Picture from Genkin.org

KYOTO--This ancient capital has relatively few duty-free shops compared with Tokyo and Osaka, despite the ancient capital's reputation among foreign visitors as a must-see destination. Now it wants to change that.
 
In preparation for the national government's deregulation that will expand the range of duty-free goods in autumn, the city has adopted measures to increase the number of duty-free shops, hoping to make it more attractive to visitors from overseas.
 
When foreign tourists shop in Japan, they are exempt from the consumption tax at duty-free shops. According to the Japan Tourism Agency, there were 4,622 duty-free shops in the country as of April 2013, mostly in Tokyo (1,767) and Osaka (727). In contrast, there were only 152 in Kyoto Prefecture, of which 139 were in the city of Kyoto.
 
In addition, although Kyoto earns high marks for culture and friendliness in American travel magazines' rankings, the city is troubled by comparatively poor reviews for its shopping.
 
The Japanese government in October will expand the range of permissible duty-free items--until now limited to home appliances, handbags and other non-expendables--to all goods, including expendable goods like food products and cosmetics. Moreover, the government will simplify duty-free procedures for purchases. The aim of the reforms is to grow the number of foreign tourists and their spending by opening more duty-free shops.
 
Kyoto sees a golden opportunity in the institutional reforms and has undertaken measures to add more duty-free shops around the city.
 
The city, along with the Kyoto Convention Bureau, held a seminar at the Kyoto Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Nakagyo Ward on June 19 to explain the duty-free system reforms. Current duty-free shop operators and businesses considering obtaining a permit under the new rules gathered to hear officials from the bureau, as well as the National Tax Agency and the Japan Tourism Agency, explain such matters as the coming changes to the system and the current situation of foreign travelers visiting Japan.
 
Shunsuke Fukui, 38, is in charge of the souvenir corner at Kiyomizu Junsei Okabeya, a boiled tofu restaurant near the World Heritage site Kiyomizudera temple in Higashiyama Ward. He is considering obtaining the new duty-free shop permit and attended the seminar. The souvenir corner mainly sells food such as "matcha" tea-flavored snacks and miscellaneous merchandise, including folding fans. He says the share of sales attributable to foreign tourists has grown from around 5 percent three years ago to around 10 percent now.
 
Fukui says: "We're not a duty-free shop right now, but we have some foreigners who show their passports and want the tax exempted. Our company wants to consider getting a duty-free shop permit so we don't let this opportunity slip by."
 
The Kyoto municipal government set up a consultation desk to address the matter at the Kyoto Convention Bureau in June. Next it will start a dedicated website by September and plans to set up an interpreter call center in or around October.
 
Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa said: "I want to take advantage of this opportunity so foreign tourists will be satisfied with the shopping, too. If the shopping environment improves, then we will become the greatest (sightseeing) city in the world."

(source : ajw.asahi.com)