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A departure tax that tripled in July, and an arrival you fill in before you fly
Two things changed for visitors to Japan in 2026, and both sit at the airport rather than anywhere you were planning to go. The tax charged on every departure went from ¥1,000 to ¥3,000 on 1 July, and the paper landing card has been replaced for most arrivals by a QR code you generate at home. Everything after that, from seat reservations to weather warnings to the queue ticket at a restaurant, is easier if the phone in your pocket is already online when you clear customs.
Visit Japan Web replaces the paper forms
The Digital Agency describes it as "a service that allows you to perform arrival procedures (immigration, customs) and 'Tax-free shopping service' online". You register before you fly and present the QR codes it generates on arrival.1
It also covers returning residents
The same service is open to people re-entering Japan, not only first-time foreign visitors, so a returning resident fills in the same online procedure.1
It is a website, not an app
Registration happens in a browser at the Digital Agency's own service page, which means you need a working connection at the airport if you leave it until you land.2
Our take: fill it in at home on hotel or house Wi-Fi a day or two before departure, then screenshot the QR codes. The registration itself is free and takes about ten minutes, and doing it in the arrivals hall on a queue-length connection is the version of this that goes wrong.
The departure tax is ¥3,000 from 1 July 2026
The Japan Tourism Agency's own leaflet sets the International Tourist Tax at "JPY 3,000 per departure from Japan (From July 1, 2026)", up from the ¥1,000 charged since 2019.3
Tickets issued by 30 June 2026 keep the old rate
A transitional measure applies the previous ¥1,000 rate if you depart using eligible tickets issued on or before 30 June 2026, so a trip booked well in advance may still be charged the old amount.3
Infants under two are exempt
The leaflet exempts infants under the age of 2 from the tax; everyone else pays it whether they leave by air or by sea.3
You do not pay it at a counter
The tax is administered by the National Tax Agency and collected through the carrier, so in practice it arrives inside the price of the ticket rather than as a separate airport payment.4
Our take: if you booked a 2027 trip before July, check the fare breakdown on the ticket rather than assuming. The ¥2,000 difference is small against a long-haul fare, but it is the sort of line that turns up as an unexplained increase when you rebook a leg.
The JAPAN RAIL PASS is a six-company joint ticket
It is offered jointly by the six companies of the JR Group and sold in 7, 14 and 21-day lengths, in Standard Car and Green Car versions.5
Nozomi and Mizuho need an extra ticket
Riding a Nozomi or Mizuho service on the Tokaido, Sanyo or Kyushu Shinkansen carries conditions, including a special ticket issued only to pass holders. The fastest trains are not simply included.5
Buying online unlocks advance seat reservations
Only a pass bought online from the official site lets you book reserved seats before you have collected the physical ticket in Japan.5
Our take: the pass is worth it for a Tokyo–Kyoto–Hiroshima kind of itinerary and rarely worth it for a trip that stays in one region. Price your actual route as individual tickets first; on a Tokyo-and-day-trips holiday, a regional pass or plain fares usually wins.
Weather warnings are published in 15 languages
The Japan Meteorological Agency runs a multilingual portal carrying its warnings in Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Tagalog, Nepali, Khmer, Burmese and Mongolian.6
JNTO publishes a visitor safety service
The tourism organisation maintains a Safety tips service for travellers, covering what to do in an emergency and a guide for when you are feeling ill.7
Our take: Japan's summer typhoon season and its earthquake alerts both reach you through the phone, not through hotel reception. Install the JMA portal as a bookmark before you travel and turn on emergency alerts in your handset's settings on arrival.
Convenience stores are the default utility
A konbini is where you will end up printing a document, paying a bill, buying a rail ticket voucher and getting cash, and most of those machines expect you to already know which button to press.
Our take: work out which konbini is nearest your accommodation on the first evening, not at 11pm on the night you need to print a boarding pass. The multi-function machines are the part worth a dry run, because their menus assume you already know the name of the service you want.
Japan is a country where the phone is the interface to nearly everything a visitor touches: the Visit Japan Web QR code at immigration, seat reservations, IC-card top-ups in a mobile wallet, restaurant queues that run on a ticket you scan, and the Meteorological Agency's warnings during typhoon season. Free Wi-Fi exists in stations and chains but is patchy, often needs a registration flow of its own, and is exactly the wrong thing to be fighting with at an immigration desk. Land with data already working.
¥3,000 per person for departures from 1 July 2026 onwards, up from ¥1,000. There is a transitional measure: if you depart on eligible tickets issued on or before 30 June 2026, the old ¥1,000 rate still applies. Infants under two are exempt. You do not queue to pay it. It is collected through your carrier, so it sits inside the ticket price.3,4
It is the Digital Agency's online route through immigration, customs and tax-free shopping registration, and it is what the airports are built around now. Register before you fly, save the QR codes to your phone, and treat a live data connection on arrival as part of the plan rather than a nice-to-have.1,2
It depends on your route, not on the length of your trip. The pass is a joint JR Group ticket sold for 7, 14 or 21 days in Standard or Green Car versions, and the fastest Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen services, Nozomi and Mizuho, need an extra ticket on top. Add up your actual journeys as single fares first. Long point-to-point runs favour the pass; a trip based in one city usually does not.5
Not reliably, and not where it matters most. Stations, airports and large chains offer it, but the sign-up flows differ, coverage drops away between cities, and the moment you most need a connection is at the immigration desk with your Visit Japan Web codes. A prepaid data plan on the handset removes the whole problem.
Every price, date and rule above is taken from the operator, museum, city or ministry that sets it, and was checked against that source on September 1, 2026. Lines marked "Our take" are our own recommendation, not a sourced fact. Fares, fees and opening hours change — confirm anything your trip depends on before you book.