Japan Sayonara Tax

Japan's Sayonara Tax is the colloquial name for the country's international departure levy, formally introduced in 2019 at ¥1,000 per exit. From July 2026 the rate doubles to ¥3,000 per departure, announced alongside Japan's broader wave of visitor-cost increases that includes the JR Pass rise and a wave of prefectural accommodation taxes.

For nomads on multi-month stays who fly internationally more than once — to neighbouring countries, for visa runs, or to other Japanese airports — the ¥3,000 levy stacks against other escalators. The briefing calculates that a nomad on a four-month stay using the JR rail network and exiting through Narita faces cumulative additional cost in the low five-figure yen range before any single hotel night is taxed. Japan's departure tax applies to all international departures regardless of nationality or visa status; residents and tourists pay equally.

The doubling is the political follow-through on a broader revenue-extraction strategy that placed Japan's per-visit cost at the high end of the Asia-Pacific market by mid-2026. The departure levy is the smallest of three escalators arriving in two budget quarters alongside the accommodation-tax wave and the JR Pass increase.