Effective March 21, 2024, the Postal Service™ is revising the Individual Country Listing for Japan in Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM®) to note a prohibition regarding the importation of firearms and weapons, and to revise the prohibition regarding narcotics.
These revisions are based on a formal request that the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan (MIC) made through the Universal Postal Union via International Bureau Circular 33, dated February 19, 2024.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM)
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Individual Country Listings
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Japan
Country Conditions for Mailing
Prohibitions
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[Add an entry beginning with “Firearms and weapons” to read as follows, and revise the entry beginning with “Narcotics” to read as follows (adding “and other similar substances”):]
Firearms, the components and accessories of firearms, and weapons. Firearms (including handguns, pistols, machine guns, and rifles), the components and accessories of firearms, and other types of weapons (including daggers, swords, spears, and switch blade knives) may not be imported into Japan unless addressed to an appropriate organization and unless the intended recipient has received prior permission from the competent authority (such as the Public Safety Commission) in the prefecture in which that recipient resides.
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Narcotics, psychotropic substances, and other similar substances.
Restrictions
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[Remove the entry beginning with “Firearms” (a new entry about this topic has been added to Prohibitions).]
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Although effective March 21, 2024, the Postal Service will incorporate these revisions into a later edition of the online IMM (after the one scheduled for April 1, 2024). The IMM is available via Postal Explorer® at pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Product Solutions, 3-21-24
