What cannot be shipped from Japan
Some goods cannot leave Japan by air freight at all, and some cannot enter your country. The list below is what we are unable to ship under any service — it comes from our live shipping policy, so it is current rather than a copy of someone else's page.
Why these are refused
Most of the list is aviation safety rather than customs. Lithium batteries, aerosols, flammable liquids and pressurised containers are restricted or banned on passenger aircraft, and carriers apply those rules to every parcel regardless of what it is worth.
The rest is legal: counterfeit goods, items that breach export controls, and anything whose import your own country prohibits. A parcel stopped for one of these is usually destroyed rather than returned.
Batteries are the common surprise
Loose lithium batteries and power banks cannot fly. A battery already installed inside a device — a camera, a game console, a toy — is generally acceptable, but the service it can travel by may be restricted.
If something you have ordered turns out to be affected, we will tell you before it ships rather than after, and we will say which options remain.
Check your own country too
This list is about leaving Japan. Your destination sets its own rules, and they vary widely — food, plant material, cosmetics, supplements and knives are the categories that most often surprise people. Each of our destination pages links that country's customs authority.
- Weapons and replicas — guns, ammunition, knives, swords, and imitation weapons
- Explosives and fireworks — including gunpowder, flares and party poppers
- Flammable liquids and gases — oils, gasoline, lighter fluid, paint, lighters and aerosol/spray cans
- Compressed gas — camping gas, fire extinguishers and pressurised canisters
- Loose lithium batteries and power banks (strict air-transport limits)
- Medicines and pharmaceuticals — prescription drugs and many over-the-counter medicines
- Illegal drugs, narcotics and cannabis / CBD products
- Hazardous chemicals — poisons, corrosives, pesticides and dangerous-goods samples
- Perishable food, fresh produce, plants, seeds, meat and live animals
- Cash, currency and negotiable securities
- Counterfeit or pirated goods
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