Asian country with world's 3rd most powerful passport to cut application fee by nearly half

By Hoang Vu December 31, 2025 | 06:17 pm PT

People walk through the Narita Airport in Japan, March 9, 2020. Photo by Reuters

Japan plans to lower the application fee for a 10-year passport for people aged 18 and older to about 9,000 yen (US$58), almost halving the current fee of around 16,000 yen.

Currently, the application fee is 16,300 yen for in-person applications and 15,900 yen for online applications, Kyodo News reported.

The fee for a five-year passport for people aged under 18 will be cut to 4,500 yen. The current fee is 11,000 yen for those aged between 12 and 17, and 6,000 yen for children under 12, Mainichi newspaper reported.

The move is aimed at increasing the ownership rate of Japanese passports, according to the Foreign Ministry.

According to the latest Henley Passport Index, the Japanese passport was the world's third most powerful, after those of Singapore and South Korea, allowing holders to travel to 190 destinations visa-free.

Despite this remarkable privilege, only 17.5% of Japanese citizens currently own a passport, based on recent research from the Newt travel app.

This rate is significantly lower than that of other developed economies such as South Korea (40%), the United States (50%), and Taiwan (60%), the South China Morning Post reported.

Japan has historically had low passport ownership, hovering between 22% and 24% during the 2010s, The Japan Times noted. The number dropped further during the Covid pandemic and has remained low ever since.