Canada to Japan
Pet Shipping from Canada to Japan
We provide international pet transport from Canada to Japan, planned around its import rules, the Canadian winter and your move date.
Book door-to-door pet relocation, or only the parts you need.
- Airline booking
- The travel crate
- The CFIA export paperwork
- Check-in at your Canadian airport
- Pickup in Japan with delivery to your new address
Japan at a glance
Full requirementsJapan’s Animal Quarantine Service, on its pages read 18 September 2026, lists as designated regions only Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, the Fiji Islands, Hawaii and Guam, which leaves Canada on the longer import route: two rabies vaccinations, an antibody titre test and a 180 day wait after the blood draw.
- Microchip
- A 15 digit ISO 11784 and 11785 chip, implanted no later than the day of the opening rabies shot
- Rabies vaccinations
- Two or more, of the inactivated or recombinant type. The opening dose given no earlier than 91 days old. The next at least 30 days after it.
- Rabies titre
- 0.5 IU/ml or more, on blood taken after the second dose and tested at a designated laboratory; the result stays valid for 2 years from sampling
- Waiting period
- At least 180 days between sampling and arrival. The sampling date is day 0.
- Advance notice
- Filed with the quarantine office of the landing airport 40 or more days ahead, through NACCS or by email
Pet Shipping from Canada to Japan
Japan publishes its import procedure as a numbered sequence, and each stage depends on the one before it, so the order matters as much as the paperwork. A rabies shot given before the microchip is invalid except under conditions the Animal Quarantine Service sets out separately. If you would like a simple overview of international moves first, start with our guide to international pet shipping destinations. Bringing a pet the other way, into Canada? See our guide to bringing a pet to Canada.
Which route does a pet take into Japan?
A dog flying to Japan can land only where the Animal Quarantine Service allows it, which by air means New Chitose, Narita, Haneda, Chubu, Kansai, Osaka Itami, Kobe, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Kagoshima or Naha, and the service asks to be contacted in advance about a cat or an assistance dog headed for any other port. The advance notification goes to the quarantine office at the landing airport, and the service says it does not, in principle, accept a change that brings the arrival forward, adds or swaps an animal, or comes after the scheduled date. Where a pet is due to be held on arrival and the detention facility is full, the service notes that a different date or port may be needed. So the landing airport is settled before a ticket is bought, and the plan leaves room rather than relying on an amendment.
What are the entry requirements for pets going to Japan?
The short answer
Japan asks a pet from Canada for a microchip, two rabies vaccinations, a titre of at least 0.5 IU/ml from a designated laboratory, and 180 days of waiting after the blood draw. Notice goes to the Animal Quarantine Service 40 days or more ahead of arrival.
Import Eligibility for Pets
For Japan, eligibility is settled by the vaccine and the timing of the shots. The CFIA’s Japan page notes that Japanese authorities accept only approved inactivated or recombinant rabies vaccines, not RNA particle ones, so the product is worth confirming with your veterinarian before the opening dose. Japan accepts a first vaccination only if the pet was at least 91 days old, with the day of birth as day 0, even though some countries allow one at 12 weeks. The second dose follows 30 or more days later, while the earlier one is still in effect, which the service measures by the duration of immunity and not by the expiry date for using the product. Only after that second dose can blood be drawn for the titre test.
Quarantine in Japan runs from a few hours to as long as 180 days. With every step complete, the Animal Quarantine Service describes the stay as within 12 hours. The inspection itself, it adds, usually needs less than an hour, sometimes longer. With everything else in order but the 180 day wait unfinished, the remainder is served in a detention facility on arrival, and asked whether a medical reason can shorten it, the service answers that there are no exceptions. Detention cannot take place at home, and the importer bears the cost of care, feeding, electricity and water and vet visits while it lasts, so the calendar is built to avoid it. Ready to start? Request a quote.
What vet work and documents does a pet need for Japan?
The Animal Quarantine Service sets out the work in order. It starts with a microchip to ISO 11784 and 11785, implanted before the opening rabies shot or on the same day. Two or more vaccinations follow. A blood sample drawn after the second is tested at a designated laboratory and needs a titre of 0.5 IU/ml or more, a result that holds for two years from the sampling date. In the final 10 days before boarding, a veterinarian inspects the pet for signs of rabies and, in a dog, leptospirosis. A chip outside the ISO standard means contacting the service and perhaps supplying a reader, and it has flagged two problems with chip codes: those starting 900 202, which it is not accepting for now, and identical numbers implanted in different animals, in several ranges that open with 900. The certificate comes last. Japan wants it issued by the exporting country’s government and recommends its own Form AC. In Canada your vet fills it in and an official CFIA veterinarian endorses it at an appointment, which has to happen before the pet leaves. The service warns that pencil, erasable ink, correction fluid or tape have no place on it, and that a deficiency means detention for as long as 180 days or a flight back.
| Requirement | Japan, from Canada |
|---|---|
| Microchip | A 15 digit ISO 11784 and 11785 chip, implanted no later than the day of the opening rabies shot |
| Rabies vaccinations | Two or more, of the inactivated or recombinant type. The opening dose given no earlier than 91 days old. The next at least 30 days after it. |
| Rabies titre | 0.5 IU/ml or more, on blood taken after the second dose and tested at a designated laboratory; the result stays valid for 2 years from sampling |
| Waiting period | At least 180 days between sampling and arrival. The sampling date is day 0. |
| Advance notice | Filed with the quarantine office of the landing airport 40 or more days ahead, through NACCS or by email |
| Health certificate | Completed by your vet after a clinical inspection within 10 days of boarding, then endorsed by a CFIA veterinarian at a booked appointment before departure |
| Quarantine | Within 12 hours when every step is complete. Otherwise the shortfall in the wait, or as long as 180 days for a deficient certificate. |
Two sets of published rules shape this checklist. On the Canadian side, the CFIA’s page on exporting dogs and cats to Japan, read 24 September 2026, points owners to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for the requirements and the certificate. Its separate page on booking an appointment for endorsement, read 22 September 2026, explains how that step is arranged. For the entry rules, this page works from the Animal Quarantine Service’s guidance on importing from non-designated regions and its page of dog and cat questions, both read on 18 September 2026.
Planning Timeline for Pet Shipping to Japan
The 180 day wait takes up six of the roughly seven months a move to Japan needs from a pet with no microchip, and a puppy adds the time until it is 91 days old, since its opening shot cannot come earlier. The sequence runs from a consultation to the microchip and that opening shot, then the second dose 30 or more days later, the titre blood draw and the wait itself. The advance notification has to reach Japan 40 or more days before landing. The CFIA appointment is requested with as much notice as possible. The last 10 days hold the clinical inspection, the completed certificate, the CFIA endorsement and the flight.
Planning the budget? See what shipping a pet from Canada to Japan costs, fee by fee.
Every Pet Travels Differently
Different destinations, different routes, different challenges.
Destination-Focused Planning
The CFIA sends owners to Japan for the certificate itself, and the Animal Quarantine Service recommends its Form AC. We check every chip number and date on it against the titre report before the endorsement appointment.
Smart Routing and Logistics
We help choose practical routes, travel windows, and handoff procedures so your pet’s trip is safer and more predictable.
Personalized Support
Pet Travel Advisors assigns a move coordinator who keeps you updated and checks details before travel so nothing important is missed.
Questions about moving a pet to Japan
Request a QuoteWhich Canadian airports will my pet fly from to Japan?
That depends on the airline and the season more than on a fixed list, and the flight that suits a move to Japan may leave from an airport some distance from home, with the road leg to it booked as a separate service. At the other end, Japan’s Animal Quarantine Service lets a dog land only at its designated airports and seaports, Narita, Haneda, Kansai and Chubu among them, and asks to be contacted in advance about a cat arriving anywhere else. A connection matters too. Where you stay airside, the service says no additional certification is necessary, and where you pass through the connecting country’s border with your pet, it asks for a health certificate issued there.
What does Canada require to send my pet to Japan?
Japan wants the export certificate issued by the government of the country the pet leaves, and in Canada that is the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency). Your own vet completes the certificate after a clinical inspection within 10 days of boarding, and an official CFIA veterinarian endorses it. The CFIA’s booking page, read 22 September 2026, says endorsement needs an appointment, with no walk-ins, and cannot be done once the pet has left Canada; it also explains how the service fee is paid.
When is the best time to fly a pet from Canada to Japan?
From Canada the season cuts both ways. Air Canada’s passenger page on travelling with animals, read 16 September 2026, lists Japan among the destinations where pets may not ride in the baggage compartment from 1 June to 30 September, and it publishes separate cold-weather limits by date, temperature and aircraft, which our guide to fall and winter pet travel restrictions explains. Both restrictions cover pets flying as checked baggage, and Air Canada Cargo publishes its own conditions. For Japan, though, the calendar decides more than the weather, because a pet landing before its 180 days are up spends the rest of them in detention.
How much does it cost to move a pet from Canada to Japan?
Every move is priced individually, because the route from Canada, airline fees, your pet’s size and crate, the season, and Japan’s requirements all change the total. Tell us your city and timing and we’ll put together an estimate: request a quote.
How does Pet Travel Advisors handle a Canada-to-Japan move?
Each part can be taken on its own: airline tickets, the travel crate, the paperwork on both sides, from the vaccination calendar and Japan’s advance notification to the CFIA appointment, check-in with the airline at the departure airport, and pickup in Japan with delivery to the new address. Some owners choose door-to-door relocation, and others only the flight or only the documents.
Ready to start?
Book door-to-door pet relocation, or only the parts you need.