JAPAN IS CHANGING | New & Upcoming Rules, Tourist Pricing to Know Before Traveling

JAPAN IS CHANGING | New & Upcoming Rules, Tourist Pricing to Know Before Traveling

Japan has changed. It’s always changing. Things are always getting harder. It wouldn’t be any fun otherwise. So, today I want to talk about some of the recent or upcoming changes that Japan is going through, especially ones that are aimed at tourists. A lot has changed since co and uh even more is going to change from here on out apparently. So, we have a lot to look forward to, I guess. I’m going to start and end with the two most important ones. So, I’m forcing you to watch the whole video. Tax-free uh everyone’s favorite little um budget hack. It’s changing. It’s not going away completely. It’s changing. Okay. So, tax-free shopping in Japan is kind of one of like the most, I don’t know, celebrated parts of traveling in Japan because right now with most purchases over 5,000 yen, you don’t have to pay tax if you’re a tourist. And that’s a lot of money cuz it’s 10% here. This is for things like clothes, makeup, not like at a restaurant. So, the way it works right now, it’s actually kind of unique. Usually, you get the discount taken right at the register. So, you don’t even pay the tax at all ever. or you have to go to like a special counter somewhere like in the mall or something after you purchase and then you get refunded the tax there. But either way, you basically get your money back like immediately. So, the problem with this lies in that some people take advantage of the system and they come into Japan on the tourist visa, they buy a bunch of stuff and then they resell it within Japan and make a profit. That’s a no no because tax-free is meant you’re supposed to like take all of the items out of the country. That’s the basis of it. So, thank you to the select few who have ruined it for everyone. From November 2026, the system is changing. The immediate tax discounts or refunds at the store are going to go away completely. And it’s going to turn into a refund system. Actually, this is how it works in a lot of countries. I know South Korea, the EU, this is how it works. Basically, you need to collect all your receipts and then once you go to the airport, you’re going to like scan them or turn them in somehow. The exact details aren’t out. And then once you go past security into the airport, there’s going to be like a different area where you take this slip you get and you get refunded there. So there’s also the chance that they’re going to ask to see your items to prove that you’re taking them out of the country. Technically that exists now too, but see that’s going to change. Next, tourist only pricing. This is a big debate online about if it’s right or wrong, but basically what it is is it’s a dual pricing system. So there’s going to be one applicable price to residents that’s cheaper and then there’s going to be a more expensive price just for tourists. So basically there’s like two different ways this can be applied. And I think one of these is okay and I don’t like one of the others. So the one I don’t like is if it’s like a restaurant and the prices are more expensive on the English menu. I don’t like that. I don’t know. People say this exists. I’ve never actually seen it myself. Maybe I have once. But it’s not like it’s not like some super common thing. It’s really not cuz honestly these restaurants if they really don’t want foreigners, they’re going to put up a sign that says like Japanese only or something and like okay look I don’t want to give my money to these like racists anyway. So but the other example of this is for tourist attractions. So for example a recently opened theme park in Okinawa uh that I heard was really boring is charging more money to tourists. It’s also really common for there to be dual pricing in ski resort areas. This one I’m okay with because if you’ve been to Hakuba, you’ll know. So, basically the lift passes and things like that are going to be more expensive for foreign tourists and they are for locals and I think that kind of thing is okay because we make a lot less money here, especially like these ski resorts. It’s basically like all Australians. But it’s going beyond that now. So there’s a lot of local governments that are kind of considering or they’re just starting to pass things where like heritage sites or like shrines, castles, that kind of thing are going to have one admission price for tourists and another one for residents. This is up for debate and I don’t know, I think it’s kind of complicated. Next, there is now a visit Japan website. This was introduced postco. If you’ve come here since co, you probably already know it, but you know, usually when you go into a new country, you have like a paper custom slip you have to fill out on the airplane, right? And you still can do that. They still have these slips of paper. Don’t worry. But if you would like to save yourself some time, they now have a website where you can just fill it all out in advance while you’re still in your home country. And then at the end, it’s going to give you like a screenshot. So just screenshot that on your phone and save that and you’ll be good to go. Personally, I think it’s worth doing this because they do separate people who have like the slips and the QR codes. And I’ve always used a QR code and I’ve literally never waited more than like three people in line. And if you are going to be coming to Japan or you’re someone who travels a lot, good news because I am excited to say the sponsor of today’s video is Sally. So, if you don’t already know what Sally is, it is a new and affordable eim service app brought to you by Nord Security. Now, I travel a lot for fun, for work, and you know, eims are the way to go. Pocket Wi-Fi and physical SIM cards, those are out. This is the eim era. 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So if you want to check out Sally Ultra for yourself, just go ahead and scan this QR code right here. Or you could go into the app and just go to the add data section and it’s going to pop up. So if you’re interested in trying out Sally for yourself, use the code Allison in Tokyo 3 at checkout and you can get an exclusive $3 discount on sale data plans including SY Ultra. Okay, next. The JR pass. Yes, we need to talk about it. So, in 2023, the oncebeloved JR pass significantly hiked up its prices over 50%. And this JR pass basically gives you like all you can ride almost on the bullet trains or any JR train. So, it’s pretty awesome or it was. But now, honestly, it’s just not worth it. If you’re doing the like Tokyo to Kyoto route, it’s not worth your money anymore. You should just buy a normal ticket. I’m not going to go too into detail on it in this video. I do have a different video where I talked a lot about it. I just need to mention it to, you know, protect everyone. If you’re really wondering if you should get it or not, just look up the legs of your itinerary though and like see how much it would be if you bought normal tickets and then compare it. That’s what you have to do now. Next, the Shinkansen luggage rule has kind of changed again. So, up until co basically the last row of seats in like a car on the bullet train was kind of like a first come first- serve thing for luggage. So, everyone who would like the big luggage would like rush to put it in there and it kind of got heated. people would fight over it and it was always overflowing. So in 2020 they changed the rules and now this space is only available to people who reserve the back row of seats. And if you do have oversized luggage, do you have to reserve this last row of seats or however oversized is actually like really big. Like if you’re thinking of riding the bullet train with a big suitcase, just read the the read the web page. I’ll put the link down below. You should just read it all. But it’s also applicable to people who cannot lift their suitcase above them because most of the luggage racks, they’re just above all the seats, kind of like an airplane. So even if your suitcase like technically fits, you have to get it up there. Like personally, if it was me and I was traveling with a suitcase that was bigger than a carry-on, I would just ship it through Yamato Delivery or some other luggage delivery service. It’s not worth the hassle of dragging a bunch of suitcases through the train station. Trust me. But the new change, there’s a change. Okay, hold on. is that from July of 2025, they are having a trial period where now some seats in some bullet trains will also have access to a different luggage area that’s like in the area between the cars like where the bathroom is. I don’t know how many trains this applies to. I don’t know how common it is and I don’t know when it’s going to end or if it will ever end, but um that’s something to keep in mind. If your seat is eligible for this, it should like show up somehow when you’re reserving the seat. Next, no tourist areas. Okay, so I see a lot of discussion about this online, a lot of heated debates, guys. It’s not a problem. So, what like a no tourist or no photo spot is basically is an area they just don’t want people who aren’t residents going into. Mainly, this is applying to the streets in Gillon in Kyoto, but it’s only like a select few streets and it’s genuinely like a residential area. Like, if you’re a tourist, you really shouldn’t be going into there anyway. But there are more areas than just Gon. That’s just the most famous one. There’s also some like in Shiraakawago for example and basically a lot of tourist areas. They just they don’t want tourists to go into the residential streets which is perfectly logical to me. And this happens like all over the world. It’s not just a Japan thing. So I don’t know why we’re treating it so special cuz it’s not. Next. Mount Fuji has some new climbing rules. They’re getting a lot stricter for the better to be honest cuz people are stupid. So first of all, it now costs 4,000 yen if you want to climb it. It’s like 30 bucks, guys. It’s not a lot of money. And you now need to reserve your spot in advance. There is a daily limit every day. So, get on the internet. And there’s also time restrictions now. So, if you want to climb it at night, you have to have a reservation in like one of those mountain huts. And finally, they’re also going to be checking equipment now, like kind of sporadically. But obviously, if you look really underprepared, they’re probably not going to let you climb good. They’re trying to reduce bullet climbing. And there’s like I don’t know there’s always these incidents every year like a few incidents every year where there’s like just the stupidest usually foreign tourists who like try to climb the mountain in like flip-flops or something and it’s like and finally say hello to Jessa. I guess that’s how you say it. So the US famously has ESTA and this is basically modeled after that. So it’s expected right now to roll out in 2028 sometime. And basically this is just going to be a stricter border control while also speeding up the process cuz you have to apply for it in advance. It’s not a visa. It’s like a permission kind of thing. And this will apply to people who are from visa exempt countries. So that includes like the US, Canada, UK, Australia, you you now have some advanced homework to do when you want to come to Japan. There’s not that many details out about it yet, but I’m sure there will be in 2027ish. Just something to consider for the future. It’s not going to be, I don’t think, a big hassle. We’ll see. Those are the main new changes I wanted to cover today. In terms of things that like are actual rules, like actual things that are being enforced, that’s it. Other changes, I guess you could say it’s really crowded, but that’s not going to change because they still want more tourists. I don’t I don’t know where they’re putting them all, but they want more. Yeah. As Japan continues to grow and take in this increasing number of tourists every year. You know, every year it gets like a few million more. It feels like they’re going to keep doing these changes. They’re going to keep adding things, new rules, etc. And that’s just how it has to be, especially cuz the infrastructure in Japan is maybe not up to the task of dealing with this massive number of tourists. I don’t know, always something to look out for. But, but don’t worry, you’ll enjoy your Japan trip if you’re planning one. Please don’t stress. Like, it’s fine. So, thank you for watching the video. Please leave a comment down below. Let me know there’s any other rules, changes, whatever I’ve missed. I’ve covered other things in other videos, but it’s hard to kind of compile everything. Like the video, subscribe to my channel for more content about traveling in Japan and my life in Japan. and I’ll see you back here again soon. Bye. [Music]

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Some recent changes since 2020! There’s been a few more since my last video on this so I made this video as like an addendum to that hehe

Let me know what other changes I missed!

Some Useful Websites:
Tax Free: https://www.japan.travel/en/ca/news/changes-are-coming-to-tax-free-shopping-in-japan/
Luggage: https://global.jr-central.co.jp/en/info/oversized-baggage/

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