Bite-Sized: Travel News & Food Trends in Japan (March 2025)

Itadakimasu! Let’s get into the latest news and trends in Japan right now, making sure you’re clued up on the latest before your trip to Japan.

Did you know that over half of Japan’s matcha is exported? 

Thanks to the growing popularity of Japan’s famous green tea across the world — with many people becoming obsessed with matcha’s health benefits and, if we’re honest, its soft green aesthetic — Japan is facing a matcha shortage.

“According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), Japan produced 4,176 tons of matcha in 2023 — almost a threefold increase from 1,471 tons in 2010.” (Source: Japan Times)

Find out more:

• Japan struggles to fend off a world without enough matcha

• The global matcha boom is driving a shortage in Japan

• Matcha disappearing from store shelves globally thanks to green tea-obsessed influencers

As with much of the world, Japan’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) for food and drinks is increasing. This means that thousands of products across food and beverages brands are increasing in price, stretching the already weak yen even further.

Why is this happening? Well, there are a few reasons:

• Material costs: Increased demand — or decreased supply, as is the case with rice — affect prices drastically.

• Logistics costs: Certain changes in regulations, such as truck driver work regulations.

• Staff costs: Increasing wages of all those involved in getting products to shelves.

Find out more:

• Prices of 1,656 food items to increase in Japan in February

• Japan food, drink price hikes to top 2,000 items in March

• Japan inflation likely hit 17-month high in January on rising food prices

Avoid taxes on your Japan trip: Tax-Free Shopping

With views of Tokyo from the 30th floor of Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba at The Grill on 30th, panoramic city dining at XEX ATAGO GREEN HILLS and immaculate Edomae sushi from the 52nd floor of Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills at the Sushi, we’re no strangers to indulging hundreds of feet in the air — but Dinner in the Sky takes this experience to new heights, quite literally.

Gather your nearest and dearest for an unforgettable experience, enjoying a luxurious dinner while suspended 164 feet above the city of Tokyo. Available as of March 13, 2025.

Find out more on the official website. 

In the meantime, you might want to explore our list of the Best Restaurants with Views of Tokyo Tower.

In January 2025, it is believed that 3,781,200 tourists landed in Japan for the trip of a lifetime — an incredible 40.6% increase in the number of people (2,688,478) from the same time last year (Source: Japan National Tourism Organisation).

Considering that January is usually the quietest month in Japan for inbound tourism, and 2024 saw the highest number of inbound tourism ever, 2025 sets to continue this trend and take it even further. 

Find out more:

• Japan's tourism boom prices out local business travelers

• Foreign tourists to Japan hit record 37m in 2024

With a high majority of the above inbound tourists likely to make a trip to Kyoto at some point in their Japan trip, it might not be a surprise to hear that Kyoto is also trying new tactics to control (or at least benefit from) increasing visitors.

For those who aren’t aware, a selection of Japan’s hotels include a small tax fee. This is often only around ¥200-¥300 yen per guest, with some hotels even including it in the cost for the room, meaning you may not even be aware of the tax.

However, this new practice would see hotels increasing this fee from anywhere between ¥200 to ¥10,000. 

“The new tax schedule will have five tiers. At the low end, rooms priced at below ¥6,000 will incur a ¥200 tax, while at the high end, rooms costing at least ¥100,000 will be subjected to the maximum tax of ¥10,000.” (Source: NIKKEI Asia)

Find out more: 

• Kyoto to raise accommodation tax to a maximum ¥10,000 per night

• Kyoto to hike hotel tax, pushing top rate to $63 a night

• Japan's ancient capital is set to raise its hotel tax by as much as tenfold

Bookmark this blog for all of Japan's latest news and trends — we'll be back next week!