Japan basics guide
Arriving in Japan: Visit Japan Web, immigration and customs
Last checked: July 2026
TL;DR
- Visit Japan Web is optional, not required — but registering gets you one QR code that covers both immigration and customs, and the joint kiosks are much faster.
- The automated gates don’t stamp your passport. If you want tax-free shopping or a JR Pass, ask staff for the stamp right after you pass through.
- You can bring in 3 bottles of alcohol, ¥200,000 of other goods, and one tobacco allowance — 400 cigarettes or heated tobacco, not both.
- Meat is banned outright — including vacuum-packed and fully cooked products, and jerky bought at duty-free shops. Fines run to ¥3 million.
Visit Japan Web: optional, but do it anyway
Visit Japan Web lets you file your immigration record and customs declaration online before you fly. It’s not mandatory — paper cards are still handed out on the plane and accepted at every airport — but registering produces a single QR code covering both steps, and Narita, Haneda and Kansai now run joint kiosks that scan that one code and your passport together.
- 1
📱Register on Visit Japan Web before you fly
Passport, flight and address in Japan. You get one QR code — screenshot it, because airport Wi-Fi isn’t guaranteed.
- 2
🛂Immigration: photo and fingerprints
Standard for foreign visitors aged 16 and over. This is where the passport stamp does — or doesn’t — happen.
- 3
🧳Collect your bags
If you plan to ship them onward, the courier counters are past customs, in the arrivals hall.
- 4
🛃Customs, by kiosk or by paper
Narita, Haneda, Kansai, Chubu, Fukuoka, New Chitose and Naha have electronic declaration gates. Elsewhere, hand in the paper form.
Everyone must declare their belongings, whether electronically or on paper — “nothing to declare” is still a declaration.
The stamp problem nobody mentions
Automated and face-recognition gates do not stamp your passport.
That stamp — the “Temporary Visitor” landing permission — is what proves your status for tax-free shopping and for picking up a Japan Rail Pass. If you sail through the fast gate without it, you can be turned away at the register or the ticket window.
The fix is easy but time-sensitive: staff stand just past the gates, and you can ask them to stamp your passport on the spot. Do it right then and there — going back later is far harder.
What you can bring in duty-free
| Item | Allowance | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol | 3 bottles | About 760 ml per bottle. |
| Cigarettes | 400 cigarettes | For non-residents. Or 100 cigars, or 500 g of other tobacco — one category only, not a mix. |
| Heated tobacco | 10 packs | IQOS, glo, Ploom and similar. Counted in packs, not grams — and Japan Customs sets different allowances for residents and non-residents, so check the current table if you’re near the limit. |
| Perfume | 2 ounces | About 56 ml. |
| Everything else | ¥200,000 total | Combined overseas market value of the rest of your goods. |
Travelers under 20 get no alcohol or tobacco allowance at all. Heated tobacco is counted in packs, not grams; gram figures circulate online but aren’t the official unit.
What they’ll confiscate
- Meat and meat products, without exception. Ham, sausage, salami, bacon, jerky — and anything containing meat, like pork buns, dumplings, burgers or a ham sandwich. Vacuum-packed, fully cooked, bought at a duty-free shop, labeled in Japanese: none of that makes a difference. Penalties reach ¥3 million.
- Fresh fruit, vegetables and plants need quarantine inspection and are frequently refused.
- Medicines and cosmetics in quantity. Japan caps personal imports — as a general rule, topical products (creams, patches, eye drops) are limited to 24 units per product and other medicines to a couple of months’ supply. If you’re carrying more than an obviously personal quantity, expect questions.
When in doubt, declare it. Declaring something that turns out to be fine costs you a minute; not declaring something prohibited is what triggers penalties.
On the way out
- Tax-free refunds change on November 1, 2026. From that date you pay full price in the store and claim the consumption tax back at the airport, within 90 days of purchase. Details in our tax-free shopping guide.
- Carrying more than the equivalent of ¥1,000,000 in cash, traveler’s checks or securities? You must declare it — in both directions. Penalties run to five years’ imprisonment or a ¥5 million fine.
- Shipping your suitcase to the airport is worth doing if you’ve been shopping hard. See our luggage delivery guide.
Just transiting?
If you stay in the transit area — past security, never entering the country — you don’t clear immigration at all. Leave the terminal, though — to meet someone, or for an overnight layover outside the secure area — and you go through immigration and customs like any other visitor. Depending on your nationality, that can require a visa. Check before you book a long layover.
Sources
Checked in July 2026 against Japan Customs on duty-free allowances and tobacco limits, the electronic declaration gates, the cash declaration rule, the Animal Quarantine Service on meat products, the Immigration Services Agency on Visit Japan Web, and a Japanese consulate’s explanation of why face-recognition gates leave no stamp.
Allowances and procedures are as of the last check and can change; airport processing times vary too much to quote. Confirm with Japan Customs and the Immigration Services Agency before you travel. This page contains no affiliate links; links go to official or primary sources.