’s lead rather than Tokyo’s old flat rates, so check the local rate when you book.

The rest of the paperwork, from Visit Japan Web to customs allowances, is under line F of the Japan travel guide.

Data checked: 2026-09-27