The Miyajima visitor tax in 2026

How much is the Miyajima visitor tax in 2026?

100 yen per adult or child of school age, every time you land on the island. A one-year payment of 500 yen also exists.

The rate is set in Hatsukaichi City's ordinance, and the city's official overview of the Miyajima Visit Tax still lists the same two options in 2026: 100 yen per person per visit, or 500 yen paid once for a full year of visits. A visit means an entry by boat, so a day trip is one payment and two days with a hotel on the island is also one, as long as you do not leave and come back.

It is small money on a day that already costs 1,500 to 2,000 yen in trains and ferries from Hiroshima. The bigger change for budgets came two years earlier, when the ferry fare itself went from 180 to 200 yen on the same day the tax started (Dive! Hiroshima). Our price guide has the full cost of a day.

How do you pay the Miyajima visitor tax?

With the ferry ticket. The machines, the ticket window and the IC-card gates at Miyajimaguchi add the 100 yen to the outbound fare automatically.

The city's English notice says the tax is paid "at a ticket machine, service window, or automatic ticket gate together with the boarding fee". In practice, a 300-yen outbound ticket covers fare plus tax, and tapping a Suica, ICOCA or similar card charges both. The return crossing is fare only.

The exception is the JR Pass. The JR West ferry is free with a Japan Rail Pass or JR West pass, so there is no fare to attach the tax to. Japan-guide confirms pass holders buy a separate 100-yen tax ticket at the terminal before the gate. Have a coin or an IC card ready; the queue moves fast.

Direct boats from Hiroshima charge it too. The Aqua Net high-speed boat from Peace Memorial Park (45 minutes, 2,400 yen one way) and the boat from Hiroshima Port (about 30 minutes, 2,300 yen) add the 100 yen on top of their fares, and neither takes the JR Pass.

Who is exempt, and is the 500-yen annual option worth it?

Preschool children, school groups on official trips, holders of Japanese disability certificates, and people who live, work or study on Miyajima are exempt. The annual option only pays off from the sixth visit, and it must be bought in person well ahead.

The city lists the exemptions: preschool children; pupils on school trips and their teachers, with a certificate; holders of Japanese disability handbooks; island residents, commuters who work there at least 48 hours a month, and students at schools on the island. Foreign tourists over six pay, full stop.

The 500-yen year is a trap for visitors who skim. It is not sold at the ferry. Hatsukaichi's page says you pay it at the city hall or the Miyajima or Ono branch offices by the 10th of the month before your first planned visit. That works for a local photographer or a hiker who comes every weekend. For a tourist on a two-day trip it is pointless: two visits cost 200 yen.

What does the Miyajima visitor tax pay for?

Tourism costs that the island's tiny tax base cannot carry: toilets, parks, free Wi-Fi, the ferry terminal area and the protection of its culture and nature.

Miyajima is a small town that receives millions of visitors. Gendai puts the 2024 total at 4,854,369, a record, with 2025 expected to pass 4.9 million. Central government grants follow population, not visitor numbers, which is the gap the tax was built to fill. Get Hiroshima listed the first uses as public toilets, terminals and preservation work; Jiji Press reported parks, toilets and free Wi-Fi.

A hundred yen is about 65 US cents. Spend it on the clean toilets by the pier and you have had your money's worth.

Which Miyajima tours include the visitor tax?

JTB's coach and bullet-train tours include it. Japan Guide Agency's private tours do not: bring 100 yen in cash. MagicalTrip's walk lists the ferry as 500 yen extra, which is two fares plus the tax.

The listings are clear for most operators. The JTB Peace Park and Miyajima tour names the "Miyajima visitor tax" among its inclusions, and so does the JTB bullet-train day from Osaka (JTB's Kyoto version too). The private full day and the private half day from Japan Guide Agency put "Miyajima Visitor tax (100 yen, Cash only)" under exclusions, next to ferry, fares and entry fees.

The MagicalTrip walking tour meets at JR Miyajimaguchi and excludes the ferry, quoted as 500 yen round trip. Tours that start on the island, such as the 4-hour private tour at the pier or the torii kayak on the beach, assume you already crossed and paid. Amigo Tours and H.I.S. include the ferry ticket; neither lists the tax as a separate line, so ask at booking if you want it in writing.

Ferry, entry fees and the visitor tax all paid, with a licensed guide and a coach. You only buy lunch.

★ 4.6 · 8 hours 20 min · from $162

Explore the JTB Peace Park and Miyajima tour → Tour details

Is there a hotel tax in Hiroshima in 2026?

Yes. Since 1 April 2026 Hiroshima Prefecture charges 200 yen per person per night when the room rate is 6,000 yen or more before consumption tax.

The prefecture's accommodation tax page sets the rules: hotels, ryokan, guesthouses and registered private rentals anywhere in the prefecture; nothing on nights under 6,000 yen; 200 yen on anything above; school trips exempt. You pay it at check-in or checkout with the room. The money goes to tourism projects across the prefecture.

An overnight on Miyajima now costs 100 yen in visitor tax plus 200 yen per person per night in accommodation tax. It is not much, and the reward is the island after 17:00, when the day-trippers leave and the torii lights come on. If you plan a night there, our one-day itinerary shows what to fit around the tides.

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