This page is written for English-speaking travellers going to Japan.
Stage 3 of 5Last checked August 24, 2026
Leaving Japan
The customs step on the way out: what the terminal does, what you may be asked to show, and how to pack so that it is quick.
Covers: The customs terminal · Green and Red · carry-on or checked luggage · how much time to allow · connecting flights and leaving from a different airport
Start here
What happens at the terminal
When you leave Japan, a customs terminal reads your passport and checks it against the purchase records the shops sent. One of two things then happens. A Green result means you go through without showing anything. A Red result means you are asked to present the actual goods.
This is the step the whole refund hangs on. Nothing comes back until it is done.
Pack so that you can show it
You cannot know in advance whether you will get Green or Red, so the safe assumption is that you may have to produce what you bought. That is an argument for keeping tax-free purchases where you can reach them rather than at the bottom of a hold bag you have already checked in.
Carry-on or checked: where to put what you bought
How much time to allow
We cannot give you a number, and neither can anyone else honestly. The locations, the number of terminals and the screen languages at each airport have not been published. Any figure you read today for how long the customs step takes is somebody's estimate.
Refund Japan will be at Narita, Haneda and Kansai on the first day the system runs, and the times we record will be published on this site rather than modelled in advance.
Where the check happens on a multi-stop trip
The confirmation belongs to your departure from Japan, so it happens at the airport you actually fly out of — which need not be the one you arrived at. The 90-day clock runs from each purchase date, not from your arrival.
Common questions at this stage
Will they open my checked luggage?
A Red result asks you to present the goods. If they are already checked in, that is a problem you have made for yourself, which is why the practical advice is to keep tax-free purchases accessible until the customs step is done.
How early should I get to the airport?
There is no published answer. The terminal locations and numbers have not been announced, so nobody can responsibly convert them into minutes. We will measure it from November 1, 2026.
I fly Osaka to Tokyo and then home. Where does this happen?
At the point you leave Japan. A domestic leg inside Japan is not your departure from the country.
What if I am past the 90 days?
The deadline is 90 days from each purchase date. A purchase older than that has lapsed.
Articles in this stage
Airports 3
AirportsJapan Tax-Free 2026: Do the Rules Differ at Fukuoka and 6 Other Kyushu Airports?From November 1, 2026 the 7 Kyushu airports use Japan's same tax-free rules; terminal locations are unpublished as of August 19, 2026.- AirportsJapan Tax Free 90 Days Rule: Which Day Is Day 1 in 2026?The 90 days run from the date you buy, not from the date you arrive, and what has to happen inside them is leaving Japan and clearing the customs confirmation. From November 1, 2026 that confirmation is the step that releases the refund.
- AirportsJapan Tax-Free 2026: What Is Confirmed About Your Departure Airport?From November 1, 2026 the refund is released by a check made where you leave Japan. What that check involves is published. Where inside an airport it sits is not, and this page does not invent it.
Step by step 14
Step by stepJapan Customs Green Red Tax Refund: What Do the 2 Mean in 2026?At the customs terminal your passport is read and the screen gives one of 2 results. Green lets you walk on, Red asks to see the goods. What each one requires is published; the screen, the timing and the layout of each airport are not, as of August 19, 2026.- Step by stepJapan Tax-Free 2026: Can One Person Handle the Whole Family at the Terminal?What is published is the unit of counting: the buyer, identified by the passport presented at the register. Whether one traveller may act for another at the terminal is not published as of August 19, 2026, which is why the part a family can actually decide is which passport each purchase goes onto.
- Step by stepJapan Tax-Free 2026: What Do You Show if the Terminal Reads Red?From November 1, 2026 a terminal reads the passport at departure, a Green result means passing through and a Red result means the goods are presented. What is asked at that point is not published as of August 19, 2026, so the preparation that fits every version of the answer is to keep the goods and the passport within reach.
- Step by stepJapan Tax-Free 2026: What Does the Customs Terminal Ask You?From November 1, 2026 the tax on a tax-free purchase in Japan comes back after a customs confirmation at departure. Two things about that terminal are published — it reads the passport, and the result decides whether the goods are shown — while the items and wording a traveller meets there are not published as of August 19, 2026.
- Step by stepJapan Tax-Free 2026: What Does the Shop Keep After the Counter?From November 1, 2026 a tax-free purchase in Japan is paid at the tax-included price and the tax comes back after a customs confirmation at departure. The purchase is recorded against the passport shown at the register, and what a shop holds of that record, in what form and for how long, is not published as of August 19, 2026.
- Step by stepJapan Tax-Free 2026: Paper Receipt or App Screen, Which One Do You Keep?From November 1, 2026 a tax-free purchase is recorded against the passport shown at the register, and a terminal reads that same passport at departure. Which record a traveller produces on the day is not published as of August 19, 2026, so the workable plan is to keep the paper, the app entry and the email copy until the flight.
- Step by stepJapan Tax-Free 2026: Which Cosmetics Do You Keep and Which Do You Check In?Buying cosmetics tax-free in Japan does not change what airport screening allows in a cabin bag. From November 1, 2026 the tax-free side fixes two things only: the goods leave Japan with the buyer, and a terminal reads the passport at departure. That is why the order of checking a bag is worth deciding first.
- Step by stepJapan Tax-Free 2026: Do You Check Your Bag Before or After the Terminal?A Red result at departure asks for the goods themselves, and goods inside a checked bag cannot be shown. This page separates what is published about the confirmation from what is unannounced about where the terminals stand.
- Step by stepJapan Tax-Free 2026: Customs Check First or Immigration First?The refund is confirmed by customs when you leave Japan, and a Red result asks you to show the goods. Where that reading sits in relation to the immigration counter is unannounced as of August 19, 2026, so this page shows what can and cannot be said about the order.
- Step by stepDoes a Photo of Your Passport Work at the Register in 2026?A photo will not do. The purchase is recorded against the passport itself at the till, and the same passport is read at customs on the way out. Here is what that means for a ¥5,000 purchase.
- Step by stepJapan Tax-Free 2026: Which Passport Page Do You Show at the Till?The published conditions say the passport is shown at the time of purchase and read by a terminal at departure. They do not name a page, a stamp or a way of reading, and this page says so plainly instead of filling the gap.
- Step by stepJapan Tax-Free 2026: Can You Use the Visit Japan Web QR at the Till?The published tax-free conditions name a passport at the register and a passport read by a terminal at departure. Whether the Visit Japan Web QR code can be used for tax-free shopping is not written in them either way, and the refund side changes on November 1, 2026.
- Step by stepThe Four Steps at a Japanese Register in 2026, in OrderFrom November 1, 2026 four things happen at the till, and the order matters. Hand over the passport too late and the purchase is never registered. Here is the sequence and where it goes wrong.
- Step by stepThe Night Before You Fly: Six Things in One Bag for 2026From November 1, 2026 the refund depends on a step at the airport. Thirty minutes the night before removes most of the ways it goes wrong. Here are the six things that belong in one bag.
Routes and connections 9
Routes and connectionsJapan Tax-Free 2026: What Order Does Departure Day Happen In?From November 1, 2026 the tax on a tax-free purchase in Japan comes back after a customs confirmation at departure. 3 points about that confirmation are published — a terminal reads the passport, a Green result means passing through, a Red result means the goods themselves are shown — while where the steps sit inside an airport is not published as of August 19, 2026.- Routes and connectionsJapan Tax-Free 2026: How Early Should You Be at the Airport?This page cannot give you a number, and it explains why rather than inventing one. How long the confirmation takes, how long anyone waits for it, where the terminals stand and how many a building holds are not published as of August 19, 2026, so the only clock you can actually read on departure day is your own airline’s.
- Routes and connectionsJapan Tax-Free 2026: Does Transiting Japan Without Entering Count?Changing planes between 2 international flights does not by itself put a traveller inside the arrangement that starts on November 1, 2026. What decides it is a purchase of ¥5,000 or more before tax at one shop in Japan, not the route an itinerary takes. This page is for passengers whose whole time in Japan sits between two boarding passes, and for the ones unsure which side of that line they are on.
- Routes and connectionsJapan Tax-Free 2026: Does a Seoul Trip Split the ¥5,000 Count Across 2 Departures?From November 1, 2026 a tax-free purchase in Japan is paid at the tax-included price and the tax comes back after a customs confirmation at departure. A trip that flies out to Seoul and returns holds 2 departures, and the ¥5,000 count stays per buyer, per shop, per day.
- Routes and connectionsJapan Tax-Free 2026: If Your Suitcase Goes Ahead, Where Do the ¥5,000 Purchases Ride?From November 1, 2026 a tax-free purchase in Japan is paid at the tax-included price and the tax comes back after a customs confirmation at departure. When a suitcase travels to the airport ahead of its owner, the purchases have 2 places to ride, and only 1 of them is still within reach if a Red result asks for the goods.
- Routes and connectionsJapan Tax-Free 2026: You Buy on the Morning You Fly — Does the ¥5,000 Count Still Work?A purchase made on the morning of your flight carries that date like any other, so it joins everything else bought at the same shop that day toward the ¥5,000 before-tax line for 1 buyer. From November 1, 2026 the tax is handed back after a customs confirmation at departure, and the flight time plays no part in the arithmetic.
- Routes and connectionsJapan Tax-Free 2026: In Through Osaka and Out Through Tokyo, Where Is the Check?A trip that lands in Osaka and flies home from Tokyo has one customs confirmation, taken at departure from Japan. The city where the shopping happened is not part of what is read, and receipts are counted for each shop on each day.
- Routes and connectionsTwo Trips to Japan Inside 90 Days: Does the Clock Reset?The 90 days run from each purchase date, not from the trip. Something bought in March cannot wait for a July visit. Here is how the deadline behaves across repeat trips, and what it means for shopping.
- Routes and connectionsDomestic Connection in Japan: Where Does the Check Happen?The customs confirmation happens at the airport you leave Japan from, not where you bought. With a domestic leg in between, that can be a different city and a different day. Here is how to plan it.