This is a translation of the Japanese original. The Japanese version is authoritative; figures follow Japanese tax law.
By the autumn of 2026 almost every cost-of-living payment in Japan has closed for applications. A few are still open, and the largest is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's 11,000 points. Anyone aged 15 or over who lives in Tokyo and holds a My Number card can apply, including foreign residents, and applications run until 1 April 2027. Ward and city shopping vouchers have deadlines falling on 5 October, 10 October and 30 October. Vouchers already in your hands mostly expire on 31 December 2026, so start by checking your post and your wallet.
The short answer: only three things need action now
| What to do | Deadline | Rough amount |
|---|---|---|
| Apply to the Tokyo App Living Support Programme (東京アプリ生活応援事業)[Tokyo Metropolitan Government] | 1 April 2027 | 11,000 points |
| Check the application deadline for your own ward or city voucher | 5 October to 30 October | 20% to 30% on top |
| Check the expiry date on the vouchers and cards you already have | Mostly 31 December 2026 | ¥5,000 to ¥10,000 |
The order matters. The Tokyo application stays open for another half-year, but voucher expiry dates and ward deadlines are only days away. Deal with the nearest one first.
This is the peak of the distribution. The ¥100 billion Priority Support Local Grant (重点支援地方交付金) had its first grant decision on 25 August 2026[Prime Minister's Office, press conference of 25 August 2026]. The money went out to local governments, and the deadlines cluster in the autumn.
What you can still apply for (as of 25 September 2026)
Below are only the schemes that were still open when we checked each local government's official page.
| Local government | Scheme | Amount | Deadline / period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo Metropolitan Government | Tokyo App Living Support Programme | 11,000 points | Until 1 April 2027[Tokyo Metropolitan Government] |
| Shinagawa Ward | Premium digital shopping voucher | ¥6,000 worth for ¥5,000 | Apply by 5 October[Shinagawa Ward] |
| Shinagawa Ward | Ureshina Card, third mailing | ¥5,000 worth | By 30 September[Shinagawa Ward] |
| Minato Ward | Request to switch to paper vouchers | ¥10,000 worth | By 30 September[Minato Ward] |
| Setagaya Ward | Payment app points rebate (no application needed) | 10% at small local shops | Until 10 October[Setagaya Ward] |
| Shinjuku Ward | Support payment for pupils at private schools | ¥23,000 primary, ¥29,000 lower secondary | Apply by 30 October[Shinjuku Ward] |
| Arakawa Ward | Digital shopping voucher (first come, first served) | ¥6,500 worth for ¥5,000 | Buy by 31 December[Arakawa Ward] |
| Edogawa Ward | Digital shopping voucher | ¥11,000 worth for ¥10,000 | Applications open 1 October[Edogawa Ward] |
| Kyoto City | Kyoto Points (city official app) | ¥5,000 worth per person | Until 28 February 2027[Kyoto City] |
Checked on each official page on 23 September 2026. The Setagaya rebate arrives simply by paying with the ward's digital local currency.
- Open to residents of Tokyo aged 15 or over who hold a My Number card, foreign residents included
- The application period runs from 2 February 2026 to 1 April 2027
- Nothing arrives unless you apply
- The Tokyo page does not state an expiry date for the points
Apply here: https://www.tokyoapp.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/tokyoapp-seikatsu-support/
Ward-level payments were mostly ¥3,000 to ¥10,000. The Tokyo scheme is larger than any of them, and it covers the 23 wards and the Tama area alike.
The vouchers in your hands mostly expire on 31 December
Even where applications have closed, the vouchers and cards are still live. This is where most money is left behind.
| Local government | What you received | Expiry |
|---|---|---|
| Taito Ward | Rice vouchers (おこめ券) | No expiry[Taito Ward] |
| Sumida Ward | Rice vouchers and digital gift | 30 September 2026[Sumida Ward] |
| Minato Ward | Paper shopping vouchers | 31 October 2026[Minato Ward] |
| Itabashi Ward | Gift card (¥10,000) | 31 December 2026[Itabashi Ward] |
| Koto Ward | Ward-wide shopping vouchers | 31 December 2026[Koto Ward] |
| Adachi Ward | Shopping street support vouchers | 31 December 2026[Adachi Ward] |
| Edogawa Ward | Paper shopping vouchers | 31 December 2026[Edogawa Ward] |
| Shinagawa Ward | Ureshina Card | 31 January 2027[Shinagawa Ward] |
| Katsushika Ward | Digital shopping vouchers | 31 January 2027[Katsushika Ward] |
Sumida Ward's rice vouchers end on 30 September 2026. Counting from the publication date of this article, that is five days away. Minato Ward's deadline for requesting paper vouchers is the same 30 September.
Anything left unused is designed to go back from the local government to the national treasury. The national government asks local governments to set a redemption deadline so that unredeemed amounts can be returned[Cabinet Office, administrative notice of 5 June 2026]. If you do not use it, it really does disappear.
Itabashi Ward is still re-sending its ¥10,000 gift cards. If you do not remember receiving one, contact the ward.
Already over: payments to tax-exempt households, and rice vouchers
To avoid raising false hopes, here is what has finished. The terms people search for most are often the ones that now lead nowhere.
| Frequently searched payment | Status as of 25 September 2026 |
|---|---|
| Payment to households exempt from resident tax | Applications closed between March and July. Sapporo City states that "there is no payment scheme currently in operation"[Sapporo City] |
| Cash payments to all ward residents | Adachi, Ota, Bunkyo and others all closed in June or July |
| Rice vouchers | Only 2 of the 23 wards, Taito and Sumida; none among the designated cities. Setagaya Ward states plainly that "no rice vouchers are being distributed"[Setagaya Ward] |
| Ward-level water charge reductions | None in the 23 wards. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government waived four months of the basic charge across all wards, with no application needed[Tokyo Metropolitan Government] |
| Shopping vouchers in Kawasaki and Saitama | Kawasaki closed applications on 24 September[Kawasaki City]; Saitama's vouchers expired on 31 August[Saitama City] |
The wider picture is set out in our list of payments and reductions for tax-exempt households.
The national government has not decided on a winter payment
Waiting on the assumption that another payment is coming is risky. Here is what is settled and what is not.
| Item | Status as of 25 September 2026 |
|---|---|
| Supplementary budget for fiscal 2026 | The first one passed on 5 June and is complete. No second supplementary budget has been drafted[Ministry of Finance] |
| Autumn comprehensive economic package | Not adopted by the Cabinet |
| Priority Support Local Grant | First grant decision of ¥100 billion on 25 August. Being allocated now[Prime Minister's Office] |
| Electricity and gas support from October onwards | Not announced. What has been delivered covers the three months July to September, about ¥5,000 for a standard household[Prime Minister's Office] |
| Consumption tax on food and drink | An outline cutting it to 1% was adopted by the Cabinet on 15 September, for April 2027 to March 2029. The bill is still to come[Ministry of Finance] |
Where the winter subsidy is heading is covered in the restart of electricity and gas support, and the detail of the 1% cut in the 1% consumption tax cut on food and drink. The government's next move is not a payment but a tax cut in April 2027.
The same grant, very different rebate rates
The national government made support for food a compulsory item for municipalities, but left both the amount and the method to their discretion[Cabinet Office, administrative notice of 16 December 2025]. The result is a wide split.
- Osaka City set a premium rate of 30%, ¥13,000 worth for ¥10,000[Osaka City]
- Nagoya City sells ¥1,300 worth per unit for ¥1,000[Nagoya City]
- Saitama City offered ¥7,500 worth for ¥5,000, a rate of 50%[Saitama City]
- Kawasaki City and Fukuoka City do not state a premium rate on their official pages
Kobe City is handing out neither cash nor vouchers. It is putting the money into a subsidy that holds the adult bathhouse fee at ¥570, and into deliveries of locally grown rice to children's cafeterias[Kobe City]. The same funding source reaches you in a different form depending on where you live.
How to check your own municipality in five minutes
A nationwide table is not possible. The contents differ by municipality and change quickly. Here is a method that works anywhere.
- Search for your municipality's name plus 重点支援地方交付金 and 実施計画. The national government asks local governments to publish their implementation plans and how the grant is being used promptly on their websites[Cabinet Office, administrative notice of 5 June 2026].
- Look at the "support for residents" column of the list. It will show shopping vouchers, digital coupons, local points or rice vouchers[Cabinet Office, administrative notice of 1 April 2026].
- Check the commerce and industry promotion department's pages too. Payments sit with the welfare side and vouchers with the industry side, so the counters are split.
- Look again in November and December. The third submission deadline for implementation plans is 30 October 2026, and the schemes added there are announced at the end of autumn[Cabinet Office].
- Check the back of the voucher and the envelope. The expiry date and the contact number are printed on the voucher itself.
Payments that need no application arrive whether you act or not. The ones that vanish are the ones that need an application. Spend today's five minutes there.
Is there any tax on what you receive?
For almost everyone there is no tax to pay. The legal basis, however, differs by type of payment.
| Type of payment | Tax treatment |
|---|---|
| Child-rearing support allowance for rising prices (¥20,000 per child) | Exempt by statute, and cannot be seized[e-Gov, Ordinance article 1] |
| Cost-of-living payments designated by statute | No tax or other public charge may be imposed[e-Gov, Act No. 81 of 2023, article 4] |
| Rice vouchers and shopping vouchers run by a local government itself | In principle occasional income, but the ¥500,000 special deduction means no tax arises[National Tax Agency, No. 1490] |
| Water charge reductions and school meal subsidies | Not a payment of money, so not income[Cabinet Office, administrative notice] |
- Economic benefit received: ¥10,000 + ¥9,680 = ¥19,680
- Deduct the special deduction for occasional income, up to ¥500,000
- Occasional income comes to ¥0. No filing and no tax
Note: the formula is "gross receipts minus amounts spent minus the special deduction (up to ¥500,000)" (National Tax Agency No. 1490). This is this site's calculation, not a worked example from the National Tax Agency. In a year when an insurance maturity payout also arrives, the two are judged together.
It does not affect next year's resident tax exemption test
We often hear the worry that a payment will push a household out of resident-tax-exempt status. It will not. The total income figure used for the test does not rise, because the ¥500,000 special deduction absorbs it.
Public assistance has a ceiling on what counts as income
For households on public assistance, payments such as those for tax-exempt households are treated as not counting towards income up to ¥30,000 per household. Where there are children, the ceiling rises by ¥20,000 per child[Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, notice of 20 December 2024]. Payments run by a local government itself are treated according to their purpose.
Frequently asked questions (deadlines, applications, tax)
By when do I have to apply for the Tokyo 11,000 points?
By 1 April 2027. You apply through the Tokyo App at https://www.tokyoapp.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/tokyoapp-seikatsu-support/. It is open to residents of Tokyo aged 15 or over who hold a My Number card, foreign residents included.
I have not used my shopping vouchers. What happens after the expiry date?
They stop working. Unredeemed amounts are designed to go back from the local government to the national treasury. In most wards the expiry date is 31 December 2026.
Do I have to file a tax return if I received a payment or vouchers?
In almost every case, no. Payments such as the child-rearing support allowance are exempt by statute. Vouchers run by a local government itself are occasional income in theory, but the ¥500,000 special deduction means no tax arises.
Will there be a new payment this winter?
As of 25 September 2026 nothing has been decided, because neither a second supplementary budget nor an autumn economic package has been adopted by the Cabinet. Local governments may still announce their own schemes in November or December.
Sources
- Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo App Living Support Programme - who the 11,000 points are for, and the period
- Prime Minister's Office, press conference of 25 August 2026 - first grant decision date, electricity and gas support
- Cabinet Office, administrative notice of 5 June 2026 - redemption deadlines and returns, duty to publish
- Cabinet Office, administrative notice of 16 December 2025 - food support as a compulsory item for municipalities
- Ministry of Finance, temporary cut in the consumption tax rate on food and drink - April 2027 to March 2029
- Act on the prohibition of seizure of cost-of-living payments - the articles on seizure and tax exemption
- National Tax Agency, No. 1490, occasional income - the ¥500,000 special deduction and the formula
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, notice of 20 December 2024 - income recognition under public assistance
Local government schemes were checked on their official sites on 23 September 2026. Deadlines are subject to change.
