From 7th January 2019 all visitors to Japan will pay a ¥1,000 ($9 or €8 by today’s exchange rate) departure tax. Officially it is called “International Tourist Tax”, but this tax will need to pay anybody who is leaving Japan by airline or cruise line. It means this tourist tax will be payable by everybody and not just tourists coming to visit Japan.
Don’t worry if you bought ticket before 7th of January. Passengers leaving Japan on or after January 7, 2019 and using an air ticket issued before January 7, 2019 are exempted from paying this departure tax.
Other exceptions are:
- children under the age of 2
- transit passengers (leaving Japan within 24 hours of arrival)
- ship and aircraft crew members
- passengers of international ships stopping at Japan due to weather or under other unavoidable circumstances
Because this tax will be collected by airlines or cruise lines (special tax collectors) most passengers even won’t notice it. It won’t be so annoying as it was done with departure tax in New Zealand awhile ago then you need to pay it at the last moment before your departure.
The purpose of collection of this International Tourist Tax is to expand and enhance the country’s tourist infrastructure, improve access to information about a wide variety of attractions of Japan, develop tourist resources taking advantage of the unique cultural and natural assets of respective regions and create a more comfortable, stress-free tourist environment.
Japanese government expects to collect ¥50 billion in fiscal 2019 year.
It will be interesting to see how tourist environment will change with such huge amount of money in hands.
Check here for more information https://www.jnto.org.au/international-tourist-tax/