Development of a Tax-Free Shopping Environment in Japan: An Analysis of Its Representations in a Financial Newspaper

Tax-free shopping is recognised as an important component of international travel experience, but the investigation of this topic remains limited. This study aims to extend the understanding of the tax-free shopping phenomenon, especially its historical development in Japan through investigating how the topic of tax-free shopping has been viewed and discussed in Japan. To achieve this aims, 549 newspaper articles containing the term menzei (Japanese for “tax exemption”) from a major financial newspaper were collected and analysed. The results revealed that the term menzei was differently represented in a financial newspaper before and after the national government introduced major inbound tourism development strategies in the early 2000s, indicating that the public interest in the tax-free shopping phenomenon increased as inbound tourism developed. The findings of this study are expected to serve as important foundational knowledge and to encourage future research on this topic.