Tax Rebate/duty free

Hi,
I am going to Japan for 2 months in January and was wondering if there is duty free shopping for visitors or a way of claiming the tax back on departure at the airport? I have been to some countries where you are exempt from paying tax on any goods purchased.I suppose the first thing to learn would be is there a tax attatched to goods in Japan.

Some places seemed to do this. Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara was duty free. we had to present our passports and they attached some paperwork on it when we bought our denshi jisho. we were not charged tax for this at all. however, this was the only place that we saw this, and we were there for 2 weeks.

there is a 5% consumption tax included in the price of everything you buy in Japan. I'm pretty sure you cannot claim a tax refund at the airport but you are exempt from this tax at some stores if you spend more than 10000yen. Check out this similar thread here:

http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+13449

also check out the jnto website here:

http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/attractions/shopping.html