018 - 12:31:25, 20.51

[00:00:00] Ever dream of going to Japan, not just once, but every year. Me too. I'm John. And that dream became my mission, which is why I started rewarding routes. A podcast about making Japan travel possible. Year after year, I learned how to leverage credit cards to earn points and miles turning everyday spending into flights and hotel stays across Japan.

Each episode I'll share what I've learned from booking award travel to building meaningful itineraries and deep diving into regions, traditions, and experiences that make this country so special. Let's build your rewarding route one trip at a time. Hello and happy New Year to everyone listening. I hope 2026 is off to a great start and I thought I'd take this episode and talk about all the things coming up in 2026 in Japan.

So there are a few things that are changing and with Japan being in such high demand, in so many [00:01:00] people visiting and certain areas, definitely getting over tourism. Um, there are things changing to kind of combat that and also to. Profit from it. Um, because there are certain things that Japan has to keep up with when it comes to over tourism in certain areas, and they need to be able to keep up and, and make sure they can maintain those areas that people visit quite often, Japan is still such an exciting place to visit.

And we plan to visit later in 2026. And I'll be talking more about that full, um, itinerary process and just the whole process of, , booking our flights with points, our hotels with points, and just building the itinerary out, especially with a little one that'll be maybe seven. Uh, plus months old at that point.

So yeah, I'm, I'm really excited to get , into this [00:02:00] episode and talk about what to expect in 2026 in Japan. So, let's start it off with money right now. The yen is currently at 1 56 to the US dollar, and that is as of January, 2026. So, currently the yen is very weak and we haven't seen it like this in a very long time.

I know back in 2008, the yen was much better, much stronger, around a hundred yen to the US dollar. So no one knows when the yen is going to start, uh, strengthening. But yeah, if you're visiting 2026, I don't honestly expect it to change that much. It might hover around the one 40. Um, that's what I assume, but, uh, it will definitely benefit to a lot of people, uh, having the young so weak because this makes food shopping activities.

It, it makes it really affordable at the moment, so I don't [00:03:00] expect it to last that long. But let's enjoy it while it's here and spend that money in Japan. It's a great country and it has so much to offer. So if you're going in 2026, enjoy that Y because you're definitely gonna get your bang for your buck.

I'm actually considering buying yen. I'm not, I've never bought foreign currency here in the us, but with this rate being so good. I'm really considering it, but I have no idea. I have to research about it and see like, how do I buy yen? Like what's the best way to do it? So once I figure that out, I'll make sure to make a post about it and share that information because I'm sure there are people who want to also buy some yen right now because they don't have a trip planned at the moment.

It might not be in 2026, it might be further on 2027. And beyond. So I think this'll be pretty valuable, uh, information and I can't wait to learn myself. So let's move on [00:04:00] to taxes. And I know it's not a sexy subject, but there are some things changing in Japan in 2026. And the first thing is the accommodation taxes.

You guys might have, uh, seen some articles about different taxes of accommodation, tax and visa fees and departure tax. So I'm gonna kind of go over it all right now. Uh, I know some. Post out there, really over exaggerate things without the context. So we're just gonna break it down and talk about each thing that's changing in 2026 when it comes to taxes.

So the first thing is the accommodation taxes. This is in Kyoto, and it is increasing accommodation taxes. I'm gonna link an article in the show notes. I'm gonna link a lot of, uh, articles and videos down below. Um, just because it's a lot of information in this video, so I think it's helpful to have those articles and videos down below if you're curious to hear more about a certain subject.

So Kyoto is increasing its accommodation tax. This is only if you're staying at a [00:05:00] very like. High-end luxury hotel. So right now you're seeing in headlines it's 10,000 yen in taxes. Well, it's actually not that. This is only for high-end luxury hotels that you're staying out that are over 100,000 yen per night or more.

So currently that translates over to about $637 per night. Or more that you'll get taxed at 10,000 yen and that 10,000 yen converts over to about $63. Now with award bookings, like using points for Hyatts or. Other hotel brands normally award bookings. You don't worry about taxes. I don't think this is going to apply to award bookings, but we'll, we'll find out in 2026 once it fully goes into play and we'll see how it goes.

I did forget to mention that this is per [00:06:00] person per night. Um, for the taxes. So normally we're, most of us, nearly all of us are going to be paying the 400 yen to 1000 yen, which is around four to $7 per night per person. Um, so it's not, it's really not that bad. It's not like the major headlines make it seem to be.

So I wouldn't really stress about this, um, accommodation tax unless you're booking a super luxury place. But if you are, then. You probably are not worrying about this tax fee Anyways, so expect this to go through on March 1st, 2026. This is when Kyoto will increase their accommodation tax, and the reason why they're increasing these accommodation taxes is to help maintain the infrastructure, the public transport, and preserve these historical sites as .

Tourism Really. Goes through the roof in Kyoto [00:07:00] and is one of those places that's labeled over tourism because a lot of those places just. Aren't built for that many people In Kyoto, there's so many narrow streets where it's, uh, very historical and very beautiful and, and pretty to look at. But these, these roads and these places are just not built for the volume that Kyoto is seeing at the moment.

So this increase in tax is going towards. Just making sure Kyoto is staying maintained and making sure that it can keep up and, and stay a beautiful place to visit. You know, we all want to make sure that these things, these historical places in Kyoto stay. Beautiful and we don't wanna ruin that. So I'm all for them putting this money towards just making sure Kyoto just stays beautiful.

'cause it is, uh, an absolutely beautiful place and, and definitely [00:08:00] worth visiting if you can. Now for Tokyo, they're considering increasing the accommodation tax, but this wouldn't happen in 2026. This would happen the following year in 2027. Right now they have the. Accommodation tax. I think it's only a few hundred yen, which is like a few bucks.

It's not a lot, but it's being proposed at 3%. And then hotels under 13,000 yen per night would be exempt from this. So anything over would get that 3%. I thought I'd just put that out there and let you know, uh, to expect this. Not in 2026, but in 2027 I could see this happening 'cause of how many people are currently visiting Japan and.

Japan will probably experience even more people visiting in 2026 and even more in 2027. It just keeps climbing every single year. It's, it's such a popular place to visit for very good reasons, but Japan also has to take into [00:09:00] consideration this increase of people and making sure it's maintaining the, just the sheer volume of people visiting and tourism is really at a all time high. Or is getting to an all time high. So yeah, expect that in 2027. So let's move over to visa fees. This is changing in 2026. If you're in the us, Canada, the uk, Australia, or the 70 countries that has the Visa waiver agreement with Japan, then you don't have to worry about Visa fees.

This is only for countries that. Do have to pay visas to go to Japan. Um, I'm just letting you know that the visa fees are going up. They haven't announced the exact fees yet, but currently single entry visas are around 3000 yen. I thought I just mentioned this. For anyone listening that's not. Um, in one of those 70 countries that has the visa waiver agreement with Japan, it is going to increase [00:10:00] slightly, but we just don't know how much it is going to increase by.

So we will find out, I guess, later this year, maybe in the early stages of 2026, but it is coming. So now we'll go over two departure tax and departure tax right now, um, is. About a thousand yen per person, and this is normally on your airfare ticket. You'll see the tax on there for that. That's going to increase to 3000 yen per person.

So 3000 yen at the moment is about 20 bucks, so really not that major. And it's included with the airfare pricing. If you're buying an airfare, um, cash, or even when you use points, you should be seeing this tax on there. Um, 'cause with points you normally pay taxes. Once you, um, redeem these flights with points, and depending on if you're booking [00:11:00] economy class seats, which will be 3000 yen per person, or if you're booking business class seats, then you're looking at about 5,000 yen per person and 5,000 yen converts to about $32.

So nothing too crazy there. Japan is just trying to combat the overt tourism and high demand, so they're putting the money into infrastructure and you know, just maintenance overall and making sure that Japan stays very nice for us to visit. Right? So that's everything with money and taxes. And now we'll move on to their arrival process and making it an easier entrance into Japan.

So. This isn't new. This isn't like coming in 2026. It's already happening actually, but it's something you should be doing when you're visiting in 2026 and beyond. And that is Visit Japan Web. This is an online immigration and customs form. Once you fill it out [00:12:00] online, you'll get a QR code to scan on arrival.

Normally, this process is when you get a piece of paper on the airplane and then you wait in line, and then you have the customs agent go over it with you. So what this is that it kind of eliminates that process of filling out a piece of paper and it just makes everything feel a bit smoother when you're arriving and a little less stressful.

So any stress that you can take out of the equation, you could just do this at home. Fill it all out online and then you'll get that QR code, which you'll scan on arrival. The only thing is don't do this last minute because the system needs time to process your form and approve it. So don't wait last minute, just do it.

A few days before your trip or a week before, and just have it filled out, get it approved, and you'll get that QR code and just make that arrival process so much more smoother and less [00:13:00] stressful. I'll make sure to link something in the show notes like a video or an article walking you through this process.

It's not hard. It's very simple. It's pretty straightforward, but, uh, I'll, I'll make sure to link that just so you can have even more information going into this. Now let's move over to a more exciting topic, and that is shopping in Japan, which everyone is going to do. There is just so much to buy when you're in Japan.

I know I said we were done talking about taxes, but we're, we're not actually, but this is the good kind of taxes. This is the taxes that we call taxes free shopping. Now, this isn't going away, but the current process is. You get tax free shopping when you spend over , 5,000 yen.

Uh, what you'll do is you'll either show your passport and the sticker they put in your passport has a QR code. The person at the register will scan that QR code in your passport, or you'll use the QR code in your Visit Japan web. So what's changing now [00:14:00] is in November 1st, 2026. Instead of going to the store and buying your things and going to a certain section of the store where it's only tax free shopping registers, you'll be holding onto all your receipts and you'll be presenting all those receipts at the airport before departure.

So what this means is we're going to have to be a bit more organized. Make sure those receipts are in a little pouch that you can just organize all of them together and make sure. That they're all ready to go. When you get to the airport before departure, I'm sure they sell these small receipt holders at like a DAO or Donkey Holte, um, or even at the koinis, like seven 11 Lawson's Family Mart.

I'm sure you could find something to hold your receipts in and just make sure that they're all organized, they're all there, so that when you get to the airport before your flight. You can present it there, and I'll be going more into this process because it doesn't [00:15:00] go into effect until November 1st, 2026, so that's still some time away.

Um, so if you're going before then, then you'll just do the normal way, which is just find the register that is for tax free shopping at the store you're at. And if it's over 5,000 yen, you'll get tax free and you'll show the QR code or your passport and you'll be good to go. But yeah, once November 1st hits.

That's all going to change and I'll make sure to cover it before then. That way I can give you a bit more information and we can dive a little bit deeper into that, but I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of good information out there and some good videos going over it. And yeah, so that's what's changing for tax-free shopping.

It's not going away. It's just changing the way that it's all being done. I assume this, the reason is, I'm not sure, I haven't looked at why they're changing it, but some of these registers and these queues for get [00:16:00] really long, um. So maybe it's just overwhelming for a lot of stores and they find it. Maybe it's easier if people do it at the airport.

Um, just, everyone's just gonna have to be organized and make sure you hold onto those receipts before you leave. Tax-free shopping is a really nice perk to have when you're in Japan. I used it all the time. Um, I actually bought some camera gear and equipment out there. Uh, if I needed to go shopping, I would wait until my Japan trip and go shopping at stores like Uniqlo, where I could buy stuff here in the us but I just wait for my Japan trips.

I save money on the close there because it's more affordable in Japan and you get tax free. So it's a win-win. So take advantage of it, use it, and just know that the system is changing in 2026. So let's move over to getting around Japan in 2026 and in 2023, the JR Rail Pass, as a [00:17:00] lot of you might have known, it was a really.

Solid deal before they changed it in 2023 and increased it by a large amount. Where now it's not really a deal anymore for basically a lot of people. Uh, it doesn't make sense or it hasn't made, didn't make sense for our last trip, uh, that we took this year and it probably won't make sense going forward for us as we're probably gonna slow down where with the JR Pass you need to be on the go, go, go and use it a lot.

But an alternative to this is looking at regional rail passes throughout Japan. There are so many regional passes. There are so many I don't know about because there's that many and there's a lot of parts of Japan I still haven't been to. So if you're planning a trip for 2026, just make sure you check out the regional rail passes to wherever you're going in Japan and see if it makes sense for you.

There are some really good deals [00:18:00] out there. Also make sure you have a Sika card. This is one of those essential things that you'll need when you're in Japan. This is a card you'll use for your public transportation, your vending machines, your com comi runs you. It's just a very essential card to have.

You can have it physical, which is a great souvenir, and it it's valid for 10 years after the last time you use it. You can also have the sweeter card. As a digital card on your iPhone. If you have iPhone, you can just add it to your wallet. When you hit the plus button on your wallet, you'll go to public transportation, go to Japan.

You'll see ika there, and you can add it to your iPhone. Now for Android users, unfortunately there is no way to get the digital card. Maybe they'll work something out in the future, but it's still not there. You'll have to get a physical card, but physical sweeter cards are a great souvenir and a note.

For this week of card in spring of [00:19:00] 2027, the penguin mascot is going away. He is retiring. So he won't be on thewe of cards anymore. So in 2026, when you visit, pick up awe of card, a physical one with the penguin on it. He's just so iconic. And I believe there's a store in Tokyo Station or one of the stations that sells the penguin mascot.

And if you don't know Ma, Japan's just massive on mascots throughout the country and there's a mascot for so many things. And it's cool. I, I actually wanna start collecting some mascot related things during my trip for, for certain regions or for certain transportations. There's mascots for trains.

There's mascots for like the melon bear, which is like a ferocious bear with a melon head there. There's so many really cool mascots out there in Japan, but. If you're visiting 2026, I would say I would highly suggest pick up one of the [00:20:00] physical sweeter cards. That way you have the little penguin mascot on it, and you can cherish that because he is retiring after spring of 2027.

Now let's swing over to new attractions. Open in 2026. First up, I have the Edo Tokyo Museum that's reopening. On March 31st, 2026. It's been closed since April 1st, 2022. And here you'll learn a lot about Tokyo's Rich history from the Edo period. This is something that I would love to do and see. So I'm excited that it's opening, uh, here in 2026, or it's reopening in 2026, and I'm sure there's a lot of great things to see in that museum.

I saw it from a distance when we were in the. Tokyo Sky Tree. I actually took a picture in that direction because I noticed there's like a, uh, a temple over in that area. And then I noticed a building where the museum is [00:21:00] actually at, and I didn't realize it was the museum, but now I look at my picture, I pointed my camera right in that direction and there it is, the Edo Tokyo Museum.

So I'm excited to, visit it whenever we can. And I'm glad it's reopening. In 2026, Japan is opening up another Pokemon Children's Park. This one's going to be in Sendai. It's gonna open in spring of 2026. And the theme is the lapis. If you know already, I've mentioned a few episodes, but my wife and I, we grew up with Pokemon.

It was our childhood and it still is with us. It's something fun. Uh, I still play the video games. I do. I have all my old cards from the original base sets and jungle and stuff. So this is something that's really cool and I would love to just bring my child out to these parks. So this lapis one is gonna be opening up in Sendai, but there are other [00:22:00] Pokemon parks throughout Japan.

So there are four Chancey parks in Fukushima. There are two geo dude parks in ate. There's one slow poke park in Kawa. There's one San True Park in Tori, and then there's two Oshawa parks that have, I believe they recently opened this year in 2025. And those are me at Prefecture. So I, I'm definitely gonna visit Aldi, these parks, uh, and I'll make sure to bring my kid along so that he can enjoy these.

Beautiful parks that Japan puts together. And the way these parks came to be is the Chancy Park was the first one to open. The reason why was because of the 12 2011 Fukushima disaster, which was an earthquake that hit ta hoku, and it created a tsunami that flooded the nuclear plant in Fukushima and as a major regional revitalization project.

The [00:23:00] Chancy Park came to play when the Pokemon company and the government of Fukushima came together, and they chose Chancy because it symboled hope, healing in good fortune, and fuku means luck. So the reason they brought this was to bring joy, to attract tourism and to really create a, a community spot for, for people to get together.

So I'm excited to see how the lapis one will be coming out. Uh, in Sendai when it, once it opens in spring of 2026. Next will be the pokey park in Yodi land. Now this is opening up on February 5th, the ticket system. It's different for the locals and the foreigners. So the local Japan residents have a lottery system.

The foreigners have a separate ticket website to grab your tickets for the pokey park. The tickets go and sell three months in advance. Normally most bookings for activities are maybe a month [00:24:00] in advance, but with the pokey park it's three months in advance. So you really have to time when tickets go on sell because three months in advance, I'm sure those tickets drop and they fly right off and sell out.

So this'll be interesting. I haven't seen, I'm not sure if they did the drop already for, for opening. I assume they did 'cause it was three months out. Um, I'm curious to learn more about this. I would like to visit the pokey park. It probably won't be on our next visit, but I, we definitely plan to visit eventually.

Um, we'll, we'll be curious if they update the three months and maybe make it shorter. We will see on how that goes. But it looks like a great place to take photos and walk around. And it's a permanent part of Yo Modi land, which is other, has other attractions throughout the theme park. And yeah, I think it'll be a great addition Pokemon that doesn't have its own theme park, so it'll be great to see how this goes.

And I'm [00:25:00] excited to see how it's gonna look and how it's gonna turn out. I'm excited to see the videos that people are gonna be posting once it opens on February 5th. So I'll be waiting to see how it looks. Then next we have Shoot Castle, which is reopening in Okinawa in the autumn of 2026. It's going through a major reconstruction after a fire in 2019.

So I'm excited to see that we're, we're excited to visit Okinawa one day. Uh, it's not on our plans for our upcoming trip. But definitely in the future. Now this is an announcement my wife is thrilled about and it's Sailor Moon having their own permanent show in Tokyo. She's gonna be in Senal. It opened April, 2026.

Tickets go on sale early 2026. I know they were just on a North America tour. Um, going through different parts of the US. And it's good to see that they're now permanent in Tokyo as they have a live show and it's a 360 [00:26:00] venue, so there'll be. There's really no bad seat for this theater. And yeah, my wife's thrilled to experience this show and it'll be exciting now that it's going to be there.

Uh, this year in 2026, yo Yogi Park has a section of the park that is reopening in 2026. This was a renovation of the central Fountain and water corridor. Uh, so there's gonna be new water fountains. There's gonna be like a light show at the park. This is a great update to a beautiful park, so we can't wait until it reopens in 2026.

Now I want to cover a section that we already touched a little bit on, and that's overt tourism and kind of shifting the mindset of of that, because a lot of social media and a lot of posts, you'll see a lot of overt tourism and like the crowds and the streets that are filled in Kyoto. So. Know that these major cities, especially the golden route, which is Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, there's gonna be a lot of people in those cities doing the [00:27:00] things you want to do, especially if you're going for the first time.

A lot of these places are packed, but. Social media tends to exaggerate a little bit on some of these things. There's more context behind it. I think one of the examples I could think of is like Disneyland in the queues in the morning or super long. Well, I would actually recommend watching a YouTuber TDR Explorer, Chris.

He's great. He makes fantastic videos on theme parks. If you want to learn more about theme parks, definitely check out TDR Explore. I've watched his videos for everything I understand and know about theme parks in Japan, and he kind of goes over the whole queuing process and it's really not as bad as social media makes it out to be.

Um, just make sure when you're booking attractions in these cities that you're doing it in advance if, if you know it's popular. And just do a little bit of research, and I'm going to have an episode about booking the most like popular attractions on the golden route, [00:28:00] just to help give people an idea.

I know it can be overwhelming because there's a lot of different activities to do, but I think it'll be a valuable episode talking about. All the major attractions that people like to visit and like booking in advance. And I know one of those is like Shibuya Sky, which is really popular, especially for Sunset.

And we were lucky to experience the sunset time on Shibuya Sky, seeing the day turn to night. It was beautiful. From up there and the views are fantastic and definitely a place I would recommend to visit because the views up there are really great, but it's really popular and it's, it can be very crowded and, and they could be booked up for the times you want to visit.

So we'll go more into depth in a diff in a future episode, but just understand that like these cities like Tokyo, Osaka. They're large cities and they can handle a lot of tourism. But when it [00:29:00] comes to Kyoto, and we'll, we'll touch on Kyoto now, like what we said earlier in the episode, the historic streets are a lot smaller and there's a lot more people in these, in these narrow streets and these beautiful temples.

So just know, maybe go as early as possible to the most popular places, and then during the day try to find. Maybe some streets that are a lot quieter and more tranquil so that you can really soak in and enjoy Kyoto and not have to. Worry about the large crowds and being kind of like shoulder to shoulder on these narrow streets.

Uh, it should be a very good time and you want to have a very good time when you're visiting these places and they're beautiful and they're worth visiting. Just know and have the mindset, like these places are gonna be popular and they're gonna be packed. But if you plan accordingly and you plan, you know, ear big popular sites in the morning, or the times that [00:30:00] work best for you, then.

You'll be good, you'll, you'll be able to enjoy the other parts of the day that are a little bit more quieter and not have to stress about these large crowds in these areas. And another tip is when you're doing the golden route, I would definitely suggest to add one place that's outside of that Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka.

Um, if it's Hiroshima, if you're going to Shu, if you want to go up to Joao Shikoku, you can go to Tohoku Okinawa. You can do a lot. Like you can do the golden route and it's definitely worth doing the first time, maybe the second time too. But just kind of exploring in other regions is a good way to, I.

Experience Japan without that large number of people in certain areas, and you can really enjoy Japan a lot more and enjoy your time there. And now that we're talking about other parts of Japan, this leads me [00:31:00] into more rural areas of Japan. And there's actually a hike that's on my bucket list called the Naka Sendo Trail.

And that's a trail that originally was used from Kyoto. To Tokyo and on this Naka Sendal trail, you go through these smaller towns that are just gorgeous and very historical and and very beautiful. But throughout the trail you'll see bells. And the reason there's bells is because bear encounters are becoming more and more frequent in Japan, and it's definitely increasing in the countrysides.

So when, if you're planning to do a hike, which is really something that I, I would love to do hikes out there, nendo trail is like an absolute bucket list. And there are other hikes I would love to do. But if you plan to do hikes in Japan, then just be aware of the, uh, increased encounters of bears. Just do your [00:32:00] research, bring, uh, proper gear like bear spray.

And you know, trails like the na sendo have bells along the trail. I'm sure others have that as well. Um, but yeah, just I wanted to make you aware of this. If you do plan to do hikes the outside in the countryside, of course you don't have to worry about this in any of the major cities, but it is something to be aware about if you are visiting the countryside of Japan.

Now, another topic of Japan are the earthquakes and Japan experiences. Like a thousand earthquakes a year, and a lot of them go unnoticed. But earthquakes are a part of life in Japan. Uh, it happens. And actually during our first day in Japan, I remember we had checked into the Hyatt Regency Tokyo, and we were on something like the 14th floor.

And I remember feeling this sway, which was, it was throwing me off for a second. I, I couldn't figure out what was [00:33:00] going on. And I looked at my wife and we were staring at each other and we could feel this room sway. So I went online and I typed in like earthquake in Japan. And there are updates on there.

And yeah, it was a very minor earthquake and I assume if you're higher up in the building, you would tend to feel it a little bit more, even when they're a little minor. But it's just a part of life in Japan. And Japan is pretty up to date with earthquake building codes. It's something they're really on top of and really dedicated to making sure things stay safe.

But I wouldn't let earthquakes stop you from visiting on social media. You might see posts about like. S mega earthquakes coming soon and such, but no one can predict those things. So this shouldn't stop you from visiting Japan. So I have to say 2026 looks like an incredible year for just visiting Japan in general.

A lot of good changes, a lot of great things opening up. And let me know, are you planning to visit Japan in [00:34:00] 2026? I'd love to hear. Your thoughts, things that are opening up that maybe interest you, because obviously I can't cover everything. Um, and there are just so many things that Japan constantly opens.

One thing I know Japan loves to do is have popups of themed things such as like pop-up cafes for an anime coming out, or just pop up shops that feature a certain character. So, yeah, there's plenty of things to do. Well, that wraps up this episode. I hope your 2026 is off to a great start. And if you're visiting Japan this year, I'd love to hear about it.

, Definitely reach out to me at Gmail, which is Rewarding Routes podcast@gmail.com. Hit me up on Instagram. I'm there at Rewarding Routes and yeah, I'm just excited to hear from you. What, what does 2026 have? I'll catch you on the next episode. See [00:35:00] ya.