Japan travel guide

Most visitors from the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and the EU can enter Japan without a visa for up to 90 days of sightseeing. Before you fly, fill in your immigration and customs details on Visit Japan Web, decide whether a Japan Rail Pass actually saves you money, carry some cash in yen, and sort out mobile data. This guide covers each of those steps with figures checked against official Japanese sources in October 2026.

Entry rules and Visit Japan Web

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs lists 74 countries and regions with visa exemption for short stays. For most of them, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and EU countries, the permitted stay is 90 days. A few nationalities get shorter stays or must hold a particular passport type, so check your own nationality on the ministry’s list before you book. The exemption follows your nationality, not where you live.

Visit Japan Web is the government’s online service, run by the Digital Agency, for arrival procedures. You enter your immigration and customs details before the trip and show a QR code at the airport. The same service also supports tax-free shopping. Watch out for look-alike apps: the Digital Agency itself has warned about unofficial apps using the Visit Japan Web name, so use the link on the official digital.go.jp site.

Coming later: JESTA. Japan is preparing an electronic travel authorization for visa-exempt visitors, called JESTA. The Immigration Services Agency’s outline says it will start on a date set by government order no later than March 31, 2029, and that it will require an online approval before each trip. It is not in use yet, so there is nothing to apply for today. Ignore any website that offers to sell you one.

Best time to visit

Japan has four distinct seasons, and the tourism board (JNTO) describes each as worth a trip. Here is how they compare in Tokyo:

Season	Months	Tokyo temperature (approx.)	What to expect
Spring	March to May	10 to 20°C	Cherry blossoms, busy sights
Summer	June to August	25 to 35°C, humid	Festivals, fireworks, mountain trips
Autumn	September to November	15 to 25°C	Autumn leaves, pleasant weather
Winter	December to February	0 to 10°C	Snow in the north, hot springs, skiing

Hokkaido gets heavy snow in winter, and Okinawa stays mild all year, so pack for the region, not just the month.

Three periods are busy with domestic travel, which pushes up prices and fills trains and hotels: New Year (late December to early January), Golden Week (late April to early May) and the summer holidays (mid-July to August, peaking around Obon in mid-August). Book flights, hotels and Shinkansen seats early if your dates overlap. Our guide to finding cheap flights and the flight search site comparison can help with the first two.

Photo by David Emrich on Unsplash

Getting around and the JR Pass

Trains are the easiest way to cover Japan. JNTO puts Tokyo to Kyoto at roughly 2 hours by Shinkansen and Tokyo to Osaka at about 3. In cities you can buy single tickets or tap an IC card such as Suica or PASMO, and English signs are common at stations.

The Japan Rail Pass gives unlimited travel on JR lines for 7, 14 or 21 days. These are the official prices as of October 2026 when you buy on the official website:

Pass	Standard (ordinary) car, adult	Green car, adult
7 days	50,000 yen	70,000 yen
14 days	80,000 yen	110,000 yen
21 days	100,000 yen	140,000 yen

Children aged 6 to 11 pay half. Buying through an overseas travel agency costs more: 53,000 yen for a 7-day standard pass, for example. A few things to know before you buy:

• You need to enter Japan with “Temporary Visitor” status, and you pick up the pass at a JR ticket office or certain ticket machines with your passport.
• Buying online is the only way to reserve Shinkansen and limited express seats before you collect the pass.
• Riding the fastest Nozomi and Mizuho Shinkansen trains needs an extra special ticket that only pass holders can get.

Whether the pass pays off depends on your route. If you are mostly staying in one or two cities, single tickets or a regional pass are often enough. JNTO suggests pricing your actual itinerary on a route planner such as NAVITIME or Jorudan before you decide.

For booking where to stay, see our guide on how to book hotels and the hotel booking site comparison. Hotels must record your passport details at check-in, so keep it handy.

Money and cards

The currency is the Japanese yen (JPY). Visa and Mastercard work in most shops and restaurants, but JNTO still calls Japan a cash culture: small shops and guesthouses may take cash only. Arrive with some yen and top up at ATMs, which JNTO says are found everywhere. There is no tipping in restaurants, hotels or taxis.

Two money rules changed in 2026:

• Departure tax. The International Tourist Tax rose from 1,000 yen to 3,000 yen from July 1, 2026. In most cases it is already built into your plane ticket.
• Tax-free shopping. For purchases made on or after November 1, 2026, Japan moves to a refund method. You pay the tax at the till and get it back after Customs confirms at departure that you are taking the goods out of Japan. Keep your passport with you when you shop.

Getting online

JNTO says eSIMs and pocket Wi-Fi are especially convenient for short visits, and both can be arranged before you fly or at the airport. An eSIM is the simplest choice if your phone supports one, because there is nothing to collect or return.

Pelesim, one option, sells prepaid data-only Japan eSIMs with fixed-GB plans or daily-unlimited day passes that have a fair-use limit. You install it before the trip and the plan starts when it first connects in Japan. Hotspot sharing is allowed, and you can get a refund within 30 days of purchase if the eSIM has not been activated. To compare prices and plans across providers, see our list of the top 5 eSIMs for Japan.

Calling home and calling Japanese numbers

Messaging apps such as WhatsApp call contacts who use the same app over the internet. That covers friends and family, but not the restaurant that only takes phone bookings, your bank’s fraud line, or a ryokan out in the countryside. To reach a landline or a regular mobile, use an app that calls the phone network, such as CallTuv.

It calls regular landlines and mobiles from your browser or phone, pay as you go from $0.03 a minute, with credit that never expires. It makes outgoing calls only. Our guide on how to call home from abroad compares the options.

To call a Japanese number from abroad, dial +81 and drop the leading 0. JNTO’s own visitor hotline shows the pattern: 050-3816-2787 inside Japan becomes +81-50-3816-2787 from overseas. That hotline runs 24 hours a day in English, Chinese and Korean. In an emergency in Japan, use a local phone line: 110 for police and 119 for fire or ambulance.

Plugs and voltage

Japan uses Type A plugs, the two flat pins also used in the US, at 100 volts. The frequency is 50 Hz in eastern Japan and 60 Hz in western Japan, including Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka. Most phone and laptop chargers handle this without trouble. Single-voltage appliances from 220 to 240 volt countries, such as some hair dryers, need a step-down transformer. If you forget an adapter, JNTO points to electronics districts like Akihabara in Tokyo and Nipponbashi in Osaka, or big chains such as Yodobashi Camera and Bic Camera.

Etiquette basics

JNTO stresses that Japanese customs are easy to follow and that nobody expects visitors to know everything. The basics:

• Keep your voice down on trains and buses, and avoid phone calls on board.
• Queue and wait your turn.
• Carry your rubbish with you, because public bins can be hard to find.
• Take your shoes off when a shop, temple or home asks you to.
• Slurping noodles is fine. Eating while walking is frowned on in some areas.
• At onsen, wash before you get in, bathe without a swimsuit and keep your towel out of the water. Some baths turn away guests with tattoos, so check first.
• Dress modestly at temples and shrines, and ask before photographing people.

Tap water is safe to drink, and many restaurants bring water to the table for free.

Staying longer: remote work, visas and setup

A 90-day visa-free stay is for sightseeing, and Japan expects you to leave when it ends. Staying longer, or working from Japan for a foreign employer, needs its own status. These are the routes most readers ask about, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the Immigration Services Agency (ISA) described them in October 2026. This is not legal or tax advice: confirm the details with the Japanese embassy or consulate that serves you.

The digital nomad visa

Since 2024 Japan has a “Designated Activities (Digital Nomad)” status for people who work remotely from Japan for a foreign employer, or who sell services or goods to customers abroad.

• Income: at least 10 million yen a year at the time of application. For the self-employed, ISA counts profit after costs, and several stable incomes can be added together.
• Nationality: you must hold the passport of one of the 51 countries and regions on ISA’s list, which are visa-exempt and have a tax treaty with Japan. The list includes the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and most of the EU.
• Length: up to 6 months, with no extension. After you leave, you wait another 6 months before you can come back under the same status.
• Insurance: private health insurance covering death, injury and illness, with at least 10 million yen of medical cover. Digital nomads cannot join Japan’s public health insurance.
• What you cannot do: work for a Japanese company or client under an employment or contractor agreement.
• Family: a spouse and children can come under a separate status, with the same insurance requirement.
• How to apply: at the Japanese embassy or consulate where you live. Nobody in Japan can apply on your behalf.

You are free to move between cities on this status. Digital nomads do not get a residence card, which matters for phones, banks and rentals (see below).

Other long-stay routes

• Long stay for sightseeing and recreation: for people aged 18 or over from visa-exempt countries with savings of more than 30 million yen (with a spouse). It allows 6 months, extendable to a maximum of a year. Children cannot come, and travel insurance is required.
• Working holiday: Japan has agreements with 32 countries and regions as of April 2026. Applicants are usually 18 to 30 (18 to 25 for Australia, Canada, South Korea and Ireland), and you must register your address at the city office within 14 days of settling.

ISA extends an ordinary visitor’s stay only in “truly unavoidable” circumstances, such as medical treatment. An overstay leads to deportation and a ban on returning for 5 years, or 10 in some cases.

Tax

Japan’s National Tax Agency treats you as a resident if you have a domicile in Japan, or have lived there for a year or more. Digital nomads are usually short of that. For their pay, ISA notes that most tax treaties exempt work done in Japan if you stay 183 days or less in the relevant period, but treaties differ, so check the one between Japan and your country.

Setting up for a month or more

• Phone: the ISA guidebook lists a residence card, a Japanese driving licence, a My Number card or a passport showing your current address as the ID for a mobile contract. Visitors and digital nomads usually have none of those, so a travel eSIM or prepaid data is the practical choice. ISA also lets digital nomads use phones and laptops without Japan’s technical conformity mark for 90 days after entry, if they meet the standards.
• Banking: the guidebook gives a residence card as the example ID for opening an account, so plan to rely on your home cards.
• Renting an apartment: the transport ministry’s English guide to renting says you need a guarantor or a guarantee company, that upfront costs are typically 4 to 7 months’ rent, and that contracts usually run 2 years. Those terms suit residents, not a 3-month stay.
• Short stays in private homes: a registered minpaku (private lodging) can host guests for a maximum of 180 nights a year, and local rules can be stricter. That cap is why a listing may be unavailable for part of the year.

Where remote workers base themselves

The Japan National Tourism Organization calls Fukuoka “a premier remote work destination”, points to Wi-Fi hotspots in Hakuba and Otari in Nagano, and mentions remote-work spaces in temples, national parks and campsites, with rural areas costing less than Tokyo. In 2024 the Japan Tourism Agency picked five digital nomad pilot projects: Hyuga in Miyazaki, Kanazawa, Fukuoka together with Beppu, Nagasaki and Goto, Shirahama in Wakayama, and Nago, Yanbaru and Okinawa City.