Japan's government tripled its departure tax, known as the "international tourist tax," starting Wednesday.
According to Japanese media including the Asahi Shimbun, the departure tax that must be paid when leaving Japan rose from 1,000 yen (about 9,500 won) per person to 3,000 yen (28,000 won) as of that day.
The departure tax applies to both Japanese nationals and foreigners leaving Japan. It is collected as an additional charge on tickets for aircraft or ships bound overseas purchased on or after that date.
The increase is expected to raise annual revenue from the departure tax from around 50 billion yen (about 478 billion won) to around 120 billion yen (about 1.14 trillion won).
The Japanese government plans to use the additional revenue from the departure tax increase to fund measures against overtourism—pollution caused by excessive tourism—which has emerged as a problem at tourist sites across Japan amid a surge in foreign visitors.
As the departure tax increase is expected to raise the burden on Japanese nationals, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs lowered passport issuance fees for Japanese citizens. The five-year adult passport will be abolished.
The fee for a 10-year adult passport (for those aged 18 and over) will drop from 15,900 yen (about 152,000 won) to 9,300 yen (about 89,000 won). Applying online reduces the fee by 400 yen (about 3,800 won), which means a passport can be obtained 44 percent cheaper than before.
For online passport applications, the five-year passport for ages 12 to 18 will fall from 19,000 yen (about 181,000 won) to 4,400 yen (about 42,000 won), and the five-year passport for those under 12 will fall from 5,900 yen (about 56,000 won) to 4,400 yen. This means the cost of issuing a passport for ages 12 to 18 will be reduced by up to 60 percent.
Visa application fees for foreigners visiting Japan also rose fivefold. The fee for a single-entry visa rose from 3,000 yen to 15,000 yen (143,000 won), and for a multiple-entry visa from 6,000 yen (about 57,000 won) to 30,000 yen (about 287,000 won).
Korea, the United States, and Taiwan are mutual visa-waiver countries and do not require visas to visit Japan. In this regard, some in China are saying that Japan's visa application fee increase is aimed at Chinese tourists, who must obtain visas.
