Tax free shopping in Japan

[JackFord]

I'll be going to Japan in a few months for a couple of weeks, I'll be spending a little bit, is there any way I can avoid paying tax while I'm over there, and how do I go about it, any ideas?

 

[nolia]

JackFord, when you shop in Japan take your passport with you and they will deduct tax if its Y10,000 i think. However if it is below that you can't claim it. The reason they wanna see passport is to check if you are resident in Japan, they will also staple the receipts in your passport so when you exit you can get your money back if it wasn't deducted at the shop. I was there last June and bought a laptop at Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara, Tokyo. Check BIC camera as well, they have lots of stuff. Ginza district has all the posh shops like Armani and the Sony building which has all the latest gizmos from the electronics giant. The Nike shop is somewhere in Harajuku so is a souvenir shop called Oriental Bazaar.