Japan's tax-free system has changed
You now pay the tax-included price in the shop and get it back when you leave the country. Three things bite, and not knowing them costs you money.
The three that catch people out
- A receipt counts as a whole. If even one item on it cannot be shown at customs, nothing on that receipt is refunded.
- Customs has to see it within 90 days, counted from the day after you bought it.
- Consumables opened or used inside Japan are out. The special packaging is gone, but this part has not changed.
Six things
The pre-flight check
Tick items off receipt by receipt and it tells you which receipt is still short — before you find out at the airport that the whole thing is refused.
the main oneRegistering a receipt
Photograph it and the shop, date and total are read out into a form you can correct. It is a first pass, so the total is the one line you check against the paper.
shootCan I take this home?
Meat, dairy, fresh produce, medicine, liquids and lithium batteries, by destination, in three levels. For the fine print it sends you to that country's customs page.
toolsWhat I bought on this trip
Link a photo to a receipt and the check shows it, so you tick items off by looking instead of trying to remember.
keepShare card
Turn your photos into one card to hand over. It exports at Xiaohongshu, Instagram, Story and X sizes.
hand overShopping list and budget
What to buy and for whom. Spent comes from your receipts, so no amount is typed twice. If finishing the list would go over, it says so before you do.
countLeft out on purpose
Some things would look useful and would make the app a liar.
Price comparison
Prices go stale fast. A tool showing an old price is worse than no tool.
User reviews
They would make it lively, and there is nobody here to read them all.
Booking or paying for you
Standing between you and the shop means promising things we cannot promise.
A guaranteed refund
What you see is worked back from the tax-included price. Neither the handling fee nor the officer's decision is ours to make.
Your photos never leave the phone
Photos you take are kept inside the app only. They do not go into your photo library and they are never uploaded.
Everything is stored on the device. There is no account, and nothing syncs.
No location is used. There is no advertising and no analytics.