Japan
Japan is cheap to move around and expensive to sleep in, which is the reverse of what most first trips budget for. A seven-day nationwide rail pass costs 50,000 yen. A Tokyo hotel room averaged 33,168 yen a night in May 2026. The beds cost more than the trains.
Three fee changes landed in 2026 and all three are worth knowing before you book. The departure tax tripled from 1,000 yen to 3,000 yen for departures on or after 1 July 2026, collected inside your ticket price rather than at the airport. From 1 November 2026 tax-free shopping stops happening at the till, so you pay the 10 percent consumption tax up front and claim it back at customs on the way out. And from 1 October 2026 the Japan Rail Pass rises about 6 percent, but only through overseas agents.
Cash is no longer the default it was. Cashless payment reached 58 percent of consumer spending in 2025 on the government’s own domestic measure. What still wants coins is the small independent restaurant, the shrine office and the rural bus.
Nationals of 74 countries and regions enter visa-free for a short stay, 90 days for most. The country is at its best in late spring and in November. June and July are the rainy season, and September and October are wetter still in Tokyo, because the typhoons arrive after the rain front has gone.
- Entry and visas
- Japan has visa exemption arrangements with 74 countries and regions. Landing permission is 90 days for most, 30 days for Brunei and Qatar, and 15 days for Indonesia and Thailand. Several nationalities qualify only with an ICAO-compliant ePassport, so check your own line on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs list rather than assuming. Everyone aged 16 and over is fingerprinted and photographed on arrival. Visit Japan Web completes immigration and customs in advance and gives you a QR code for the airport kiosks. It is optional, and paper forms still work if it fails. There is no electronic travel authorisation to buy. A JESTA scheme has been announced but is not in force, so anyone selling you one now is selling you nothing.
- Taxes and fees
- Consumption tax is 10 percent, or 8 percent on most takeaway food and soft drinks, and shop prices are normally quoted tax-inclusive. Tax-free shopping changes on 1 November 2026. Instead of the tax coming off at the till, you pay the full price and claim it back once customs confirms you are exporting the goods, per the National Tax Agency. The sealed-bag rule for consumables goes with it. The departure tax rose from 1,000 yen to 3,000 yen on 1 July 2026 and sits inside your ticket price. Accommodation tax is municipal, so it changes when you change city. Tokyo charges 100 or 200 yen a night now and moves to a flat 3 percent on 1 April 2027. Kyoto went to five bands on 1 March 2026, topping out at 10,000 yen a night.
- Getting around
- The rail pass is not the default answer. A seven-day nationwide Japan Rail Pass costs 50,000 yen and rises to 53,000 yen on 1 October 2026 through overseas agents only. A reserved Nozomi seat from Tokyo to Hakata is 23,810 yen each way, so crossing the length of the country and coming back still does not reach the pass price. We ran the break-even in the math after the October price rise. Buy an IC card instead. Unnamed Suica and Pasmo returned to general sale on 1 March 2025, and one card covers trains, subways, buses and convenience stores nationwide. Driving requires an International Driving Permit issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention. Licences from Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Monaco and Taiwan work instead, with an official Japanese translation. Nothing else is accepted, and rental desks check.
- Cards and money
- Cashless payment reached 58.0 percent of consumer spending in 2025 on the government’s domestic measure, with credit cards 82.7 percent of that, per METI. Cards work in hotels, chains, department stores, convenience stores and almost all rail ticketing. What still wants cash is the small independent restaurant, the shrine office, the coin locker and the rural bus. Withdraw at a convenience store, because the machines in 7-Eleven and Japan Post branches take foreign cards and many bank ATMs do not. Refuse dynamic currency conversion. If a terminal offers to bill you in your home currency, take yen, because the rate is set by the terminal’s operator rather than by your bank.
- Currency
- JPY
- Best months
- Late March to May, and November
Prices checked 2026-08