Japan Tax-Free 2026: Which Passport Page Do You Show at the Till?

A purchase qualifies at ¥5,000 before tax at one shop on one day, and what is shown is the passport itself — Japan Tourism Agency (checked August 19, 2026).

Which page inside that booklet gets looked at is not written into the published conditions, and the refund side changes on November 1, 2026.

Which passport page do you show at the till?

The published conditions do not name one. They say the passport is shown at the time of purchase, and they stop there. So the honest answer is about the object rather than about a page: carry the original booklet with you when you shop.

That is not a small answer. Most of the questions travellers carry into a shop — the photo page or the entry record, a stamp or no stamp, a page number that someone quoted — are questions about something the rules do not specify. Anyone who names the exact page is describing a shop's own habit, not a published rule.

At departure the same document is read by a terminal. A Green result means passing through, and a Red result means the goods are shown — Japan Customs (checked August 19, 2026).

What does the system actually ask for?

Six things are published, and none of them is a page.

• The passport, shown at the time of purchase. The original document, not a description of it.
• The same passport read by a terminal at departure, with Green meaning passing through and Red meaning the goods are shown.
• The buyer is a non-resident, a foreign traveller staying under six months.
• The qualifying amount is counted per buyer, per shop, per day, and receipts from different shops never combine.
• The refund is one eleventh of the tax-included price.
• Departure happens within 90 days of the purchase date, with the goods.

Read that list again for what is missing. There is no page number, no stamp, no description of how the document is read, and no rule about photographs or photocopies. It is not published that an image can stand in for the booklet, which is the reason to keep the booklet with you rather than a copy of it.

One line does touch the entry record indirectly. The buyer has to be a non-resident staying under six months, and the record of landing permission made when you entered Japan is the sort of material that can speak to how long a stay is meant to be. How a shop checks that at the till is the shop's own operation, and it is worth asking at the shop instead of assuming.

What happens at departure when the passport is read?

A terminal reads the passport, and the result is Green or Red. Green means passing through. Red means the goods are shown. The published text stops at that point, and this page stops there too.

What the terminal takes from the passport, and how it takes it, is not described in what has been published. What that leaves you with is plain enough to act on: the document has to be in your hand at two moments — at the shop and at departure — and both moments are about the same booklet.

Where the terminals are placed, how many there are, what their screens show and when staff are present are unannounced as of August 19, 2026, so nothing here describes them.

What changes on November 1, 2026?

• The general goods and consumables split will be abolished, so one shop on one day becomes one total for each buyer.
• The sealed bag will no longer be required, so a purchase can be opened during the trip instead of being kept shut until departure.
• The tax will come back after the customs confirmation rather than at the register. The old system took the tax off at the register; from that date the tax-included price is what is handed over in the shop.
• The passport will still be shown at the time of purchase, and the terminal at departure will still read it.
• The former daily ceiling on consumables will be abolished.

None of those changes adds a page number or a stamp to what the published conditions ask for.

Purchases up to October 31, 2026 stay under the old system and purchases from November 1, 2026 fall under the new one. There is no transition period between them.

What has not changed?

• The minimum is ¥5,000 before tax — ¥5,500 on a tax-included tag.
• It is counted per buyer, per shop, per day. What counts as one shop is worth asking in the shop.
• Receipts from different shops never combine.
• The passport is shown at the time of purchase.
• The goods leave Japan with the buyer.
• The system is for non-residents, foreign travellers staying under six months.
• Separate shipment was abolished at the end of March 2025.
• A purchase of ¥1,000,000 or more needs a serial number or something similar registered at the shop.

When does this come up?

You came through an automated gate and there is no stamp

The published conditions do not require a stamp and do not name a page, so nothing in them turns on what is or is not printed in the booklet. What they do require is that the buyer is a non-resident staying under six months. How a shop satisfies itself about that is the shop's own operation, and asking at the shop beats guessing.

Your passport is in the hotel safe

Then the condition that the passport is shown at the time of purchase is not met at that moment. There is no published route that registers a purchase first and adds the document afterwards, so on a day with shopping planned, the original is the thing to carry out of the room.

You only have a photo of it on your phone

It is not published that a photograph or a photocopy can stand in for the passport. It is not published as allowed and it is not published as refused, and that is the accurate way to hold it. Carrying the original is the only form the published conditions describe.

You are carrying your family's passports as well

The counting is per buyer. Whose passport a purchase is registered against is what makes that person the buyer, so carrying several booklets does not change how a total is counted.

You hold two passports

Which one to use is not addressed in the published conditions. What is published is that the system is for non-residents staying under six months, and that a passport is read at departure. How a difference between the booklet used at the shop and the booklet used at the terminal would be treated is not published either.

Your passport is close to its expiry date

The only deadline in the published conditions is departure within 90 days of the purchase date. How the expiry date of the document itself is treated is not described.

You renewed your passport during the trip

A change of booklet between the purchase and the departure is not covered by anything published. What can be confirmed is that the document read at departure is a passport, so keeping every booklet you were issued during the trip with you is the cautious reading.

The till asks for an image of your passport

That is the shop's own operation. The published condition is that the passport is shown at the time of purchase, and what a shop does at its own counter beyond that is not described. If the reason is unclear, the fastest route is to ask at the counter.

The terminal does not read the passport at departure

Neither the reading method nor the procedure for a failed read has been published. What is published is the result side: Green means passing through, Red means the goods are shown. Having the original document with you is the preparation the published conditions actually describe.

You are told to open the page with the entry record

No page is named in the published conditions. The record of landing permission can speak to how long a stay is meant to be, which touches the non-resident condition, but that is a different thing from a published rule that a particular page is read.

Someone tells you only the photo page counts

That is not among the published conditions. They ask for the passport and for a terminal reading at departure, and the sources at the end of this page are where they are published.

You are asked whether you have been in Japan for six months or more

That question sits on a published condition. The system is for non-residents, foreign travellers staying under six months, and that is the condition your document is being read against rather than a page number.

You are shopping at several shops in one day

The count is per buyer, per shop, per day and receipts from different shops never combine, so the passport comes out at each shop. The booklet stays with you for the whole day rather than for one purchase, and what counts as one shop is worth asking in the shop.

What is unannounced as of August 19, 2026?

Six things are unannounced as of August 19, 2026. Whether a handling fee is deducted at all; where the terminals are placed, how many there are, what their screens show and when staff are present; whether cash remains available as a refund method at all, alongside the card, app and operator routes that are listed; how many days a refund takes; how a mismatch between a name on a card and a passport is treated; and how the reduced rate is handled under this system.

Answers would appear via the Japan Tourism Agency (checked August 19, 2026), Japan Customs (checked August 19, 2026) or the Japan Tax-free Shop Association (checked August 19, 2026). None of the six is answered by choosing a page, because none of them is a question about the document you hold.

Questions people ask

Which passport page do you show at the till?

The published conditions do not name a page. They say the passport is shown at the time of purchase.

Is a photocopy or a phone photo enough?

Nothing published says either can stand in for the passport itself.

Does the entry stamp page have to be shown?

No page is named in the published conditions, including that one.

What if there is no stamp because of an automated gate?

The published conditions do not make the refund depend on a stamp. They describe a non-resident staying under six months.

What is read at departure?

The passport, by a terminal. Green means passing through and Red means the goods are shown.

What if the terminal cannot read it?

That is not published as of August 19, 2026. The published text covers the reading and the Green and Red results only.

What is the minimum?

¥5,000 before tax, per buyer, per shop, per day.

How much comes back?

One eleventh of the tax-included price, before any deduction that may exist.

When is the money returned?

After the customs confirmation. How many days that takes is unannounced as of August 19, 2026.

Is the passport needed at every shop?

Yes. It is shown at the time of purchase, and the count runs per buyer, per shop, per day.

Can someone else carry my passport for me?

A purchase is treated as belonging to the person whose passport was registered, and that same person is read at departure.

Which passport should I use if I hold two?

That is not addressed in the published conditions, and neither is a difference between the booklet used at the shop and the one used at the terminal.

Does it matter that my passport is close to its expiry date?

The published deadline is 90 days from the purchase date, and how the expiry of the document itself is treated is not described.

Can the goods be posted from Japan instead?

No. Separate shipment was abolished at the end of March 2025.

Where are the rules published?

The Japan Tourism Agency, Japan Customs and the Japan Tax-free Shop Association.