Almost every English guide to Hiroshima tells you to take the ferry to Miyajima. Very few mention that since 1 October 2023 the crossing includes a tax, or that there is a cheaper way to pay it if you are going more than five times.
The Miyajima Visitor Tax
Hatsukaichi City levies it on anyone arriving on the island by boat. Two rates, and you choose:
- ¥100 per visit, or
- ¥500 for a whole year
At five crossings the annual rate wins. For most visitors that is irrelevant; for anyone staying in Hiroshima for a week and going back and forth, it is not.
You almost certainly pay it without noticing. For ferries and charter boats the operator adds the tax to the fare and collects it for the city, so it arrives as part of a slightly larger ticket price rather than as a separate transaction.
The annual rate has a deadline you will miss
The ¥500 option is not something you buy at the pier. You pay it at the city hall, the Miyajima branch office or the Ono branch office, and it has to be done by the 10th of the month before your first visit.
So it is a plan-ahead product. If you are already in Hiroshima and realise you will cross five times this week, the annual rate is not available to you.
Who does not pay
The city publishes two separate categories, and the difference matters.
Not taxable at all — these are residents, not visitors:
- People living in the Miyajima district
- People commuting to a workplace on the island (with at least 48 hours a month of employment)
- People attending a school on the island (at least 48 hours a month of classes)
Exempt — visitors who are not charged:
- Preschool children
- Students on a school trip or other school-education activity, plus their teachers and attendants. University students are excluded from this.
- Holders of a Japanese ryoiku, mental-health or physical disability certificate
Two practical notes the city adds, and they are the ones that catch people. A disability exemption requires showing the certificate, and the way to buy a ticket without the tax differs by ferry company — check with the operator rather than assuming. And a teachers’ advance survey trip for a school excursion is not exempt; only the excursion itself is.
If you arrive by private boat
Two different rules, which is unusual enough to be worth stating:
- Arriving at a pier — the pier manager collects the tax along with the berth fee.
- Arriving at a natural shoreline — you declare and pay it yourself at the city hall or a branch office within 10 days of the visit.
What this changes about the day
Honestly: not much, at ¥100. But two things follow.
The tax tells you what kind of place Miyajima now is. The city introduced it explicitly to fund the costs that visitor numbers create. That is the same signal as a timed ticket or a car ban elsewhere in Japan — the island is managing volume, and the shoulder hours are worth seeking out.
If a group is travelling on exemptions, sort it out before the gate. A school group needs its certificate prepared by the school and handed to the ferry company at boarding. That is paperwork done in advance, not at the pier.
What we could not check
We have not printed ferry fares, Itsukushima Shrine admission or Peace Memorial Museum admission. Those belong to the ferry operators, the shrine and the city museum respectively, and we did not read their current pages at source today. The tax figures above come from the levying authority itself, which is why they are here and the others are not.
Official sources
- Hatsukaichi City — Miyajima Visitor Tax overview: https://www.city.hatsukaichi.hiroshima.jp/soshiki/110/59551.html
- For visitors: https://www.city.hatsukaichi.hiroshima.jp/soshiki/9/108494.html
- Annual (¥500) payment procedure: https://www.city.hatsukaichi.hiroshima.jp/soshiki/9/98622.html
- Hatsukaichi City tourism: https://www.city.hatsukaichi.hiroshima.jp/site/kanko/
Every rate, exemption and deadline above was read from Hatsukaichi City’s own pages on 17 August 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Do foreign tourists pay the Miyajima visitor tax?
Yes. The tax applies to anyone entering the island by boat, with the exemptions listed above — none of which is about nationality.
Do I have to do anything to pay it?
No. On a scheduled ferry it is collected inside the fare. You only take action if you want the ¥500 annual rate or you qualify for an exemption.
Is ¥500 a year worth it?
It breaks even at five crossings. But you have to apply at a city office by the 10th of the month before your first visit, so it only works if you planned ahead.
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