Bringing your dog or cat to Japan.

Before the detail, the two things that decide a move to Japan with a pet. Lead time is 7 to 8 months, and most of that is a single fixed waiting period you cannot buy your way out of. All-in cost is roughly $3,000 to $8,000 or more, with the biggest line being air transport, since pets on this route usually fly as cargo rather than in the cabin. Vet visits, the rabies antibody test, and the health paperwork make up most of the rest.

The reason Japan takes so long is that it is rabies-free and works hard to stay that way. Every step below exists to prove your pet is not carrying rabies, and the order is strict. One misstep, such as a rabies shot given before the microchip, can invalidate the work and restart the clock.

Follow these in sequence. Skipping ahead or doing them out of order is the most common and most expensive mistake.

1. Microchip first. Your pet needs an ISO 11784 or 11785 microchip, implanted before any rabies vaccination that counts for this process.
2. Two rabies vaccinations, after the chip. The first can be given once your pet is at least 91 days old, and the second at least 30 days after the first. Both must come after the microchip.
3. Rabies antibody test (FAVN or RNATT). A blood sample goes to a Japan-designated laboratory, and the result must be at least 0.5 IU per ml. The draw can be the same day as the second shot, and the result stays valid for 2 years from the blood-draw date.
4. The 180-day wait. This is the big one. A 180-day clock starts on the day the blood is drawn, which counts as day zero, and your pet cannot enter Japan until it is complete. Arrive early and your pet is held in quarantine at the port for the remainder, up to 180 days. There is no way to shorten it.
5. Advance notice to the Animal Quarantine Service (AQS). Tell the arrival port at least 40 days before you land. You can file this during the 180-day wait, and AQS issues an Approval of Import Inspection.
6. Pre-export exam and endorsed certificate. Within 10 days of travel, a USDA-accredited vet examines your pet and completes the health certificate, which USDA APHIS then endorses.
7. Import inspection on arrival. If every document lines up and the 180 days are complete, inspection at the airport is usually quick.

For the rabies antibody test, the two Japan-designated laboratories in the US are the Kansas State University Rabies Laboratory in Manhattan, Kansas, which is open to any US exporter, and the Department of Defense laboratory at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, used mainly by military families. Your USDA-accredited vet sends the sample; you do not ship blood yourself.

After arrival, Japan asks you to register a dog at the local municipal office within 30 days, keep up an annual rabies vaccination, and hold onto the Import Quarantine Certificate you are given, so keep it somewhere safe.

No insurance product reimburses mandatory quarantine. Not pet health insurance, not travel insurance with a pet add-on, not a shipper's own protection plan. If your destination requires a quarantine stay, treat that boarding bill as an out-of-pocket cost and budget it from the start. Nationwide is the one US pet insurer that reimburses vet care at any licensed vet worldwide, and even it excludes boarding, which is what quarantine is.

US pet insurance is written around a pet that lives in the US. Most policies carry a policy territory, typically the US and sometimes Canada or Puerto Rico, and even the ones that reimburse vet care worldwide generally require your primary residence to stay in the US. So a policy may well pay a vet bill on a trip abroad and still lapse the day the move becomes permanent. Read your own policy's territory and residency wording before you assume it travels with you, and for a permanent move plan on taking out local pet insurance in your new country.

As a rough sanity check on any quote, and this is our read of current market pricing rather than an official figure: a standard international pet move tends to run about $1,500 to $6,000, while destinations with mandatory quarantine sit higher, roughly $3,000 to $12,000 and up. Australia in particular often lands between $5,000 and $15,000 once quarantine and the limited set of approved flights are counted. Full-service door-to-door typically costs 30 to 50 percent more than a transport-only booking where you handle the vet work and paperwork yourself.

The costs people forget are the small ones. USDA APHIS charges a user fee to endorse an export health certificate, currently $101 where no test verification is needed, $160 for a certificate covering one or two tests, and $206 for three to six tests, with rabies vaccination not counted in that tally. These rates rose on 10 January 2025, the first APHIS fee adjustment since 2012. Add an airline-compliant crate (roughly $50 to $400), the travel vet visits themselves, boarding on a layover, and summer heat surcharges.

Pet shipping attracts scammers, so verify any company before you send money. IPATA, the International Pet and Animal Transportation Association, is a trade association: its members ship under their own company names, IPATA itself does not ship pets, and there is no legitimate shipper with "ipata" in its name. Scammers clone real shippers' sites, logos and testimonials, so check the company in the member directory at ipata.org rather than trusting a logo on a website. Treat these as red flags: a quote dramatically below every other quote, a domain registered less than six months ago, email coming from a gmail address rather than the company domain, and any request to pay by Western Union or MoneyGram.

Good news for the return trip: because Japan is rabies-free, a dog flying home to the US from Japan is on the simplest path. In most cases the only document you need is a free CDC form receipt, with no titer and no quarantine. We cover exactly what that involves in our guide to bringing a dog into the US.

For the wider picture, including how Japan compares with other destinations on lead time and cost, see traveling with a pet.

Common questions

Quick answers.

More on Japan

The little money things nobody warns you about.

• Taxis in Japan, and the GO appJapanese taxis are spotless, honest and metered, with doors that open for you and no tipping ever. They are also pricey, so from the airport the train usually wins. Here is how it works.
• Do I need cash in Japan, or can I use cards?Short answer: bring some cash, but you will tap and swipe for most of a city trip. The catch is that most Japanese bank ATMs reject foreign cards. Here is where to get yen, when you truly need it, and how to pay for the rest.
• Tipping in JapanThe answer here is simple and genuinely freeing: do not tip. Japan has no tipping culture, nobody expects one, and leaving extra money can cause confusion rather than gratitude. A polite thank-you is all that is needed.