Should You Still Travel to Japan in 2025?

Should You Still Travel to Japan in 2025?

Hey everyone, I’m Jack and I teach regular people how to travel on any budget. In this video, I’m going to be discussing whether it’s still worth it to travel to Japan in the upcoming years with all the different changes taking place in the country. To start off the video, the short answer is yes. It’s definitely still worth it to travel to Japan. It’s such a beautiful and amazing country. There’s so many amazing things to see and I definitely recommend that everyone goes there at least one time in their life. However, there are some upcoming changes to certain different systems within the country that it’s definitely important to know about before traveling, especially if you’re going to be traveling after November of 2026 due to changes in the tax laws and some other important travel information that you’re going to need to know as well. Online, I’ve been seeing a lot of people talking about the upcoming changes in the laws about tax exemption in Japan. In this video, I want to go over basically what are the changes and what you need to look out for when you’re traveling to Japan. So, previously when I went to Japan, you were able to just go into any store that offered duty-free and you had a separate checkout where you could go and not have to pay the tax on any of the items you were buying. In Japan, there’s a 10% tax on all goods that aren’t food and an 8% tax on food items. There isn’t in restaurants any exemption from the tax. You still have to pay the tax on all that, and that even happened while I was there. However, after November of 2026, there’s some new changes taking place, such as that you can’t go to any duty-free counters anymore. Those aren’t going to exist. You’re now going to have to keep track of all the things that you’re buying that would be duty-free and get a refund at the airport when you’re leaving through customs. So, originally where you didn’t pay the tax at the time of purchasing the item, you now have to pay the full value including the tax and then bring the receipt to customs when you’re leaving and they’ll review all the items that you bought. Make sure that everything that you said that you have you have or that there’s nothing else that’s missing and then they will give you a refund. But that’s why it’s going to be very important that from now on you keep your receipts with you. There are some apps you could use to track this online that I’ve seen such as PI VAT. However, I haven’t used those myself, so I’m not sure exactly how they work for Japan, as I didn’t need to do that at the time. I did use something similar, however, in Korea called Trip Pass that allowed them to scan a QR code that was linked to your passport and everything when you would buy things. And then when you’re leaving at customs, you could just have them scan the QR code you’ve been using to keep track of all those payments. So, I would definitely check out PiVAT. I’ll put a link down in the description so you could see more about that. But I do believe it is similar to the trip pass service that I used in Korea to be able to keep track of all the things I was purchasing for duty-free. The other thing to keep in mind is making sure not to open any duty-free items while you’re still within Japan. In the past, duty-free items were packaged in this clear packaged bag that they would provide to you at the store you’re buying the duty-free goods at. However, now, due to the fact that they’re removing the duty-free counters, you’re now just going to be receiving the item without a bag. So, if you’re open to some of these goods before you go to the customs checkpoint, you could get denied the ability to take the item with you as you’re not supposed to be using the duty-free goods within Japan. So, that’s something else to keep in mind and make sure that if you’re buying something duty-free, just keep it in its original packaging along with the receipt so that when you’re going through customs, you don’t have any issues. One benefit, however, if you’re going to be spending a lot while in Japan, is that they’ve removed the daily limit of 500,000 yen. no longer a limit of how much you could buy in one day and you could just buy as much as you want and you just have to keep the receipts as I’ve mentioned previously. Moving on past tax, there’s going to be some changes coming with recent tourism changes including new digital nomad visas and new visas for China. So this may increase the amount of people in Japan at once. So you may run into a bit of over tourism in certain areas. I know the Japanese government is also trying to make some tax changes for when you’re leaving the country. This is not supposed to be implemented until I believe around 2030. So, it’s not something you have to worry about now. But due to these changes, you might find that there’s more people in Japan this time and it might be overcrowded in some of the more touristy areas that you would previously be visiting. That doesn’t change my recommendation to go to Japan. However, I still think it’s so beautiful and even if there are crowds, it’s still worth going. If you can though, as I mentioned in my previous video about Japan, I would definitely recommend going in the off- peak season if possible, such as in February before the stocks bloom. That’s when a lot of people want to go there and see the beautiful trees. And if you get there early enough, then you’ll be able to wait into March and maybe see some of them. But they do come around mid to late March. So going a little bit earlier will definitely save you on some of the crowds, but you might miss out on some of the Sakura blossoms if that’s what you’re looking to see in Japan. So definitely keep that in mind. Another big change happening in Japan that you definitely need to keep in mind before you leave for your trip is that they’re accelerating their Jesa program to 2025. Originally, it was supposed to come out in 2028, but now they’re accelerating it due to so many people traveling to Japan. This system is similar to the ESTA system implemented in the US for people with long-term visitor visas where every time you come to the country before you arrive, you need to fill out some documents online giving your reason for why you’re visiting the country, things like that. And they just double check to make sure that you’re not denied entry before you go. This is going to be very important that you fill out this document before you leave for your trip, just in case anything goes wrong. In the past, I was able to just show up in the country. They ask you the regular questions and you keep moving on. However, if it does get denied, you won’t be able to enter the country, and you may need to fly back home. So, it’s worth just filling out the document before you get there. And I’ll put some more details about where and how you could fill out this document down below in the description. Another way to make sure that your travels go really smoothly is using the visit Japan web website. This will allow you to prefill out some of your information such as passport and custom declarations so that when you arrive in the country, it’s a much smoother and easier experience of passing through the border. This will basically be the same stuff you would be answering if you were going through customs normally. However, when you arrive there, you could pull up the QR code, which you could also save offline, and show it to the people at the border to basically prefill out all those questions you would have been asked normally. There is no app for this, so you’ll have to use the website. You could fill it out on a computer or mobile phone, but just in case you don’t have service when you arrive, I definitely recommend downloading it somewhere is I actually use this website but ran into that issue where I didn’t have Wi-Fi and my service didn’t activate because I needed the Wi-Fi first to activate the service and then there was a little bit of trouble. But luckily, I had sent a photo of the QR code to my girlfriend. So, I was able to use that and go through smoothly. If you don’t have it, there’s not a problem. that still asks the same questions, but it’s definitely easier if you go through and use this system before you enter. That’s all the major changes to the Japanese laws that are changing that I would say to look out for. There are a few smaller other ones, but they don’t apply to most travelers. So, you don’t have to worry about that much. But while it has become a bit harder to travel to Japan, especially if you want to buy things, it’s not the end of the world. A lot of people online, there’s a lot of headlines saying that Japan is like over. You shouldn’t travel there anymore. But in my opinion, it’s still 100% worth traveling there. And although some things are becoming a little bit harder, it’s still a great place to go. And as long as you just follow the rules, look what you have to do ahead of time, it’ll be really easy and you’ll still be able to enjoy your trip. Thanks so much for watching. If you like this video or found it useful, I would really appreciate if you leave a like or also get subscribed to learn more about different things traveling related. And if you want to learn more directly from me, I have a community which is linked down in the description where you could talk to other people, other travelers who are either traveling or living abroad. It’s currently free and I would love to see you in there. Thank you so much for watching and I hope you enjoyed this

Join Global Citizens Travel & Unlock a life of Travel ⤵️
https://www.skool.com/global-citizens-5713/about

If you’re planning a trip to Japan soon or after 2026, this is a must-watch! Learn about upcoming tax law changes, digital travel requirements, duty-free shopping changes, and Japan’s new JESTA system. Perfect for travelers, digital nomads, and Japan lovers looking to make the most of their visit without surprises.

Helpful Link (Not Sponsored)
https://ryukoch.com/en/blogs/2025-changes-japan-for-tourists
Visit Japan Web: https://www.vjw.digital.go.jp/main/#/vjwplo001
PieVAT: https://pievat.com/

HOW TO REACH ME
📸 Instagram: / jacksetaro
🌍 My website / blog: https://jacksetaro.com/

Chapters
00:00:00 – Is Japan still worth visiting?
00:00:26 – Big changes after 2026
00:01:26 – Tax refunds at airport
00:02:22 – Use apps like PieVAT
00:03:13 – Don’t open duty-free items
00:03:27 – No more spending limit
00:03:28 – Digital nomad visa update
00:04:38 – New J-ESTA requirement
00:05:38 – Visit Japan Web tips
00:06:42 – Final thoughts on Japan travel