Ocean Inc.

Ocean Inc. (株式会社Ocean) is a company based in Chuo-ku, Tokyo, founded in May 2024. It describes two lines of business: a tax refund business and an inbound marketing platform for shops that serve visitors to Japan. Its service is called Ocean Tax Refund.

Japan is due to move its consumption tax exemption for tourists to a refund method on 1 November 2026, under which visitors pay tax at the till and are repaid afterwards instead of buying tax-free in store. Ocean Tax Refund is designed for that scheme. The company says merchants pay no set-up or monthly fee and that the service charge is 1.55 per cent of the sale, collected from the visitor. The system can be linked to point-of-sale software. Refunds can be made in more than 30 currencies, by methods such as bank transfer, credit card, WeChat Pay, Alipay and PayPal, and in yen cash at airports. Visitors can use an app, the web, WeChat or LINE. It states that Japan's National Tax Agency has approved it as a tax-free transmission operator. Its service page says Ocean will begin making refund payments itself only once its registration as a funds-transfer business is complete. Customers described on its pages include the retailers Miki House, SODA (operator of the Sneaker Dunk resale app) and the Ginza tailor Pier's. In October 2026 Global Brain's KURONEKO Innovation Fund 2 invested in the company, with the amount not disclosed.