Hello,
I’ve seen plenty of posts about carrying knives in Japan for various reasons and about samurai swords being registered.
My question is can I bring a knife from outside of Japan into Japan and what problems I may face through customs.
I want to bring a fish filleting knife with a blade about 20cm and in a sheath. Can I bring it in checked in luggage? What happens and what should I say when/if my bag is opened?
5 comments
I brought my whole kitchen set in my checked luggage.
If they ask, tell them you are transporting it to your home (assuming you live here)
Brought my knife set into Japan recently via stuffing it into their boxes in a checked suitcase of mine, had no problems.
Just tell them the truth? Its your stuff that you’re bringing to your home for yourself to use.
They’re allowed in your checked luggage (you can confirm this by looking up a list of what’s allowed on the airline you’re going to use). As long as you don’t bring it in carry on, you’re fine.
Knives with blades longer than 15 cm require a permit from the prefectural public safety office and are allowed only for home use. It is illegal to carry a knife on you that has a blade longer that 6 cm. Exceptions are sometimes allowed for kitchen knives and fishing knives but you will likely get a lot of scrutiny from the police if you are seen with it outside of your home. A foreigner carrying a large knife in public will undoubtedly get a lot of attention.
You can definitely have it in checked baggage, just not carry on. I brought my entire chef knife kit into Japan through airport checked baggage. Just make sure it is securely in a sheathe or wrapped properly so it doesn’t cut someone if they need to check your bag.