Japan's departure tax triples to ¥3,000 from July 1, 2026

The tax is bundled automatically into airline and ferry tickets, so most travelers won't pay anything separately at the airport. A transition rule means tickets issued on or before June 30, 2026 may still carry the old ¥1,000 rate even if the actual departure is later. Children under 2 are exempt, as are transit passengers who leave Japan within 24 hours without clearing immigration. The Japanese government says proceeds fund airport facial-recognition gates, congestion relief, and tourism infrastructure. This is separate from Japan's patchwork of city and prefecture-level accommodation taxes (Kyoto up to ¥10,000/night at luxury hotels since March 2026; Nagano, Kumamoto and Miyazaki prefectures began rolling out their own lodging taxes from June 2026).