The Japanese government aims to ease the financial burden on citizens traveling abroad by lowering passport fees, Japan’s NHK reported.

It also hopes to boost passport ownership, which currently lags behind that of other major countries.

According to the latest Henley Passport Index 2026, Japan has the world’s second most powerful passport after Singapore with its citizens able to enjoy visa-free access to 187 destinations.

Despite its global power, Japanese passport has a low ownership rate compared to other countries’, consistently hovering around 22% to 24% of citizens throughout the 2010s and lower during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Japan Times.