Is Khat legal in Japan?

Also known as: qat, miraa, quaadka

Legal status

Khat is not itself listed in Japan, and the alkaloid it is taken for is a 麻薬, a narcotic: cathinone is 「二―アミノプロピオフェノン及びその塩類」 at 政令第一条第七号. The plant material, Catha edulis, is not a 麻薬原料植物 (the Act's 別表第二 names coca, Erythroxylum novogranatense and Papaver bracteatum, and the Cabinet Order's 第三条 adds only psilocybin and psilocin mushrooms), so it falls within 別表第一第七十八号ニ, 「麻薬原料植物又は大麻草以外の植物（その一部分を含む。）」, which takes such plants out of the rule that makes anything containing a listed substance a 麻薬. Anything that is not the plant or a part of it and contains cathinone is a 麻薬 under the opening words of 第七十八号, 「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。」 Cathinone degrades to cathine, and cathine is itself a 向精神薬, 「トレオ―二―アミノ―一―フェニルプロパン―一―オール（左旋性のものを除く。）及びその塩類」 at 政令第四条第六十二号, a 第二種向精神薬 under 施行令第四条第七号. The psychotropics table's own containing clause, 別表第三第十二号 「前各号に掲げる物のいずれかを含有する物」, carries no plant exclusion like 第七十八号ニ, so there is a second reading under which leaf containing cathine is a 向精神薬; consequences_street sets out both readings. 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). Cathinone 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. These bands apply to cathinone and to anything other than the plant that contains it. Possession of the unprocessed leaf, being outside 第七十八号 on its text, is not the 第六十六条 offence, but an extract or preparation made from it is. There is a second reading for the leaf itself. Cathine is a 第二種向精神薬 (政令第四条第六十二号, 施行令第四条第七号), and 別表第三第十二号 makes 「前各号に掲げる物のいずれかを含有する物」 a 向精神薬 with no plant exception. On that reading leaf containing cathine is a 向精神薬: importing it is 第六十六条の三, up to five years, and up to seven with a fine of up to two million yen where the circumstances warrant if done for profit; transferring it, or holding it to transfer, is 第六十六条の四, up to three years; possessing it for one's own use is no offence under either reading. No court decision and no MHLW or Narcotics Control Department statement on either reading was read, so the higher exposure, the 第六十六条の三 import band, is the one to assume.

If prescribed or medical

Khat itself has no prescription route and is not a medicine. Cathinone is a 麻薬 and the only lawful hands are licensed ones: 第二十七条第一項 confines administering, dispensing for administration and prescribing a 麻薬 to a 麻薬施用者, a doctor licensed by the prefecture, and the patient who receives it from that doctor or on that doctor's 麻薬処方箋 may then use it. That route exists for medicines only, so for a substance carried for any other purpose there is no Japanese authority to hold it at all. A prescription written outside Japan is not a 麻薬処方箋 and creates no Japanese authority to hold the drug. The only route for a traveller is 第十三条第一項, which keeps importing a 麻薬 to licensed importers and then adds 「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。」 第十三条第二項 treats a person who imports under that permission as having received the drug from a 麻薬施用者, which is what makes holding and using it in Japan lawful; 第十七条第一項 is the matching export permission.

Documentation

A foreign prescription does not make khat or anything made from it importable into Japan. Cathinone is a 麻薬, and a traveller may bring it in only with the advance permission of the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare for that entry, the 麻薬携帯輸入許可 issued by the 地方厚生局麻薬取締部 for the airport of arrival, and only for the traveller's own treatment, because the permission in 第十三条第一項 runs to a person carrying a medicine 「自己の疾病の治療の目的で」. Leaving with it needs the export permission under 第十七条. The Narcotics Control Department's traveller page says «You should apply at least 14 days prior to your travel.», asks for the application form, a medical certificate from the prescribing doctor dated within three months, and photographs of the packaging, and says «When you enter/leave Japan, you must carry your medicine with yourself.» The medicine cannot be posted or carried by someone else under this procedure, and the permit certificate is shown to Customs on arrival. This permission is for a medicine prescribed for the traveller's own treatment and is not a route for any substance that is not one. For the leaf itself the answer is no. On the narcotics text it is outside 第七十八号, but on the psychotropic reading set out under consequences_street importing it is the 第六十六条の三 offence, and leaf is not a medicine carried for the traveller's own treatment, so neither the narcotics permission nor the psychotropic carriage route in 第五十条の八第二号 covers it. No decision on the point was read; this cell takes the stricter answer. A preparation containing cathinone is a 麻薬. Two rules travel with every narcotic entry: 別表第一第七十八号 extends the table to 「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。」, so a tablet, solution or mixture is caught as well as the pure compound, and its ニ takes back out 「麻薬原料植物又は大麻草以外の植物（その一部分を含む。）」. 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); and the MHLW designation tables, psychotropics tables status 3 October 2025 (向精神薬の指定状況 令和７年10月３日現在: the Act's 別表第三 with 10 substances and the Cabinet Order's 第四条 with 80, 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.