Plan Japan with the rules that actually apply.

Plan Japan with the rules that actually apply

Most of what a trip to Japan costs is a matter of taste. A few parts are not: they are set by tax law, by municipal ordinances and by railway tariffs, they change on fixed dates, and the primary sources are in Japanese. That is the part this site handles.

Every calculator here is built from the issuing authority's own document, and every page says when we last read it.

Calculators

  • Tax-free refund calculator — what comes back on your shopping, and what changes when Japan switches to the refund method on 1 November 2026.
  • Lodging tax calculator — the per-person, per-night municipal tax that is usually not in the price you were quoted.
  • Japan Rail Pass calculator — whether the pass beats individual tickets, and why the price now depends on where you buy it.
  • Duty-free allowance calculator — what you may carry into Japan, including how the ¥10,000 per-item rule is counted.
  • Peak season checker — whether your dates fall in Golden Week, Obon or New Year, and why a holiday calendar misses one of the three.
  • Trip tax calculator — how much of a trip is tax, and how much of it comes back.
  • 8% or 10%? — why the same onigiri is taxed differently depending on what you say at the till.
  • What you cannot bring in — meat in any form, most fresh fruit, and your leftover in-flight meal.
  • Trip checklist — built from your two dates, in airport order: quarantine before customs on the way in, the tax-free customs check at a kiosk before bag drop on the way out.
  • Bringing medicine into Japan — which of four answers applies to your prescription. Adderall cannot enter at all; Vyvanse can, with a permit applied for two weeks ahead.
  • Shinkansen luggage checker — measure the case. Above 160 cm you must book a specific seat, on four lines only, or pay JPY 1,000 on board.
  • Airport charge comparison — the JPY 1,000 to JPY 3,650 already inside your ticket, and why the low-cost terminal is half the price of the one next door.
  • Visa-free stay checker — how long the exemption runs, and the conditions on 25 of the 74 countries that most lists leave out.
  • Luggage forwarding calculator — what it costs to send the case instead of carrying it, and why a heavy small bag is priced as a big one.
  • Emergency alert lookup — what the warning on your phone means. The names changed in May 2026, and three of the most serious never say "special warning".
  • Cherry blossom and autumn leaves — where your dates sit against the published normals, and the fortnight of spread that a single date hides.
  • Daylight hours — sunset in Kyoto on 1 December is 16:45, and the earliest sunset of the year is not the shortest day.
  • Onsen rules — the government's own bathing standard, what it says about tattoos, and the contraindication that was removed in 2014.

Three things worth knowing before you book

Tax-free shopping stops being instant on 1 November 2026

Until 31 October 2026 a shop deducts the consumption tax at the register. From 1 November 2026 you pay the full price, customs confirms at your departure airport that the goods are leaving Japan, and the shop refunds the tax afterwards. The saving is unchanged; the deadline, the paperwork and the ways to lose it are new — including a rule that voids an entire receipt if one item on it is missing. How the refund works

Lodging tax is spreading fast, and Kyoto's top rate is now ¥10,000 a night

Seventeen local governments taxed overnight stays at the end of 2025; 49 did on 1 October 2026, and eighteen more have consent to start. Kyoto restructured its bands on 1 March 2026, Osaka cut its tax-free threshold in September 2025, and Tokyo replaces fixed amounts with a flat 3% in April 2027. What you will be charged

The Japan Rail Pass now costs different amounts depending on where you buy it

Since 1 October 2026 the pass has cost more when bought through an overseas travel agency — a seven-day ordinary pass went from ¥50,000 to ¥53,000. The official online reservation service kept the old prices, with no announced end date. Almost every English article covering the rise omits that half of it. Which channel, and is the pass worth it

How this site works

  • Rules, not recommendations. We do not rank hotels or review restaurants. We work out what a rule says and what it costs you.
  • Primary sources, in Japanese. National Tax Agency Q&A documents, municipal ordinances, railway tariff announcements. Each page lists what was read.
  • Dated, not "current". Rates live in one data file with a check date, and pages show which rule applies to your date rather than describing "the current system". How we verify