Japanese Government Increases Visa Fees for Foreigners by 500 Percent

The Japanese government will raise visa fees for foreigners by 500 percent, effective July 1.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said the decision, made at a Cabinet meeting on June 19, was the first change to visa fees in 48 years, the Japan Times reported.

The fee for a single-entry visa will rise from 3,000 yen ($18.55) to 15,000 yen ($92.75), according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

For a multiple-entry visa, the fee will rise from 6,000 yen ($37.10) to 30,000 yen ($185).

“The current visa fee was set in 1978, and we have recently revised it to reflect inflation and exchange rate fluctuations since then,“ Motegi told a news conference on June 19.

“We made this decision after carefully considering various factors, and we do not anticipate that it will have an immediate impact on inbound tourism.”

Although he did not reference it, the decision comes amid growing concern among the Japanese about the number of foreign tourists and their behavior.

‘Tourism Pollution’ Concerns

In February, the town of Fujiyoshida canceled its annual cherry blossom festival amid concerns about “tourism pollution.”

In October 2025, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported that the government was considering increasing visa fees and also raising a so-called “departure tax” on foreigners flying out of Japan.

Motegi said lower fees for Japanese citizens applying for passports would also be introduced on July 1.

In April, the upper house of the Japanese parliament approved a law reducing the fees for Japanese nationals applying for or renewing 10-year passports from 16,000 yen ($99) to 9,000 yen ($56).

Japan has been experiencing significant increases in tourism, with foreign visitor numbers in November 2025 rising by 10.4 percent year on year, according to the country’s tourism board.

In December 2025, the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) said the number of foreign visitors through November 2025 totaled 39,065,600, surpassing the full-year record of 36,870,148 set in 2024.

It said there was a high demand for travel to Japan, particularly from South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe.

After China responded angrily to comments that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made about Taiwan in November 2025, Beijing urged its citizens not to travel to Japan.

But JNTO noted that 562,600 visitors had still come from China in November 2025, a 3 percent increase from November 2024.

Takaichi had told a parliamentary committee that military attacks against Taiwan would likely constitute “a survival-threatening situation” for Japan, a classification that could compel Tokyo to mobilize its military in defense of Taiwan.

Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won a sweeping victory at a general election in February, after she took over as the party’s leader from the hapless Shigeru Ishiba.

Sanseito, a nationalist party that campaigned against the rising number of foreigners living in Japan and also criticized the behavior of some tourists, increased its number of seats in the lower house of Japan’s parliament from 2 to 15.

In September 2025, the Japan Times reported that the Australian embassy had warned its tourists to behave appropriately after an Instagram influencer, Lochie Jones, drank from a can placed as a symbolic offering on a tombstone in a Japanese graveyard, prompting widespread anger online.

In Japan’s Shinto religion, which emphasizes great reverence for ancestors, it is common to leave food and drink offerings at the graves of relatives.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.