Japan is the most planned trip Sam and I have ever taken, and easily the most satisfying. We started counting more than 200 days out, because the clock is real: 180 days between the rabies antibody blood draw and the day you land, then advance notification 40 days before arrival on top of that. Do it in order and the quarantine at the port runs under 12 hours. Do it out of order and it runs into months.

Bringing a pet to Japan requires three documents in the right order: a microchip, a rabies vaccine within the destination's wait window, and a government-endorsed health certificate. The table below lays out exactly what's required, what's not, and where each rule comes from.

How Japan handles your pet

Key points

  • Two routes, and which one you are on depends on where the pet has lived
  • Japan splits the world into designated (rabies-free) regions and everywhere else
  • From a designated region — "To import dogs and cats from the designated regions (Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji Islands, Hawaii, and Guam) , they must meet import requirements (e.g. microchip implanting and clinical inspection)." — there is no rabies antibody test and no 180-day wait
  • Everywhere else is the full route: microchip, two rabies vaccinations, an antibody test, and "Dogs and cats are required to arrive in Japan after 180 days have passed from the date of blood sampling for the rabies antibody test"
  • The requirements shown on this plan are the FULL (non-designated) route, which is the one that applies to almost every origin
  • Residence, not the airport you fly from, decides it: "The dog or cat has been continuously resident in a designated region for at least 180 days immediately before export to Japan" If the pet has been in a designated region for less than 180 days, "it must be subject to detention quarantine upon arrival in Japan to compensate for the insufficient days" What happens on arrival: "If dogs and cats meet import requirements upon arrival in Japan, the quarantine period will be within 12 hours" — otherwise the pet is detained at the port's animal quarantine facility for the days still outstanding, at the owner's expense
  • The paperwork gate is the advance notification, not a permit
  • You file it at least 40 days before arrival and "Animal Quarantine Service will examine the "Notification" and related documents to issue an “Approval of Import Inspection of Animals”." One microchip trap worth checking before you travel — MAFF has suspended a range of chip numbers: "numbers starting with "900 202" are currently under investigation for their validity
  • Please note that for the time being, these microchips will not be accepted as a means of identification." Money: the government part is free — "A: Import inspection by animal quarantine officers is free of charge
  • However, the importer is responsible for bearing the cost of transportation to the quarantine facility, cares during the quarantine period, electricity and water,vet visits etc
  • Please ask caretaking company about cost of cares during the quarantine period." So a smooth arrival costs you nothing in fees; a failed one is billed by a private company, and there is no published tariff
  • Vaccine timing has no fixed number: Japan does not set a booster interval in months, it defers to your vaccine's own duration of immunity — "Within the effective period of the first vaccination ＊Effective period is not the expiration date for use of the vaccine, but the duration of immunity." Miss that window and it is not a late booster, it is a new primary course: "If the effective period of the rabies vaccination will expire before arrival in Japan, an additional rabies vaccination must be administered" — which restarts the titre test and the 180-day wait
  • One thing to check on the day you book the blood test: MAFF's designated-laboratory list carries revocations inline, not just additions — "ATTENTION：This facility( Biobest Laboratories Ltd. ) has been revoked from the list of designated laboratories due to violations of the designation standards
  • Individuals with certificates issued between November 27, 2024 and June 25, 2025, are kindly requested to contact the Animal Quarantine Office at your port of entry." Read the list itself rather than a copy of it
  • Number of animals: MAFF sets no published limit — its procedure is written per animal ("Dogs and cats to be imported into Japan must undergo import quarantine."), and neither the import guide nor the AQS Q&A states a maximum
  • Notify each animal on the same 40-day advance notification
  • Pawgo operator-verified, 2026-09-02; MAFF publishes no number, so treat a large group as worth confirming with your arrival port's AQS office before booking

Downloadable forms

Each fact comes straight from the operator’s published policy. Tap the to read the exact wording; the opens the source page.

In the hold / cargo Accepted

Hold & cargo policy

Hold: Pets accepted Acceptedverified 2026-09-02

Health & documents

Microchip · Required Yesverified 2026-09-02
Microchip · StandardISO 11784/11785verified 2026-09-02
Microchip · Tattoo accepted Noverified 2026-09-02
Microchip · Must be done before vaccination Yesverified 2026-09-02
Quarantine · TypeQuarantine Stationverified 2026-09-02
Quarantine · Required Yesverified 2026-09-02
Quarantine · Reducible Yesverified 2026-09-02
Quarantine · Duration180 daysverified 2026-09-02
Quarantine · Pre-approval required Yesverified 2026-09-02
Quarantine · Reduced duration0.5 daysverified 2026-09-02
Quarantine · Approved facility required Yesverified 2026-09-02
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Required Yesverified 2026-09-02
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Minimum level iu ml0.5verified 2026-09-02
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Test validity months24 monthsverified 2026-09-02
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Approved laboratory required Yesverified 2026-09-02
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Waiting period after test days180 daysverified 2026-09-02
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Test must follow vaccination days0 daysverified 2026-09-02
Import permit · Cost0verified 2026-09-02
Import permit · Required Yesverified 2026-09-02
Import permit · Lead time40 daysverified 2026-09-02
Import permit · Issuing authorityAnimal Quarantine Service (MAFF)verified 2026-09-02
Flea treatment · Required Noverified 2026-09-02
Heartworm test · Required Noverified 2026-09-02
Tick treatment · Required Noverified 2026-09-02
Health certificate · Issuergovernment agency of the exporting countryverified 2026-09-02
Health certificate · Required Yesverified 2026-09-02
Health certificate · Endorsed byofficial government veterinarianverified 2026-09-02
Health certificate · Validity days10 daysverified 2026-09-02
Health certificate · Original required Noverified 2026-09-02
Health certificate · Government endorsed Yesverified 2026-09-02
Other vaccinations · Distemper Noverified 2026-09-02
Other vaccinations · Adenovirus Noverified 2026-09-02
Other vaccinations · Parvovirus Noverified 2026-09-02
Other vaccinations · Leptospirosis Noverified 2026-09-02
Rabies vaccination · Required Yesverified 2026-09-02
Rabies vaccination · Booster required Yesverified 2026-09-02
Rabies vaccination · Approved vaccines list
  • inactivated (killed) virus vaccine
  • recombinant vaccine
verified 2026-09-02
Rabies vaccination · Min age at vaccination13 weeksverified 2026-09-02
Tapeworm treatment · Required Noverified 2026-09-02
Screwworm treatment · Required Noverified 2026-09-02
Internal parasite treatment · Required Noverified 2026-09-02
Health certificate valid within days · Health certificate valid within days10 daysverified 2026-09-02

Other rules

Pets accepted Acceptedverified 2026-09-02
Assistance animals accepted Yesverified 2026-09-02

Service & assistance animals

Recognized Yesverified 2026-09-02

Timing chain

Day -90 microchip implant · Day -10 health certificate issued · Day 0 arrive at customs

Conditional requirements

These rules apply only to pets with a specific travel history. Most travelers can ignore them — but if one applies to you, skipping it can mean denied entry.

Pet arriving from a non-designated (non-rabies-free) region — If your pet has been in one of 124 higher-risk countries in the last 6 months:

  • Quarantine: Required
  • Rabies titer (blood) test: Required
  • Import permit: Required

Ports of entry (11)

  • New Chitose airport
  • Narita international airport
  • Haneda airport
  • Chubu International airport
  • Kansai International airport
  • Osaka Itami airport
  • Kobe airport
  • Kitakyusyu airport
  • Fukuoka airport
  • Kagoshima airport
  • Naha airport

verified 2026-09-02

Japan's Animal Quarantine Service accepts a dog or cat transported as carry-on baggage or as checked baggage, not only as separate air cargo. Accompanied animals are inspected at the port of entry alongside the person they arrived with. Book the animal into that class with the operating carrier when the ticket is issued, and keep that confirmation filed with the quarantine paperwork rather than in an inbox.
Advance notification is a deadline, not a courtesy. Applicants must notify the Animal Quarantine Service at the expected port of entry not less than 40 days before arrival in Japan, and the notice is filed against that named port. Settle the arrival airport before filing rather than after. Submit it online, keep the acknowledgement, and carry a printed copy with the rest of the quarantine documents.
Forty days is a floor, and it counts back from arrival rather than from booking. That places the paperwork window roughly two months ahead of a trip most people book six weeks out. Schedule and pay for the veterinary appointments inside that window rather than in the travel month, because nothing sitting behind the 40 days can be compressed once the clock has started.
None of this is hard. It is just long, and it does not bend. Every deadline is knowable the day you decide to go, and an animal that clears the port in under 12 hours belongs to someone who counted backwards from day one. Nala has opinions about layovers and none whatsoever about Japan, which is how you know the plan held. Build yours in Pawgo's plan builder before you book a thing.
Get YOUR personalized plan for Japan →

Glossary

ISO chip
ISO 11784/11785 — the universal microchip standard.
FAVN
Fluorescent Antibody Virus Neutralization — a rabies serology test required by rabies-free destinations.
Brachycephalic
Snub-nosed breeds (French Bulldogs, Pugs, Persians, Himalayans) with restricted airline acceptance due to heat-stress risk.
AVIH
Animal Vehicle In Hold — IATA's term for cargo pet shipment, with fees that vary by carrier and route.