Your Japan Trip just got harder. | 8 NEW CHANGES

Your Japan Trip just got harder. | 8 NEW CHANGES

So, Japan has an over tourism problem and by over tourism I mean Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and my fault. So, Japan is making some changes. What are those changes? Let’s get in there. So, first up is dual pricing is coming. July 2025, guys. Tourists are going to be paying more than locals at some attractions and some services. We all know this is coming. You know, the the yen can only be weak for so long. It’s not going to be absolutely everywhere and anywhere, but it’s going to be at some major places including Jungury Okinawa and Nisako ski resorts. And there have been some rumors, they’ve been talking about a while for like hotels, uh, Heimeji Castle, and some maybe some restaurants. I think there’s a rumor going around right now where like some restaurants, well, if you get an English menu, you’ll pay more than like the Japanese menu. I I’ I’ve personally never seen this. If you’ve seen it, let me know in the comment section down below. But um yeah, just be prepared to spend a little bit more money, maybe up to 30% more on your Japan trip and uh you’ll be fine. It’s just the way it is. What are you going to do? My only issue is that how are they going to discern between like a foreign resident and uh a tourist without presenting a passport? I’m sure once you do that, it’ll be fine. It might be a little bit of a pain in the ass, but you can do it. Um, the other issue I’m thinking of is what if you’re in a group and there’s like a Japanese person like, “Oh, let’s go skiing in Isaac with the Aussies.” And you know, the Australians are getting paying 6,500 for their ticket and the Japanese person pays 5,000. How would they do it if they’re going to pay in a group? I’m sure they could just pay separately. But another example is like if you’re paying at a restaurant, some restaurants don’t split the check, right? So like how how would it work? Would it be like, “Oh, because I had the one Japanese person.” it just negates the entire double pricing or like you know what I mean like how do you like oh I only ate the hamburger so the hamburger’s you know not dual price I I don’t know I don’t think that’s practically going to work so next up is the shink kansen so the noomi shink kansen is the the one that everyone takes to go to Osaka it’s the fastest one has the least stops you get to Osaka in 2 and 1 half hours and that one usually has one cars one to three would be a non-reserve seat so you can just buy ticket hopefully get a seat and just be on off to the races and then during the holiday season or peak hours, they would make the entire train all reserved. So like you can’t just hop on the train. You’d have to like pay an extra 10 bucks to reserve your seat and plan out your trip, excess, etc. Since April, they’ve actually reduced it to two cars being non-reserved. So for those of you who are more spontaneous, this is kind of going to crunch you a little bit. Um so maybe avoid rush hour and maybe plan your trip a little bit more. And if you haven’t even planned your first trip to Japan yet, you can watch this video here that I made about the generic trip that everyone basically does. So, next up is Mount Fuji’s increasing the price to climb the mountain from 2,000 to 4,000 yen this year. And uh that’s kind of a bummer. It’s It’s kind of expensive, man, to climb a mountain. Um but I’m pretty sure that’s just for like the main route. I’m pretty sure you can climb a mountain for free if you just kind of start anywhere, but like the main safest route that everyone starts from. And they’re also thinking about putting daily limits on the amount of climbers. So basically Fuji’s just been bombarded with people just climbing this thing. It’s overcrowded, you know, and with that comes trash, uh damage to infrastructure, rescue missions. There’s like a guy who like tried to climb by himself. He had to be rescued. And then he went back up again to get his phone, had to be rescued again. So a lot of these things cost money, right? So it’s I think this is a pretty justified price. Um, if you’re a Japanese person and you’re paying 4,000 yen to climb a mountain, when you’re thinking about purchasing power, that’s kind of a lot. I’m not going to lie. When you could just climb a mountain like Mount Taka for like free. Um, but yeah, Mount Fuji is Mount Fuji. You got to capitalize on it. I mean, some of that money also goes to like maintaining like the cabins that you can sleep in and the restaurant at the top of the mountain, etc., etc. So, it’s not all it’s not all just like going to corporate greed or something like that. So, this I think this is pretty justified. But this next one I think is a bigger bummer than double pricing which is tax-free shopping evolutions. The way you could do tax free is you go to a taxfree shop. You go to the you buy your thing. You go to the taxree counter. They put in a bag all this stuff and you show your passport and then they’ll give you the tax free off. You get 10% off. But because apparently this is like the rumor mill. Don’t quote me on this but apparently there’s been like scalpers and like resellers or whatever that would like buy it and then they would like resell it on the market and get a profit obviously. So, like Japan’s like cracking down on that and they’re like, “Nah, none of that anymore, guys. You’re done.” So, what they want to do now is in 2026, they want to basically you’re going to buy it, you pay full price, and then you have to go to the long line at the airport, show the passport, all that. And now, yeah, basically it’s just all done at the airport. So, man can’t, you know, kind of scan the system. So, it’s kind of it kind of sucks, but I I get it. I get it. But yeah, that’s basically the bad news. cuz honestly it’s not that bad, but just something to be aware of. Um, you’re going to be paying about 30% more for things uh moving forward. And of course, if you want to make some extra savings, you can use my code Mayday click to save 5% off, 8% off for newcomers to the website. I got a whole shop where you guys can plan out your entire trip using my code and get a discount and your and uh yeah, let’s move on to the good stuff, guys. So the good news is that IC cards are back. So suika, everybody loves a sua and a pass. You use it to go everywhere, pay for transport, pay for things, go shopping, etc., etc., the vending machines. So for a long time, it didn’t have like semiconductors and IC chips. But they’re back. Um, so you can get a card and you can be cool. Um, if you were an iPhone user, you could have just done the digital version, but people like to have it cuz it’s like a great souvenir. And uh they also introduced a new one called the welcome sua card which is like a 30-day version which has like sacra trees and stuff. That’s a cool souvenir. Um I think my sister has like four of those suikas uh the regular ones. Anyway, u but I personally just use an app uh because team iPhone. And speaking of payments, Japan is implementing a tapandgo system with a credit card. So if you have a credit card that can do a touch thing uh you can just do it directly on the panel and you’ll be able to ride the train without using a Sika or buying a ticket. Goes straight from your card. The Tokyo Metro already currently does this and I think Osaka also does it right now. It’s still kind of rolling out. Um, but let’s be real, guys. It’s the golden trip. You’re going to be in either Tokyo or Osaka. So, that’s an option for you. Um, I never personally use it. I just use the Sika card. Keeps my everything kind of organized and it’s more it’s cute. It’s a souvenir, right? Um, the other one is the expo is here. Uh, I have a video on that already. You can watch it. Um, it’s here till October, so not a bad idea at all. The next one is team that planets has a new expansion. I actually made a video about this a while ago too. Uh Schwarz version. It’s basically the planets and they have like this new area where it’s like a playground and they got a waterfall and it’s like actual planet stuff and they got like a like a a light projection forest place which is pretty cool. Um so that’s available for you if you’re into like team planets. And the last one is Disney Sea. You know, have you ever been to Disney Sea? Well, you should because it’s the most unique park in the world. Japan’s OG. They don’t even use Mickey Mouse as the mascot. It’s It’s a freaking teddy bear named Duffy. They recently opened up a spot called Fantasy Springs. So, they finally injected some Disney into Disney Sea. And for the longest time, it was like super hard to get in. You have to like get there at the crack of dawn, get into the park, try and get a fast pass by paying for a ticket to get into Fantasy Springs, then to get on the ride. Once you got in Fantasy Springs, like you couldn’t even ride everything. You could only ride the ride you purchased. So now what they’ve done is that like now you can go to a standby line. So now you can actually just once you’re in the park, you can go to Fantasy Springs and then just ride it. Honestly, I do recommend to check out Disney C if you are interested in Disney at all. It’s it’s really cool. My sister loved it. She was like she loved it. Guys, that’s the changes, guys. What do you think? Do you think it’s good? Do you think it’s bad? How you going to handle it? Do you think it was necessary? I want to see a discussion in the comment section down below in

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There are a number of changes happening to Japan this year and the next, including dual pricing, shinkansen changes, and Disney! You’ll have to adapt your Japan trip to accomodate for these changes.

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SOURCES:

International Traveller: “Japan’s top attractions could cost up to double for tourists in 2025” (https://www.internationaltraveller.com/asia/japan/japan-combats-overtourism-via-price-increase/)

JR East (PDF): “Resumption of sales for non-personalized Suica and PASMO Cards” (dated Feb 18, 2025) (https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/press/pdf/0225_suica_en.pdf)

Apple App Store (Tokyo Metro For Tourists): (https://apps.apple.com/ly/app/tokyo-metro-for-tourists/id6654900993)

Travel Voice: “Tokyo Metro launches a new service to enable a passenger to get on subway with touch payment of credit card or QR code” (https://www.travelvoice.jp/english/tokyo-metro-launches-a-new-service-to-enable-a-passenger-to-get-on-subway-with-touch-payment-of-credit-card-or-qr-code)

JR Central (PDF): “Periods during which Nozomi Trains Will Operate with All Reserved Seats on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen in FY2025” (https://global.jr-central.co.jp/en/news/_pdf/2025/0002.pdf)

Official Web Site for Mt. Fuji Climbing: “For all Mt. Fuji climbers for 2025” (Details fees and restrictions for Yoshida Trail) (https://www.fujisan-climb.jp/en/for-every-climber.html)

Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO): “Changes Are Coming to Tax-Free Shopping in Japan” (https://www.japan.travel/en/ca/news/changes-are-coming-to-tax-free-shopping-in-japan/)

Time Out Tokyo: “In photos: Tokyo DisneySea’s new Fantasy Springs area is all ready to open in June” (Confirms June 6, 2024 opening) (https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/in-photos-tokyo-disneyseas-new-fantasy-springs-area-is-all-ready-to-open-in-june-051324)

Executive Traveller: (Same as general dual pricing source above, mentions Junglia Okinawa specifically) (https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/japan-tourist-entry-fees-dual-pricing-costs)

Time Out: (Same as general dual pricing source above, mentions Niseko specifically) (https://www.timeout.com/australia/news/big-changes-are-coming-for-aussie-travellers-headed-to-japan-from-mid-2025-and-theyll-cost-you-051325)

Travel Noire: “Japan May Charge Tourists More Than Locals At Popular” (Mentions Himeji Castle’s proposal) (https://travelnoire.com/tourists-charged-more-japan#:~:text=In%20February%202025%2C%20The%20Mainichi,will%20begin%20in%20March%202026)

00:00 – INTRO
00:10 – You pay more!
01:53 – Bullet Train Cheese
02:44 – Fuji Crunch
04:01 – Tax Free Kinda
04:54 – How to save
05:23 – Suica is back!
06:38 – Expo is here!
07:11 – Disney for Adults!