Everything I Did to Travel to Japan With My Dog: Step-by-Step Guide

In November of 2025 we brought our recently adopted chihuahua on a three week trip to Japan. Out of the eight countries he's been to, it's still our favorite trip by far (even with all the hoops we had to jump through).

Japan has one of the most demanding pet import processes in the world, but if you do everything correctly, your arrival will be a breeze and you can jump straight into enjoying your trip. As you'll see in our upcoming Japan guides, there are so many wonderful, dog-friendly things to do in Japan that we’re already planning our next visit.

This guide walks you through exactly what that import process looks like — including the small mistake that nearly got us stuck in Japan on the way out. This works for anyone visiting or moving to Japan with dogs or cats, but our specific experience is visiting with a chihuahua from Russia and flying with him in the cabin (not cargo).

Double check the exemption list to see if you’re lucky and you come from a rabies-free country that doesn’t have to follow the regular process.

Why Japan Is So Strict About Pets

Thanks to the Rabies Control Act of 1950, Japan hasn’t reported a case of rabies in nearly 70 years and they intend to keep it that way. The mountain of paperwork is designed to prove that your dog poses absolutely zero rabies risk before setting a single paw in the country. And in typical Japanese fashion, there are strict rules and zero flexibility for the process if you mess anything up. (We’ll get to that later.)

Because our life as a foreign service family takes us all over the world, we happened to adopt our chihuahua, Tishka, from Russia in 2024. This was only 14 months before our 2025 trip to Japan, so we started organizing everything early since the math didn’t leave much room for error. The whole process takes a minimum of seven months, but we budgeted ten for wiggle room.

The Basic Timeline

Here's the process in the order it actually has to happen. Think of this blog post as an up-to-date field guide (not a substitute) to the official AQS website (Japan’s animal quarantine service) which reads very robotically. I would also recommend working with a vet familiar with international pet relocation if you can find one.

1. Microchip first

Your dog needs an ISO 11784 / 11785 compliant microchip implanted before their first rabies shot. I was a little nervous about the microchip insertion process since our dog didn’t have one, but it was so fast he didn’t even react. It looked like a staple gun that was shot into his upper back. Save the microchip information and use it throughout the entire paperwork process. Once you land in Japan, they will actually scan your dog upon entry and exit to make sure the chip number matches. Our dog hated being scanned, and I can see how it would be scary for a stranger to reach into your carrier and scan your back with a weird, hand-held machine.

2. Two rabies vaccinations

Your pet needs two rabies vaccinations spaced at least 30 days apart after the microchip is already in. This might be overkill (pun incoming) but have your vet confirm that the rabies vaccine is ‘killed’ or ‘inactivated’ because ‘live’ rabies vaccines aren’t accepted in Japan. The other thing to watch out for is your dog’s age. Our dog was already two years old when we adopted him, but make sure your dog is at least 91 days old for the first vaccination. This is important because US and European vets typically administer the first dose at 12 weeks (84 days), which would be invalid. Double check the validity period of the second rabies vaccine to make sure it’s still valid during your actual trip.

3. Passing an antibody blood test (FAVN)

While the vaccines were easy enough to manage, the antibody blood test was a different story. Japan specifically requires a FAVN/ rabies antibody blood test, which your vet can administer, but it must be sent for testing by a lab on the MAFF approval list. We followed MAFF’s instructions about doing the second rabies vaccine and blood test on the same day, but I’ve seen other testimonies say they waited a few weeks after the second vaccine before testing to aim for a higher antibody score. I wouldn’t recommend directly defying the clearly stated rules, especially since you’re allowed to retest for a higher score. Thankfully our dog passed with flying colors the first time and the antibody test is valid for two years.

4. A mandatory 180-day wait

Between the date of the blood draw and your arrival, you must wait 180 days before coming to Japan. If you come earlier, your dog will have to quarantine in the airport until you hit 180 days. If that happens, you’ll have to foot the bill for the entire time and have limited visitation (yikes). If there’s a problem with your paperwork, you might be forced to quarantine them for a full 180 days (double yikes). Make sure your rabies vaccine and blood test don’t expire before your trip.

5. Give AQS advance notification

You must notify the AQS of your arrival in Japan 40-90 days before (90 at the earliest, 40 at the very latest). If you fill out the form correctly, you’ll be sent an import approval form. We actually had to go back and forth a couple times with the application because we didn’t fill out every single part in enough detail. They were quick in getting back to us by email about what they wanted modified. Here is a link to the contact form if you need help with a specific circumstance. Apparently US military personnel get exemptions for part of the process like the 180-day wait. This is when it comes in handy to have a vet familiar with pet relocation processes so they can help you fill it out correctly.

6. Endorsed Health Certificate

Within 10 days of your departure, your vet needs to do a health check and fill out Form AC. Afterwards you need to have it certified by your country’s government veterinary authority (like the USDA or CFIA). All paperwork must show official stamps proving it’s been endorsed by your government's veterinary authority.

7. Arrive in Japan

We read that it can take up to 12 hours to clear customs, but to our surprise, it took about five minutes. This might be because we flew with our dog in the cabin so he was already with us when we got off the plane, or maybe it wasn’t a busy time at Haneda airport. By the way, you can only arrive in designated airports so check the list to be sure yours is there.

I’ll include some photos of the process because we found it really charming the way a worker was waiting for us with a cute sign with Tishka’s name on it. She escorted us to have his papers checked and chip scanned. We were out of there in a couple minutes!

What airline did we use to fly to Japan with our dog in the cabin?

No judgement on anyone who puts their pets in cargo, but we would prefer to avoid doing that with our dog when possible. It can be hard to find airlines flying to Japan that allow pets in the cabin, but it is possible. We flew Turkish Airlines with our dog in the cabin and it went great. We flew from Moscow to Istanbul and used the pet relief stations between flights before flying Istanbul to Tokyo.

If by chance you’re passing through Istanbul, use the bigger and cleaner pet relief station on the upper floor because the lower one was tiny and disgusting. Other international airlines I’ve heard of that let you fly to Japan with pets are Korean Air, Air France, and Delta Air Lines.

Check out our guide to flying with a small dog in the cabin for more advice!

Don’t forget to “export” your pet before leaving

Let’s talk about the giant mistake we made when trying to leave Japan. Do not forget to export your pet! We were so focused on doing everything right to enter Japan that we somehow overlooked what we needed to do to leave after our trip was over. I remember asking my vet who helped us with the import forms if we needed to do anything to leave and he said no. I should have double checked because he was wrong, and we paid the price for not verifying.

This was pretty early in our dog ownership journey so now I don’t think I’d ever overlook a detail like this. The website also doesn’t say anything to remind you about exporting your pet, so I can see this happening to other people. Now I always obsessively check what countries require to leave with your dog.

You need to apply for export inspection within 14 days before leaving Japan. You can contact NACCS to get a time slot. Because we didn’t do this beforehand, we nearly missed our flight, and it was incredibly stressful!

We found out at check-in that we could not board without the pet export form. The airport personnel escorted us to another building and had us wait while they called someone who had just finished their shift. No one was in a hurry because we were the ones at fault and it seemed very possible that we were going to miss our flight home. After 30 minutes or so, we got someone to inspect our dog and give us the green approval tag we needed to leave the country. Don’t let this happen to you! For special circumstances like short trips, read the FAQs here.

Do I recommend taking your dog to Japan?

Congratulations, you’ve made it to the end of this post. You must be serious about planning a trip to Japan with your pet. Hopefully I haven’t put you off taking your dog to Japan. As you’ve probably gathered with this post, a lot of careful planning and patience is needed to get through the process. Even though there are a ton of hurdles to get through, I still highly recommend it because Japan is an incredible place to visit with your dog.

Stay tuned to hear about our dog-friendly three-week trip in Tokyo, Hakone, Izu Kogen, Shimoda, Kamakura, and Kyoto. Until the, check out our Tokyo for dog lovers guide, or learn how to register to enter our favorite dog park in Tokyo: the Yoyogi Park Dog Run.