Japan Tax-Free Shopping From 1 November 2026: What Changes for Knife Buyers

Applies to

Purchases from 1 November 2026

At the till

Full price incl. tax (10% on knives)

Minimum spend

¥5,000 before tax, per shop, per day

Customs check

Within 90 days, before bag drop

Refund from

The shop or its refund provider

The short version

Japan's tax-free shopping becomes a refund system for purchases made on or after 1 November 2026. You pay the full price, consumption tax included, and the tax comes back only after customs confirms at your departure airport, within 90 days of the purchase, that you are taking the goods out of Japan^[1][3]. The change comes from the FY2025 tax reform, and there is no transition period during which shops can keep the old system^[12][2][5].

• At the shop: show your passport, pay the tax-inclusive price, register how you want the refund paid^[7][9].
• Minimum spend: still ¥5,000 before tax, per shop, per day^[1].
• At the airport: scan your passport at a tax-free kiosk in the departure lobby before bag drop, with the knife still with you^[1].
• Then check the knife in. Knives never go in the cabin; see our guide to flying with Japanese knives.
• The refund comes from the shop or its refund provider after the check; how and when depends on the shop^[1][4].

Before and after 1 November 2026

Until October, goods had to be for use in daily life, and since 1 April 2023 only non-residents with Temporary Visitor, Diplomat or Official status could buy tax-free. Food, drink, cosmetics and other consumables were a separate class; everything else, a kitchen knife included, was a general good^[10][6][9]. Posting tax-free purchases home yourself and showing the postal receipt at departure had already ended on 31 March 2025^[10][4].

Who can buy tax-free from 1 November

The Japan Tourism Agency's list for the refund method covers two groups^[7]:

• Foreign non-residents: visitors on Temporary Visitor status, plus diplomats, officials, US forces under the Status of Forces Agreement, and holders of port-of-call, transit, cruise-ship, crew, emergency or distress landing permits. Apart from diplomats, officials and US forces, you must be able to show that less than six months have passed since you entered Japan.
• Japanese nationals living abroad for two years or more, within six months of a temporary return, with a supporting document: a copy of the koseki no fuhyō, a Residency Certificate, or a My Number Card showing the move abroad.

Residents of Japan on a work or student status are not on the list. Bring the passport itself: the list allows a copy only for cruise-ship landing permits^[7].

What counts, and where knives fit

• No more categories. The split between general goods and consumables goes, along with the ¥500,000 consumables cap and the special packaging^[6][3].
• ¥5,000 minimum, before tax, per shop, per day, judged on everything you buy there together^[1][3].
• Excluded goods are only gold and platinum bullion, gold and platinum coins, and items exempt from consumption tax^[6]. Knives, whetstones and saya are not on that list.
• No purpose test. The exclusion for goods bought for business use goes, which matters to professional cooks. The limit is quantity: only what you can personally carry out of Japan^[6][4].
• ¥1,000,000 or more per item, before tax: the shop records identifying details such as a serial number, and customs may ask for a certificate of authenticity or warranty^[3][4].

The tax is Japan's consumption tax: 10% at the standard rate, with a reduced 8% rate only for food and non-alcoholic drinks (not eating out) and certain newspapers^[11]. A knife priced at ¥30,000 before tax therefore costs ¥33,000 at the till, and the refund returns the amount equivalent to the ¥3,000 of tax.

What the shop will ask and tell you

1. Your passport (plus the supporting document, for Japanese nationals abroad)^[7].
2. How you want to be refunded. The official examples are bank transfer, refund to a credit card, app transfer, or cash at the departure airport after the check, but each shop or its refund provider decides what it offers^[4][9].
3. Three rules it must explain: the customs check within 90 days; showing the goods to customs if asked; and exporting confirmed goods without delay, or the tax is collected and penalties can apply^[8][2].

If a shop engraves or finishes a knife and hands it over later, the tax-free procedure is done at handover, not when you order^[5]. If you want the shop to send the knife abroad, ask before you pay; arrangements vary^[4]. When you sign the international shipping contract at the shop and hand the goods over on the spot, the National Tax Agency treats the sale as an ordinary export: the shop can sell at the tax-exclusive price, and there is no customs check for that item when you leave^[5].

At the airport, step by step

1. Arrive early. The check, including any inspection, must be finished before boarding procedures. Abandoning it for lack of time counts as not done, and neither the airline nor customs compensates a missed flight^[1].
2. Go to the tax-free kiosk with everything. Kiosks and customs inspection areas are in the international departure lobby, before bag check-in. Every tax-free item must be with you^[1].
3. Scan your passport. Green: you are done. Red: take the goods to the customs inspection area and show them^[1].
4. Then check in your bag. After that, the procedure can no longer be done for what is inside, and the airline will not hand the bag back for it^[1].

At Narita, Haneda, Kansai, Chubu, Fukuoka, New Chitose and Naha you can instead do it online through Visit Japan Web, within the dedicated Wi-Fi areas of the departure lobby up to the security checkpoint. Connecting from a domestic flight? The procedure takes place at the airport from which you finally leave Japan^[1].

The refund then comes from the shop or its refund provider, generally after the check has confirmed the sale. The consumption tax law sets no rules on how refunds are paid, which is why methods differ by shop^[4][2]. And the check works per receipt: if one item from a receipt is missing, nothing on that receipt is refunded^[1][3].

Practical tips for knife buyers

• Keep the knife boxed until after the check. Goods other than consumables can still be confirmed after use in Japan, but customs may be unable to identify an item separated from its box or whose packaging showing the model number was thrown away^[5]. Keep knife, box and receipt together.
• Think about what shares a receipt. A knife, a whetstone and a saya bought together are checked as one. If you might give something away or use something up before you fly, ask the shop whether it can go on a separate transaction.
• Pack for a red result. Put the boxed knife where you can lift it out, then check the suitcase in. It travels in checked baggage only; our flying guide covers packing.
• Count the 90 days from the day after purchase: a knife bought on 1 November must be checked by 30 January^[3].
• Several cities, same rules. On Kappabashi, in Osaka and Sakai, Seki or Kyoto, each shop has its own ¥5,000 minimum, and you clear everything at the airport you leave from.
• Buying around the changeover? The date of sale decides, not your departure date: up to 31 October, old rules; from 1 November, new ones^[5].

Planning the shopping itself? Our Kappabashi shop directory maps the street shop by shop.

What is not yet confirmed

As of 1 October 2026, the official traveller guidance does not settle these points. Ask the shop.

• Fees. The refund is described as the amount equivalent to the tax, with the method left to each shop. Nothing says whether a service charge may be deducted.
• Timing and currency. No standard number of days, and nothing on exchange rates for refunds to foreign cards^[4].
• Which shops will offer it. Existing permits carry over, but a permit lapses on 31 October 2026 if the shop has not moved to electronic procedures^[3]. Whether a given knife shop sells tax-free from 1 November is for that shop to say.
• October purchases, November departures. The traveller pages do not spell out how customs will handle goods bought under the old system when you leave after 1 November. Keep them and their receipts with you.
• Bags checked through from a domestic flight. A knife cannot ride in the cabin, so it would not be with you at the final airport's kiosk. We found no official guidance on this; ask your airline.

This page will be updated as the official guidance adds detail.