Most visitors headed home from Japan fly out through Narita or Haneda. Since November 1, 2026, getting your consumption-tax refund at either airport has depended on a customs confirmation step that happens landside, before you check any bags — not at a store counter after you’ve paid.

This guide covers both airports together, because the underlying process is the same at each: the customs kiosk (often called the tax refund counter), or Visit Japan Web on your own phone if you set it up in advance, confirms your eligible goods are actually leaving Japan with you, and that confirmation is what releases your refund. Japan Customs now publishes an official map of the kiosks at each terminal, so you can see where you’re headed before you leave your hotel. This page shows you where to look, plus the other options that started at these two airports.

Narita and Haneda, step by step

Before you leave for the airport

  1. Know your terminal. At Narita, international flights leave from Terminals 1, 2, and 3, and which one you use depends on your airline — check your flight on the airport’s own site before you travel. At Haneda, international departures split between Terminal 3 (international-only, used by most airlines) and Terminal 2 (ANA’s international flights); the international departure floor at Haneda is 3F.
  2. Register with Visit Japan Web if you want the online route. Narita and Haneda are both on the list of airports where you can complete the customs confirmation on your own phone instead of at a kiosk — see Visit Japan Web online confirmation for how to set it up before you fly.
  3. Pack every refund-eligible purchase, with its box and tags, into your carry-on. Keep your receipts and passport within easy reach too. See the pre-departure checklist for the full countdown.

At the airport

  1. Find the customs kiosk in the international departure lobby, before you check any bags. Japan Customs’ kiosk location map shows the kiosks and the customs inspection area for every terminal at both airports. Per that map, they’re on these floors:

    • Narita Terminal 1: 4F
    • Narita Terminal 2: 3F
    • Narita Terminal 3: 2F
    • Haneda Terminal 2 (international area): 3F
    • Haneda Terminal 3: 3F

    Open the map for your terminal to see the exact spot, then follow signage on the day, or ask airport staff for the tax-free (customs confirmation) kiosk.

  2. Or use the online route. If you registered with Visit Japan Web, go to the dedicated Wi-Fi area in the international departure lobby, before the security checkpoint, and connect to Customs_WiFi_For_TaxRefund (password: jcustoms), the network Japan Customs publishes for this procedure.

  3. Scan your passport and wait for the result — it takes seconds. Green means you’re done: go check in. Red means you take everything you registered, plus your receipts, to the customs inspection area — see red judgment for exactly what happens next.

  4. Only after that, check your bags, then go through security and passport control. Once a bag is checked, you can’t pull it back to add anything you forgot.

  5. Give yourself more time than the standard advice. Narita’s own guidance is to arrive at least two hours before departure — treat that as a floor, not a target, and add time on top for the customs step. The whole thing, including any inspection that follows a red result, has to be finished before boarding procedures close.

Connecting from a domestic flight

  1. If you fly domestically into Narita or Haneda before an international leg, the customs confirmation happens at the airport you actually leave Japan from — at that airport’s international departure lobby, before you check bags for the international flight. At Haneda specifically, domestic flights use Terminals 1 and 2 (per the airport’s own FAQ), so a domestic arrival connecting to an international departure means getting your eligible goods over to Terminal 3 (or Terminal 2 for ANA) yourself — keep them with you rather than checking them through on the domestic leg.

Cash refund machines at some terminals

  1. Know that some terminals now have cash refund machines — and that they’re not the customs kiosk. Since November 1, 2026, a service called Self Tax Refund, run by Haneda’s terminal operator (Japan Airport Terminal) and Glory, pays the refund out in cash (Japanese yen) at its own machines. You still clear the customs kiosk first; this is one way of receiving the money afterward, not a replacement for the customs step. Locations and hours, per the operators’ announcement:

    • Haneda Terminal 2 (international area): 3F departure concourse, after passport control, 6:45 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. the next day
    • Haneda Terminal 3: 3F departure concourse, after passport control, 24 hours
    • Narita Terminal 1: Central Building 4F, before passport control, 6:00 a.m. to midnight
    • Narita Terminal 2: Main Building 3F, before passport control, 6:00 a.m. to midnight

    Hours may change with flight operations.

  2. Don’t plan around it until your store confirms. How your refund is paid depends on the store you bought from, and the operators themselves say to check the refund method with the store in advance. Ask at the register; for the usual card and bank options, see how much comes back, and when.

Why the map comes from Customs, not from us

Japan Customs publishes where the kiosks and inspection areas sit in each terminal, and that map is the version to trust: kiosk positions can shift as a new system settles in, and a map Customs maintains will stay more current than a fixed description here. What doesn’t change: the kiosk sits in the international departure lobby, before bag drop; scanning your passport takes only seconds; a red result sends you to a physical inspection area; and the whole step — kiosk plus any inspection — has to wrap up before boarding procedures close.

The reason the kiosk sits landside, before bag drop, isn’t arbitrary: customs needs to actually see your goods while they’re still in your hands, not already sealed inside checked luggage. That’s the same reason your refund-eligible purchases need to stay in your carry-on right up until you’ve cleared this step.

One practical note: you’ll want mobile data working the moment you land at the terminal, whether you’re checking flight information or pulling up your Visit Japan Web account. The online confirmation itself runs on the dedicated airport Wi-Fi, but everything around it is easier with your own connection.

The official pages below have the detail each airport and Customs have published — worth a check closer to your travel date, since anything updated there will be more current than a fixed description here.