🇯🇵 Japan Customs Guide
What customs allows you to bring into Japan — duty-free caps, banned and restricted goods, and medication rules, from official sources.
Fully verified · Authority: Japan Customs · Last verified
Every section below carries verbatim quotes from official customs sources captured on the verification date.
Two different questions. Airport security screening (TSA/CATSA — can it go through the checkpoint?) is separate from customs (may it enter the country at all?). This page covers customs after arrival in Japan; for checkpoint rules, see the item guides.
Duty-free allowances
Alcohol: up to 3 bottles of 760 ml. Tobacco: 200 cigarettes OR 50 cigars OR 10 packs heat-not-burn OR 250 g other (250 g combined ceiling if mixed). Perfume 2 oz (~56 ml). Other goods: total overseas value under ¥200,000 (items under ¥10,000 each are excluded from that calc; no allowance on any single item worth ¥200,000+). Rice capped at 100 kg/yr. Under-20s get no alcohol/tobacco allowance; under-6s only child-appropriate items.
“Personal effects and unaccompanied baggage for personal use are free of duty and/or tax within the allowance specified below. (As for rice, the limit is 100KG a year.)”
“Alcoholic beverages: Up to three bottles (760ml as a bottle) Tobacco products: Up to 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, 10 individual packages of Heat-not-Burn tobacco and 250 g of other tobacco products. However, if you have more than one kind of tobacco product, the total allowance is 250 g.”
“The total overseas market value of all articles other than the above items must be under 200,000yen. Any item whose overseas market value is under 10,000yen is free of duty and/or tax and is not included …”
Prohibited & restricted goods
Absolute bans (smuggling = criminal): narcotics/stimulants (incl. pseudoephedrine-based meds above thresholds), firearms/ammo/pistol parts, explosives, chemical-weapon precursors, bio-terrorism agents, counterfeit currency/cards, IP-infringing articles, articles harming public safety or morals, endangered species (Washington Convention).
“Firearms (pistols, etc.), ammunition (bullets) thereof, and pistol parts; Explosives (dynamite, gunpowder, etc.) ; Precursor materials for chemical weapons; Germs which are likely to be used for bio-terrorism; Counterfeit, altered, or imitation coins, paper money, bank notes, or securities, and forged credit cards; Books, drawings, carvings, and any other article which may harm public safety or mo…”
Medication & prescription drugs
≤1 month supply of any prescription medicine for personal use enters WITHOUT a certificate (narcotics excluded). More than 1 month supply requires the Yunyu Kakunin-sho / "Yakkan Shoumei" import certificate obtained BEFORE travel. Injectable drugs: only pre-filled syringes / self-injection kits under physician direction. Prohibited/controlled drugs banned outright.
“You can bring more than one month’s supply of any prescription medicine, except prohibited drugs and especially controlled drugs, only for your own use into Japan with you, if you apply for a so-called “Yakkan Shoumei”, a kind of import certificate, and receive it before you leave home.”
“You can bring only a so-called “Pre-filled Syringe” or “Self-injection Kit” used under the direction of doctor …”
Japan customs FAQs
What is the duty-free allowance for Japan?
Alcohol: up to 3 bottles of 760 ml.
What items are prohibited or restricted at Japan customs?
Absolute bans (smuggling = criminal): narcotics/stimulants (incl. pseudoephedrine-based meds above thresholds), firearms/ammo/pistol parts, explosives, chemical-weapon precursors, bio-terrorism agents, counterfeit currency/cards, IP-infringing articles, articles harming public safety or morals, endangered species (Washington Convention).
Can I bring medication into Japan?
≤1 month supply of any prescription medicine for personal use enters WITHOUT a certificate (narcotics excluded). More than 1 month supply requires the Yunyu Kakunin-sho / "Yakkan Shoumei" import certificate obtained BEFORE travel. Injectable drugs: only pre-filled syringes / self-injection kits under physician direction. Prohibited/controlled drugs banned outright.
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