Japan to Ask National Museums to Consider Tiered Pricing Targeting Foreign Tourists

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:56 JST, December 29, 2025

The Cultural Affairs Agency has decided to ask the institutions that run the national museums to consider using tiered pricing for admission, with foreign tourists having to pay higher rates, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

The agency wants to encourage a shift to a more sustainable revenue stream that relies less on public funding, by charging visitors from overseas higher fees.

Operating costs at national museums such as the Tokyo National Museum and the National Museum of Western Art are covered largely by government subsidies, through they also rely on self-generated revenue including admission fees and donations. Last fiscal year, eight of the 11 national museums had more than 50% of their revenue come from operating grants from the government, according to the Finance Ministry.

Museums pay for explanatory panels and audio guides for foreign visitors. Dual pricing is based on the idea that foreign tourists should bear an appropriate share of operating costs, including the cost of multilingual support. Because these institutions are funded with taxpayer money, gaining public understanding for tiered pricing is expected to be easy. If such pricing is introduced, admission fees for foreign tourists would likely be about two to three times the standard rate, according to a Finance Ministry estimate.

Tiered pricing is already used at tourist sites overseas, including Egypt’s pyramids and India’s Taj Mahal. France’s Louvre Museum will also raise prices for visitors from outside the European Union from January.

The Cultural Affairs Agency also plans to ask museums to increase visitor numbers such as by extending opening hours and the exhibition periods for major works.