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From November 1, 2026, visitors to Japan pay full price at tax-free shops and get the consumption tax back after a customs check at the departure airport, before checking bags, within 90 days. Old vs new rules, step by step at the shop and airport, the mistakes that cost you the refund, and official sources.
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Japan’s minimum wage is rising prefecture by prefecture through December 2 (Tokyo: ¥1,280). The ¥1.06 million wall for part-timers is gone, chu-hi tax rose to ¥35 a can, 3,153 food prices went up, energy subsidies ended and visa fees jumped. A plain-English guide with a wage map and official sources.
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Track real-time autumn leaf color changes and peak viewing times across 21+ curated locations.
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Japan has 56,189 convenience stores (JFA, August 2026) handling over a billion bill payments a year. Why konbini became national infrastructure, the three chains that run 94% of them, what you can do there—cash, taxes, pension, parcels, tickets, printing—the etiquette, and why the network has stopped growing.
MHLW’s Reiwa 8 release (15 September 2026): 107,677 people aged 100+, first time over 100,000 since 1963—+7,914 from 99,763, 87.6% women, Shimane’s rate lead, and why 老人の日 is not Silver Week’s 敬老の日.
Japan’s third full five-day Silver Week since 2009 and 2015 runs 19–23 September 2026: Respect for the Aged Day, a Citizens’ Holiday sandwich, and the Autumnal Equinox—what it is, what families do, and how travellers should handle trains, Tokyo, and Nagoya.
IPSS’s 17th National Fertility Survey (June 2025 fieldwork, released 11 September 2026): marriage intention among 18–34-year-olds falls below 80% for the first time since 1982—75.1% of men, 77.8% of women—plus never-marry intent, online meeting, and what the numbers do not mean.
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Immerse yourself in the vibrant celebrations and spectacular displays that define the Japanese spirit.
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Navigate Japanese customs with confidence.
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Essential phrases for your trip.
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Master the trains, buses, and subways.
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Track the Sakura front.
Learn moreFind the best Koyo spots.
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Explore Japan by prefecture.
Learn more今年の漢字
Each year the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation asks the public to name the single character that best captures the events and mood of the past year. The winner is brushed onto handmade washi at Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto on 12 December and offered at the temple — one year, one character, one collective sentiment.
ユウ／くまYū / kuma
Bear
The first year 熊 has won. Bear encounters followed one another across the country, casualties reached a record high, and bears reached city streets — disrupting daily life and the local economy, and prompting a national conversation about coexisting with nature. The return of four giant pandas (熊猫, “bear cats”) to China also put the character in the news.
Read in sequence, they make an unusually honest record of how Japan felt about itself.
Select a year for the story
Chosen more than once金×5(2000, 2012, 2016, 2021, 2024)税×2(2014, 2023)戦×2(2001, 2022)災×2(2004, 2018)
The vote began in 1995 as part of the foundation’s campaign to show how much meaning a single character can carry. Nominations open each autumn — online, by post, and through ballot boxes in temples, bookshops and libraries nationwide — and the count is revealed on 12 December, read in Japanese as いいじいちじ (“one good character”).
At Kiyomizu-dera the head priest brushes the winner onto a sheet of handmade washi in a single pass, and the sheet is then offered at the temple: a rite to cleanse the year that is ending and to wish for a brighter one to come.
Characters, readings and selection rationales sourced from the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation. 「今年の漢字」 is a registered trademark of the foundation.
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