Hello! Hope everyone is well. As the tittle says, I will be going to Japan next month and I’m an avid vaper. I vape a lot of nicotine and searching the web I found that nicotine is illegal in Japan. Could I, as a foreigner bring my vaporizer to japan? Is there anyway for me to consume nicotine in Japan? Any information would be very, very helpful. Haven’t found a concrete answer on the web.
Thank you beforehand!
16 comments
https://faq.japan-travel.jnto.go.jp/en/faq/articles/102086
Just looked this up because it seems ridiculous given the high smoking rate in Japan and couldn’t believe it was correct. It says it is considered a medical device however so you can bring in up to 120mL for personal use, not sure how much that is or if it would be enough.
Lozenges / gum?
Haven’t been there since covid. Selling liquid nicotine is not allowed but it’s not illegal to have for personal consumption. I was planning to bring a 30ml bottle of 120mg nicotine and make my own juice as needed.
I was there recently and saw Vape Studio shops in practically every “shopping” district in Tokyo.
Good opportunity to quit.
We just got back from Japan last week. My partner vapes (one of those larger mod type things).
While there are certainly not as many as a few years ago, there are still designated smoking spots. I saw them both outdoors near busy sections of the city and little smoking rooms in larger restaurants/cafes. You may get a few odd looks from people if you blow out big plumes of vape, otherwise, as long as you stay in those areas you will be fine. But only use those areas, standing off to the side or sneaking behind a building won’t fly.
They sell vapes and juices but they are just for the flavor or cbd, not nicotine, so you won’t be able to buy any but you can bring your own (just follow guidelines already posted)
Idk when they are changing the rules, but as of last week we wore masks except for when putting food in our mouth or in our hotel room. So it’s not like you’ll have lots of opportunities to puff on the go anyway.
The smoke spots are funny to me. Mostly older men puffing on cigs and one or two young people using their flavor vapes. I also noticed a lot more people smoking in Osaka as compared to Tokyo. And I’m sure the further rural you get the more you will find. But having been to Tokyo before they started planning the Olympics to now is crazy. So many people used to smoke and I even remember being in bars where one could smoke. But they’ve tried hard to get rid of that image.
Ask Brittney Griner how that kind of mentality worked out?
Just do what me and my buddies who vape are gonna do when we’re there…smoke lol
Jk…
I vape and grew up in Japan. Just buy some disposables and bring em in. As long as in carry on ur fine
>Is there anyway for me to consume nicotine in Japan?
Have y’all never heard of cigarettes? They also have those half cigarettes that you put into a electric thingy to smoke them, though. Iqos or a weird name like that.
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I am currently in Japan. I vape, chew tobacco and nic gum. I brought all three in excess of allowances. They don’t care as long as you are not bringing in enough for resale. Nic juice is not illegal in Japan, only flavored nic juice. In fact you can buy plain nic juice at smoking cessation centers here. But good luck finding one. They are not going to look at your vape bottles to see if they contain nicotine. Chances are the inspector doesn’t even read English. As for vaping in Japan, it is seen as smoking. You cannot vape on the street, or really anywhere other than a izakaya (bar), pachinko or smoking area. If you ignore that you will definitely get a 2000 yen ($20) fine on the spot.
It’s only illegal to sell nicotine liquid in Japan. People who vape in Japan have to import. It’s good to note that it’s 120ml of any concentration. So you could bring in higher concentration and dilute it in Japan to make it last longer. 120ml at 100mg is available.
There are shops or bars that sell disposable nicotine vapes outright and openly, at least by the US military bases. Outside of these areas I’ve never seen a shop that sold them (including Tokyo/Osaka but I’m sure if you search around you’ll run into them).
Many shops sell nicotine-less vapes like at Donki.
You can order vapes online and have them shipped.
I’ve never encountered any issues with shipping or just bringing it with me through airports. They don’t care about them.
I don’t know if it matters because it was a military base but I did a guy that was in the military in Japan and he smokes cigarettes all the time