Kansai International Airport (KIX) is the main international airport for Osaka and Kyoto. Since November 1, 2026, your consumption-tax refund depends on a customs confirmation you complete here, on the day you leave, before you check any bags. KIX runs that step in two terminals about 4 km apart, so the first thing to know is which one is yours.

This guide covers where to go in each terminal, the online alternative on your own phone, the cash refund counters after passport control, and what changes if you fly into Kansai on a domestic flight first.

Kansai Airport, step by step

Before you leave for the airport

  1. Check which terminal your flight leaves from. The airport’s Terminal 2 page lists three airlines there — Peach, Jeju Air and Spring Airlines — and other international flights use Terminal 1. The two terminals are about 4 km apart, linked by a free shuttle bus between Aeroplaza and Terminal 2 that takes 7 to 9 minutes.
  2. Register with Visit Japan Web if you want the online route. Kansai is one of the seven airports where you can complete the customs confirmation on your own phone, and the airport itself recommends it for a smoother departure. Finish the setup, including your passport details, by the day you leave — see Visit Japan Web online confirmation for how.
  3. Pack every refund-eligible purchase in your carry-on, with your receipts in reach. Kansai’s own page puts it plainly: if even one item listed on a receipt is missing, none of the items on that receipt qualify. See the pre-departure checklist for the full countdown.

At the airport

  1. Go to the customs kiosk (often called the tax refund counter) before you check any bags. Japan Customs’ kiosk location map shows the kiosks and the customs inspection area in each terminal. The floors, with the airport’s notes on where and when:

    • Terminal 1: 4F, before security — open 24 hours
    • Terminal 2: 1F, before security — open 24 hours

    You don’t need a boarding pass to use one. Two timing limits apply, though: the confirmation can only be done on the day you leave Japan, not the night before, and the customs officers who handle any inspection are on duty from when airline check-in counters open until the security checkpoint closes.

  2. Or confirm online in the Wi-Fi area. If you set up Visit Japan Web, go to the designated area of the international departure lobby — it’s on the same floor as the kiosks in each terminal — and connect to Customs_WiFi_For_TaxRefund (password: jcustoms), the network Japan Customs publishes for this procedure. Kansai’s tax refund page also has a QR code that connects you without typing the password.

  3. Read the result. Green means the customs confirmation is complete: go check in and drop your bags. Red means you take all your purchases to the customs inspection area and follow the staff’s instructions — see red judgment for what happens there.

  4. Only then check in, drop your bags, and go through security and passport control. Once a bag is checked, you can’t pull it back to show customs what’s inside.

  5. Arrive with time to spare — Kansai doesn’t publish a fixed number. The airport asks you to arrive with enough time to spare, because a customs inspection may be required. Check-in deadlines differ by airline, so work back from yours and add time for the customs step on top.

Connecting from a domestic flight

  1. Don’t check your purchases through to your final destination. The customs confirmation happens at the airport where you leave Japan on an international flight. If you fly domestically into Kansai first, keep your refund-eligible purchases in your carry-on, or collect your checked bags at Kansai before the confirmation. Domestic flights arrive at Terminal 1, or Terminal 2 for Peach. If your international flight leaves from Terminal 1, go up to the international departure floor (4F). If it leaves from Terminal 2 and you landed at Terminal 1, take the free shuttle bus; on a Peach domestic flight you’re already at Terminal 2, so head to its international area.

Cash refund counters after passport control

  1. Know that Kansai has cash refund counters and machines — and that they’re not the customs kiosk. If the store you bought from offers a cash refund at Kansai, you collect it in Japanese yen after passport control, once the customs confirmation is done. Per the airport:

    • Terminal 1: 3F, after passport control, counter 7:00 a.m. to midnight, machines from 5:30 a.m. until the last flight leaves
    • Terminal 2: 1F, after passport control, machines from 5:30 a.m. until the last flight leaves

  2. Don’t count on cash unless your store told you so. Available refund methods vary by store and by refund service provider; card and other cashless refunds go through the refund service your store specified. Ask at the register, and see how much comes back, and when for the usual options.

Why Kansai’s two terminals change your plan

Each terminal has its own customs kiosks, its own dedicated Wi-Fi area and its own cash refund point. So go straight to the terminal your flight leaves from and do everything there: the shuttle between terminals takes 7 to 9 minutes plus the wait for the next bus, and that’s time you’d rather spend in the kiosk line.

We point you to Japan Customs’ kiosk map rather than describing each kiosk’s exact position — the reason is in the Narita & Haneda guide.

The official pages below have the detail Kansai Airport and Customs have published — worth a check closer to your travel date, since anything updated there will be more current than a fixed description here.