Japan’s Tax-Free Rules Change on November 1, 2026: What Camera Buyers Must Do at the Airport

Japan’s tax-free shopping system for visitors changes on November 1, 2026. If you plan to buy a camera here, this is the short version: from that date you pay the price with tax at the shop, and the consumption tax comes back to you only after a check at the airport. That check has to happen before you check in your bags.

I have not been through the new system myself. This is what the official pages say, as of October 1, 2026. The links are at the end. This is a tax matter, so please confirm the final details on the official pages and at the shop where you buy.

Which rules apply to me: October or November?

The day you buy decides it, not the day you fly. There is no period when both systems can be used.

• Bought on or before October 31, 2026: the current system. You buy tax-free at the register.
• Bought on or after November 1, 2026: the new refund system. You pay with tax and get the tax back later.

If your trip crosses the date, you can end up carrying purchases under both systems.

	Bought until Oct 31	Bought from Nov 1
At the shop	Tax-free price (or a refund at the shop’s counter)	Price with tax. You register how to receive the refund.
At the airport	Customs check after security	Customs check before security and before bag check-in. Leave Japan within 90 days of purchase.
Refund	—	After the customs check

One gap for people who buy in October and fly in November or later: I could not find a traveler page that explains where in the airport those older purchases are handled after November 1. Ask the shop when you buy, or ask customs staff at the airport.

What stays the same?

Two things do not change. You still need to spend 5,000 yen or more (before tax) at one shop in one day. And you still show your passport at the shop.

Do I pay tax at the shop?

Yes. From November 1 you pay the tax-included price at the register. Not sure whether a tag shows the price with tax? My guide to reading Japanese price tags shows what to look for.

When you buy, the shop tells you how to register your refund method. This is the moment to ask three questions:

• How will I receive the refund?
• Is there a fee?
• About how long does it take?

What do I do at the airport?

Before you check in your bags, take everything you bought tax-free to a tax-free procedure terminal and present your passport. The terminals are in the international departure lobby, before bag check-in and before security.

1. Arrive early.
2. Keep every tax-free item with you. Do not check a bag yet.
3. Find the tax-free procedure terminal in the international departure lobby.
4. Present your passport at the terminal.
5. Read the result: green or red.

There is also a deadline. The check has to happen when you leave Japan, within 90 days of the purchase date. The National Tax Agency’s example: bought on November 1, the last day is January 30.

The order matters. Once a bag is checked in, it cannot be brought back, and the procedure cannot be done without the goods. You also have to finish before your boarding procedures. If you stop halfway because you ran out of time, it counts as not confirmed, and there is no refund.

If you plan to pack the camera inside your suitcase, as in my guide to packing your camera for the trip home, do the terminal first.

Two more points from the official pages:

• At Narita, Haneda, Kansai, Chubu, Fukuoka, New Chitose, and Naha, you can do the procedure online with Visit Japan Web instead of the terminal. It works on the special Wi-Fi in the departure lobby.
• If you take a domestic flight and then an international one, the procedure is done at the airport where you leave Japan.

What do green and red mean?

Green means you are finished. Red means you go to the customs inspection area and show what you bought.

I could not confirm how green or red is decided. So plan for red: have the camera where you can take it out and show it. A receipt is not required for the check, but customs may ask to see it, so keep it with you.

When and how do I get the refund?

The refund comes after the customs check, and the method depends on the shop. The official pages give four examples: bank transfer, transfer to a credit card, an app, or cash at the airport you leave from.

The government does not charge a fee for the refund. But a shop may use a refund company, and there is no rule about who pays that company’s fee.

On October 9, 2026, Kitamura was the only camera shop I checked whose website explained its refund method; the details are on my shop-by-shop tax-free page. For the other shops, I could not confirm the refund method or the fee, or how many days a refund takes. I also could not confirm whether paying in cash limits your refund options. My guide to paying at Japanese camera shops covers cash and cards, but it was written before this change.

Can I use the camera before I leave Japan?

Yes. Japan’s National Tax Agency says that goods other than consumables can be used in Japan before you leave, as long as you take them out of the country in the end. The official examples of consumables are food, drinks, medicine, and cosmetics. I read cameras and lenses as “other than consumables.”

Consumables are different. If you use even part of them in Japan, there is no refund.

Should I keep the box and the bag?

Yes. Keep them until you have left Japan, and keep them together with the camera. The National Tax Agency warns that if you separate the packaging from the item, or throw away packaging that shows the model number, customs may not be able to tell that the item was bought tax-free. Then it may not be confirmed. The agency recommends keeping things as they were when you bought them.

Many used cameras are sold with no original box. I could not find anything in the official pages about how customs handles those. Until that is clear, I would keep everything the shop hands me: the bag, the wrapping, the receipt, the warranty card. That is my own reading, not official advice.

What if I buy several things on one receipt?

The check is done per receipt. If even one item on a receipt is not with you, nothing on that receipt gets a refund.

Think about a camera and a few rolls of film on the same receipt. I could not confirm whether film counts as a consumable. If it does, and you shoot it in Japan, the camera on that receipt could lose its refund too. Asking the shop for separate receipts looks safer to me. That is my own reading, not official advice.

What about a camera over 1,000,000 yen?

For an item priced at 1,000,000 yen or more before tax, customs may ask you to show a warranty or a certificate together with the item. Keep those papers with the camera.

The line is counted before tax. In the window at Katsumido in Ginza I saw a Leica M11 with a tag of ¥1,012,000 on September 12, 2026. Whether a tag like that is above or below the line depends on whether the tag includes tax, so ask the shop.

Can I mail the camera home?

Not if you want the refund. You have to carry the goods out of Japan yourself. If you send them home by post, you do not have them at the airport, and there is no refund.

Having the shop ship directly overseas is a separate arrangement under different rules. Whether a shop offers it is up to the shop, so ask.

What I could not confirm

• The refund method and fee at each camera shop other than Kitamura
• How many days a refund takes
• How green or red is decided
• Whether confirmed goods can go into a checked bag afterwards. The leaflet’s diagram shows the terminal first and the airline counter second, but I found no sentence that says so.
• How a used camera with no box is identified
• Whether film counts as a consumable
• Whether paying in cash limits the refund method
• Where October purchases are handled at the airport after November 1

A short checklist

• Check the date on your receipt: October 31 or earlier, or November 1 or later.
• At the shop: passport, 5,000 yen or more before tax, and ask how the refund works.
• Keep the receipt, the box, and the bag together with the camera.
• Leave Japan within 90 days of the purchase date.
• At the airport: terminal first, bag check-in second.

Official pages

• Japan Tourism Agency: tax-free refund method, page for travelers (English)
• Japan Tourism Agency: FAQ for travelers (English)
• Japan Tourism Agency: leaflet with diagrams (English, PDF)
• National Tax Agency and Japan Customs: notice to travelers (English, PDF)

Some points come from pages that are in Japanese only. Using goods in Japan, keeping the packaging, the 90-day example, and mailing goods home are from the National Tax Agency’s Q&A on the refund method (PDF). The points about receipts and refund fees are from the Japan Tourism Agency’s FAQ for shops.

My shop-by-shop tax-free page lists what I saw at Map Camera, Fujiya, Lemon, Kitamura and other Tokyo camera shops, and what each shop’s website said on October 9, 2026. For the rest of your trip plan, start with the Japan camera shopping guide.