Japan raises travel taxes

Japan is making two different travel charges harder to ignore. One is national and simple: the country’s international departure tax, often called the “sayonara tax,” is set at ¥1,000 per person today and is scheduled to rise to ¥3,000 in July 2026. The other is local and messier: a fast-growing patchwork of accommodation taxes that cities, towns, and prefectures now charge on hotel stays to pay for tourism services, crowd control, and disaster response (mof.go.jp; jiji.com). The departure tax matters because it used to be small enough to disappear into the price of a ticket. Japan introduced it in January 2019 as a flat ¥1,000 charge on most people leaving the country by plane or ship, with a few exemptions such as transit passengers leaving within 24 hours and children under 2. Airlines and shipping operators collect it for the government, which earmarks the money for tourism infrastructure rather than general spending (mof.go.jp). In fiscal 2025, the Finance Ministry’s summary says the tax was budgeted to raise ¥49 billion, funding airport streamlining, better tourist information, and upgrades to regional attractions (mof.go.jp). That older tax was designed for a Japan that wanted more visitors. The new increase is for a Japan that got them. The government approved a new five-year tourism plan on March 27, 2026 that keeps its target of 60 million foreign visitors by 2030, but also says it wants overtourism measures in 100 areas by 2030, up from 47 areas in 2025. Jiji reported that the bigger departure tax is meant to help fund those efforts, including subsidies for local governments dealing with congestion and bad behavior in crowded destinations (jiji.com; mainichi.jp). That shift makes more sense once you look at the scale of the boom. Japan’s tourism statistics portal tracks inbound and outbound travel, and outside reporting based on JNTO data says the country welcomed a record 42.68 million international visitors in 2025, far above pre-pandemic peaks (statistics.jnto.go.jp; nippon.com). A flat ¥3,000 charge is still not a large share of the cost of an international trip. But it is a clear signal that Japan now sees tourism less as something to stimulate at any cost and more as something to manage. The lodging taxes show that same change at street level. In 2025 alone, Japan’s Internal Affairs Ministry approved new accommodation taxes for 11 jurisdictions in March, 10 more in July, another 7 in September, and a separate Hokkaido-wide tax at the end of July. Those approvals covered places as different as Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima Prefecture, Hakodate, Furano, Kumamoto, Karuizawa, Hakuba, and Niseko-area towns. This is where the “20 regions” framing comes from, but the official approvals now point to an even broader spread (soumu.go.jp; soumu.go.jp; soumu.go.jp; soumu.go.jp). Hokkaido is the clearest example of how these local taxes are being sold. Its English guidance says the accommodation tax, introduced from April 1, 2026, will be used to improve the tourist experience, strengthen services for receiving travelers, and fund responses to disasters and other emergencies. The same page warns that travelers may owe both the Hokkaido tax and a separate municipal accommodation tax depending on where they stay (hokkaido-shukuhakuzei.pref.hokkaido.lg.jp). That is the practical change for visitors. The departure tax hits once, at the airport. The accommodation taxes can stack, night after night, especially as more local governments decide tourism should help pay for itself.