Value Village ／ Before you come to Japan
This answer is a draft. It stays unpublished until legal review and source verification are complete.
Two rates, one country, and a receipt that sometimes shows both: Japan's consumption tax confuses visitors mainly because the rate depends on whether you eat in or take away.
| Item | Rate |
|---|---|
| Most goods and services | 10% (7.8% national + 2.2% local) |
| Food and drink to take away, groceries | 8% |
| Food and drink eaten on the premises (restaurants, food courts, convenience-store eat-in) | 10% |
| Alcoholic drinks (to take away or not) | 10% |
| Newspapers on subscription (twice weekly or more) | 8% |
| Insured medical treatment and prescription medicine, rent for housing, school tuition | Non-taxable (note: over-the-counter medicine is taxed at 10%) |
[Verify] Rates and dates with the National Tax Agency; accommodation tax rates with each city's official page.
It changes the tax. Staff at convenience stores and bakeries ask "tennai de?" (eating here?) because they must charge 10% instead of 8%. Answer honestly; the difference on a snack is small.
Since April 2021 it must include tax. Where two numbers appear, the larger is tax-inclusive.
Alcohol is always 10%, even in a supermarket basket. Non-alcoholic beer and soft drinks are 8%.
Accommodation is not eligible for tax-free refund, and some cities add an accommodation tax on top. Kyoto's rose to a maximum of ¥10,000 per night (rooms of ¥100,000 or more) from 1 March 2026; a ¥6,000–20,000 room now pays ¥400.
There is no service-tax logic here; tax is on the bill and tipping is not practised (see the tipping article).
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https://www.nta.go.jp/english/taxes/consumption_tax/
https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/kaisei/
https://www.city.kyoto.lg.jp/gyozai/
⚠️ Editorial note: the source URLs above were identified by search. Our working environment cannot reach go.jp domains, so the contents have not been checked against the text. Verify every source before publication and record who checked it and when.
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