Is Cannabis / THC legal in Japan?

Also known as: weed, marijuana

Legal status

Cannabis is a 麻薬, a narcotic, in Japan, and it reaches that status through the Act's definition rather than through a list entry. 麻薬及び向精神薬取締法第二条第一号 defines 麻薬 as 「別表第一に掲げる物及び大麻をいう。」, the things in 別表第一 and cannabis, and 第二条第一号の二 takes the meaning of 大麻 from 大麻草の栽培の規制に関する法律第二条第二項: 「この法律で「大麻」とは、大麻草（その種子及び成熟した茎を除く。）及びその製品（大麻草としての形状を有しないものを除く。）をいう。」 So the plant, its leaves and flowering tops and plant form products are 大麻, while seeds and mature stalks are not. Cannabis products without the shape of the plant are reached through delta 9 THC, which is a narcotic by name at 別表第一第四十二号, 「六ａ・七・八・十ａ―テトラヒドロ―六・六・九―トリメチル―三―ペンチル―六Ｈ―ジベンゾ〔ｂ・ｄ〕ピラン―一―オール（別名デルタ九テトラヒドロカンナビノール）及びその塩類」, together with 第七十八号. Possession and use were brought into the narcotics Act on 12 December 2024, the first stage of 令和五年法律第八十四号, and the former 大麻取締法, now titled 大麻草の栽培の規制に関する法律, keeps cultivation, whose licensing changes took effect on 1 March 2025; the MHLW cannabis reform page says that from the first stage «大麻等の不正な施用についても麻薬及び向精神薬取締法の「麻薬」として禁止規定及び罰則（施用罪）が適用されます». Cultivation stays in the renamed Act. This is the position on the narcotics tables status 6 September 2026, with the psychotropics tables status 3 October 2025 and the designated substances list status 6 September 2026 read for the other lanes, and the e-Gov text as at 2 October 2026.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. No Japanese drug statute provides a death sentence: 死刑 appears in the main provisions of none of the 麻薬及び向精神薬取締法 (the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act), the 覚醒剤取締法 (the Stimulants Control Act), the あへん法 (the Opium Act), the 大麻草の栽培の規制に関する法律 (the Cannabis Plant Cultivation Act), the pharmaceuticals Act (the PMD Act) or the 麻薬特例法 (the Narcotics Special Provisions Act), each read on e-Gov on 2 October 2026. Japan has not abolished capital punishment: 刑法第九条 lists it among the principal punishments, 「死刑、拘禁刑、罰金、拘留及び科料を主刑とし、没収を付加刑とする。」, and 第百九十九条 provides it for murder. Every penalty below reads 拘禁刑, the single form of imprisonment that replaced 懲役 and 禁錮 on the day described in the ministerial ordinance's own words as 「刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行の日（令和七年六月一日）」, 1 June 2025; under 刑法第十二条第一項 「有期拘禁刑は、一月以上二十年以下とする。」, so an open ended fixed term such as one year or more runs to twenty years, and 第十四条第二項 allows an aggravated fixed term to rise to thirty. The drug statutes took the new term from 令和四年法律第六十八号. Life imprisonment appears in the drug statutes in three places only: 麻薬及び向精神薬取締法第六十四条第二項 (heroin imported, exported or made for profit), 覚醒剤取締法第四十一条第二項 (stimulants imported, exported or made for profit) and 麻薬特例法第五条 (dealing in any 規制薬物 as a business). Cannabis is not one of the ジアセチルモルヒネ等, so the ordinary narcotics articles apply. Importing, exporting or manufacturing it is 第六十五条第一項第一号, 「ジアセチルモルヒネ等以外の麻薬を、みだりに、本邦若しくは外国に輸入し、本邦若しくは外国から輸出し、又は製造した者」, and 第六十五条第一項 sets 「次の各号のいずれかに該当する者は、一年以上十年以下の拘禁刑に処する。」, one to ten years. For profit 第六十五条第二項 gives 「営利の目的で前項の罪を犯したときは、当該罪を犯した者は、一年以上の有期拘禁刑に処し、又は情状により一年以上の有期拘禁刑及び五百万円以下の罰金に処する。」, at least one year, with a fine of up to five million yen added where the circumstances warrant. Preparing, subdividing, transferring, receiving or possessing it is 第六十六条第一項, 「ジアセチルモルヒネ等以外の麻薬を、みだりに、製剤し、小分けし、譲り渡し、譲り受け、又は所持した者」, up to seven years, and for profit 第六十六条第二項 gives 「営利の目的で前項の罪を犯したときは、当該罪を犯した者は、一年以上十年以下の拘禁刑に処し、又は情状により一年以上十年以下の拘禁刑及び三百万円以下の罰金に処する。」, one to ten years with a fine of up to three million yen where the circumstances warrant. Using it outside a prescription breaches 第二十七条第一項 and is punished by 第六十六条の二 on the same scale, up to seven years. Attempts are punished. There is no quantity threshold anywhere in these articles, so simple possession for personal use is the seven year offence. Making a business of it is lifted further by 麻薬特例法第五条, whose 第一号 reaches the import, export, manufacture and transfer offences in 第六十五条 and 第六十六条 (possession excluded), and whose penalty is 「無期又は五年以上の拘禁刑及び千万円以下の罰金に処する。」 That is life or at least five years and, cumulatively, a fine of up to ten million yen. Use of cannabis has been punishable since 12 December 2024 through 第六十六条の二, which is the 施用罪 the MHLW reform page describes. Cultivation is a separate offence under 大麻草の栽培の規制に関する法律: 第三条 confines growing to licensed 大麻草栽培者, and 第二十四条第一項 gives 「大麻草をみだりに栽培した者は、一年以上十年以下の拘禁刑に処する。」, one to ten years, with at least one year and a fine of up to five million yen for profit. 麻薬特例法第五条第二号 reaches cultivation as a business.

If prescribed or medical

Cannabis has no prescription route in Japan that a visitor can use. A 麻薬 reaches a patient only through a 麻薬施用者 under 第二十七条, and a foreign medical cannabis authorisation or prescription creates no Japanese authority. Licensed cultivation exists for products and pharmaceutical raw material under the cultivation Act's 第一種 and 第二種大麻草採取栽培者 licences, which is a farming and manufacturing licence, not a patient route. Products made from the plant that do not have its shape are judged by their delta 9 THC content: at or below the residual limits in the Cabinet Order's 第二条 they are not 麻薬, which is the CBD cell's subject.

Documentation

A foreign prescription or medical cannabis card does not make cannabis importable, and plant form cannabis cannot be brought into Japan by an individual traveller at all. The Narcotics Control Department's controlled substances list enters «Cannabis (Has the shape of a cannabis plant) C, N ✔ （whole plant, flower spike, leaf）» and says «No persons shall import/export substances that have a» tick; cannabis without the plant shape is entered as a narcotic without that tick, so a lawful non plant medicine containing a cannabinoid narcotic would follow the advance permission route for a 麻薬 under 第十三条第一項, 「ただし、本邦に入国する者が、厚生労働大臣の許可を受けて、自己の疾病の治療の目的で携帯して輸入する場合は、この限りでない。」 A product sold as CBD is judged by its delta 9 THC content, described in the CBD cell. 別表第一第七十八号 reaches anything containing a listed substance or cannabis, 「前各号に掲げる物又は大麻のいずれかを含有する物であつて、あへん以外のもの。」 Its ニ excludes 「麻薬原料植物又は大麻草以外の植物（その一部分を含む。）」, and cannabis is named in that exclusion as one of the plants that stay inside the rule. Placement relied on: the MHLW designation tables, narcotics tables status 6 September 2026 (麻薬の指定状況 令和８年９月６日現在: the Act's 別表第一 with 76 substances and the Cabinet Order's 第一条 with 171, counts that match the e-Gov text read on 2 October 2026).

Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with Japan’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.