How much of a hassle is it bringing a dog into Japan?

[AssKissinger]

Plane tickets. Papers and so on. How much work and how much money?

[Taro Toporific]

Plane tickets. Papers and so on. How much work and how much money?

Pet importing used to be the total ass-reaming. Now, there's some new technology for proving a dog is rabies-free and the quarantine process is swifter as well as less painful.

The FG member, "madfuku", just brought his doberman into Japan---send him a PM directly. madfuku's beast
I wrote this two years ago, but it's a little outdated since the pet paperwork is now somewhat easier. (Update: the current average cost is from $2,500 to $6,000+!!.)

I wanna bring Triumph-chan to Japan (Importing pets)

[madfuku]

I recently imported my Doberman from the US and am in the process of importing a 2nd one. The process is very long, very complex, time consuming and cost prohibitive for most gaijin and perhaps many Japanese as well. The bigger the dog the harder and more expensive the process. In my case the cost's where about $6,000 US for reasons that are probably somewhat unique to me. For the average person it will probably be along the lines of $2575 start to finish and I will itemize the expenses.

The changes in the law by Japan where not designed to simplify the process, it was designed to discourage importation and reduce the overall number of pets entering Japan from overseas. It is also designed to be so involved that the average person simply wouldn't bother going down the year long process involved. Most people will tell you its a 180 day process, that would be a quote from someone with no experience in the process who read some superficially theoretical importation process without accounting for how things actually happen on a planet called earth. The process was in fact much simpler prior to the recent changes in the animal control law which I also have experience in when I lived in Tokyo in 1999.

I want to point out I have imported into the many places I lived in my life including Germany, France and the United Kingdom. So I have loads of experience in moving pets and other large personal items including motor vehicles between continents and island nations. Japan is by far the most difficult nation to do these tasks in and primarily by design.

Instead of simply explaining the process, I have scanned all the documents I submitted to the Japanese government and the documents I received from start to finish. I will explain them as best as I can as the paper process is daunting and involves communication with the Japanese government, your home government, various vets, airlines and for US originating pets Kansas State University.

For all 14 documents (READABLE SIZE) you will need to collect, execute and complete along the way prior to me commenting on them Click Here

I inserted comments on each document in the following post so you have a better idea of what it takes and cost:

The Japanese Government expects you to know you will be going to Japan 180 days before you actually arrive. In my case I knew I was going to japan perhaps 120 days (4 months) before. Sounds like a lot of time, but actually the process requires that your pet is quarantined for 180 days in your home country before arrival. It doesn't matter that your pet is healthy and has all its rabies vaccinations up to date according to the standards of your home country, it needs to meet the requirements of the Japanese government.

That means before you can do anything at all your dog MUST have a microchip inserted into its neck. This is something most people don't do in there home countries because it isn't required unless you intend to travel with your pet. Any vaccination performed before the Microchip is considered to have never occurred and thus inadmissible as vaccination evidence. If your dog was chipped first when it was born and then vaccinated, your smarter than I am because the process will be 180 days for you, maybe.

I do want to add for the smarter people who chipped their pets first that the Japanese government will not accept vaccinations that did not follow the identification process they outlined. That means, vet reads chip number with digital reader, vaccinates the dog, then must INCLUDE the Microchip number and the Vaccination information on the same certificate and rabbies registration database. If you have chipped dog and have post-chip vaccinations, they are invalid unless that procedure was followed AND properly documented in the rabies vaccination certificate. Most doctors won't do this automatically and you must ask to have the Microchip ID read and referenced each time. This means, most of you with chips probably don't qualify either and must start from zero as well.

Continue to next post...

[madfuku]

continued from previous post...

Step 1: Microchip ID Certificate (Cost $260 Vet Visit Implantation and Registration and a day of my life)
[img]http://lh6.google.com/madfuku/RrWIEGBYu8I/AAAAAAAAAB8/sA_Lyiew5I4/s400/ImportDog0014.jpg"[/img]

Step 2: First VALID Rabies Vaccination occurs AFTER RFID Chip is implanted (Dog must also be 91 days old or greater)
Vaccination 1 Certificate
(Cost $120 and a day of my life)
[img]http://lh6.google.com/madfuku/RrWH3GBYu4I/AAAAAAAAABc/JWQZmHUW32k/s400/ImportDog0009.jpg"[/img]

Step 3: Second VALID Vaccination occurs 31 days AFTER first VALID Rabies Vaccination (this is harmful to the dogs health BTW)
(Cost $120 and a day of my life)
[img]http://lh4.google.com/madfuku/RrWH7mBYu6I/AAAAAAAAABs/-iRBM4ysDxM/s400/ImportDog0010.jpg"[/img]

Step 4: Blood Sample and forward to Kansas State University (for US residents) for analysis. US military persons have alternatives.
FAVN Results from Kansas State University (Assuming your dog passes this test) (Cost $360 and a day of my life)
[img]http://lh5.google.com/madfuku/RrWIQ2BYu_I/AAAAAAAAACU/pJse2THvP3w/s400/ImportDog0011.jpg"[/img]

Step 5: The 180 day waiting period starts on the date the serum sample is taken and sent to Kansas State University. THUS, 180 days you see on the Japanese Govt website ASSUMES you already did steps 1 - 4 and skips them in their overall calculation. But in reality steps 1 through 4 done immediately adds an additional 40 days if you want to hurt your dog due to the damage to the dogs health that will occur doing vaccinations so closely together. In fact, my vet basically told me I shouldn't double administer vaccinations so closely (31 days) because it likely will impact the animals health and should be spaced out as far apart as possible but at least 60 days. So if you care about your pet, that means 40+60+180, that's 280 days PRIOR to your departure to Japan.

Step 6: This is like the which comes first the chicken or the egg. You need to do two things, get a plane ticket to Japan AND authorization to let your pet be shipped aboard the plane with you in a environmentally controlled section of the aircraft. The aircraft is limited on the number of animals it may carry, I was told it can be as few as one permitted at time. In order to make the cargo reservation you need to request an IMPORT APPROVAL CERTIFICATE that contains an Approval No. from the Japanese government to fax to the airline in order to make the reservation properly.

J-Approval for Import
[img]http://lh6.google.com/madfuku/RrWHnGBYu0I/AAAAAAAAAA8/CPSiTTsnV7k/s400/ImportDog0003.jpg"[/img]

HOWEVER, in order to get the IMPORT APPROVAL CERTIFICATE you must tell them 40 days prior to depature exactly the date you WILL arrive, the Flight number and the expected time of arrival along with the gate you will deplane from. WHAAAA? But, there is no guarantee you can get the flight and cargo approval on a flight without first having this document. Theres a lot of ways to get around this however.

I basically lied, and picked a flight and airline I was going to try to get the ticket for received approval for import, then tried to make reservations to match what I wrote as closely as possible, but in my case I couldn't get a ticket from JAL from NYC that also had space for a pet so I has to switch to ANA and a different terminal. Once I got the ticket I had to fill out a form requesting a change to my original request for IMPORT APPROVAL changing the importing flight, date, time and terminal which had to be sent to the Chief of the Quarantine Unit at Narita for his authorization in the change. I did get his authorization. (Cost: Plane ticket with dog $1400)

Step 7: Now sometime between Steps 4 and 6 you need to have your veterinarian complete some paperwork they will invariably get wrong a few times and take a long time to fill out as well because, well, they are doctors. (Cost: For Vets Time to fill out paperwork $400) It consist of the following:

Export Declaration
[img]http://lh4.google.com/madfuku/RrWHrmBYu1I/AAAAAAAAABE/7B-Raa_Q--s/s400/ImportDog0004.jpg"[/img]
Rabies Vaccination History
[img]http://lh5.google.com/madfuku/RrWIS2BYvAI/AAAAAAAAACc/UaAk-p3q3IQ/s400/ImportDog0006.jpg"[/img]
Veterinary Certification Page 1
[img]http://lh6.google.com/madfuku/RrWHvGBYu2I/AAAAAAAAABM/up3SzAKuUbs/s400/ImportDog0007.jpg"[/img]
Veterinary Certification Page 2
[img]http://lh5.google.com/madfuku/RrWHz2BYu3I/AAAAAAAAABU/022CbhmMuqc/s400/ImportDog0008.jpg"[/img]
Certificate for Serum (Blood Test sent to Kansas State University)
[img]http://lh3.google.com/madfuku/RrWH6WBYu5I/AAAAAAAAABk/E6CwMRQfoRo/s400/ImportDog0005.jpg"[/img]

Step 8: After you have all that paperwork filled out you need to take your pet to the vet 24 hours before you depart for a Health Certificate, but wait, all the documents your vet completed are INVALID until you get a SEAL or STAMP from your governments national health agency for animals. In the case of the US, that would be the USDA... The Japanese WANT the health certificate issued no longer than 48 hours prior to departure, that means within 48 hours you got to go a US Government office, have them review your paperwork, endorse ALL YOUR PAPERWORK with a embossed stamp on each and every page, along with a stamp and a signature of the USDA Official (you pay $20 per page btw) otherwise it is INVALID to the Japanese government and THEN they issue you an official USDA health certificate for the animal (you pay for that too) (Cost came to about $120).

USDA Health Certificate
[img]http://lh5.google.com/madfuku/RrWHi2BYuzI/AAAAAAAAAA0/gVFFBhmdNZk/s400/ImportDog.jpg"[/img]

Step 9: Go to the airline with your pet, check yourself and your pet in, they go over ALL your paperwork using a checkoff list the Japanese government provided to the airlines. You must also complete a an airline waiver indemnifying them of damages or killing or loosing your pet. When that is OK then they XRAY your dog kennel, you put your dog inside and then they seal it and load the sucker on the plane last. (this was the easiest part of the entire process). The US government doesn't do anything except check that you have a valid USDA Health Certificate.

Consent and Release ANA
[img]http://lh3.google.com/madfuku/RrWH_WBYu7I/AAAAAAAAAB0/VmBIiCNJ12Q/s400/ImportDog0013.jpg"[/img]

Step 10: Arrive in Japan and go through Animal Quarantine. After your long flight, pass immigration and you go directly to pick up your luggage. The dog is unloaded first from the plane and wheeled into the baggage area by baggage handlers. The Japanese are really not equipped for this. First, they are scared of the dog, its wheeled to an inspection station where the quareteen officials realize its a doberman. You hand over your stack of paperwork for review, the dog is wheeled into a room where you have to take him out for a quick health check. They are so scared of the dog they won't touch him and basically inspect him without ever touching him from across the room. After that they leave and come back a few minutes later with more paperwork which I must fill out. Basically so they can issue me a Japanese Heath Certificate which proves the dog passed all Japanese importation requirements.

This is the certificate I receive after passing animal control:

Import Quarantine Certificate
[img]http://lh5.google.com/madfuku/RrWII2BYu9I/AAAAAAAAACE/IPbSoOx_5sI/s400/ImportDog0015.jpg"[/img]

Step 11: After that I have to connect to the only flight I could find that would accept a Doberman. That flight happens to be in Haneda. SO, I had someone drive me and the dog to Haneda for the connecting flight to Fukuoka. Which I had prearranged from the US and had a reservation for. They again where not equiped to deal with my dog. First, they wanted me to put my dog in their own carrier, but the kennels they have where for little dogs not monsters like mine.

They did not want me to use my own kennel because they said it was not authorized for use in Japan, even though it is approved for use internationally. After much arguing and them almost making miss my flight they agreed to load the dog in using my kennel. I made it to the gate just in time and the dog was the last to be loaded. No paperwork was needed within Japan.

Step 12: Arrive at Fukuoka Airport Domestic terminal. They roll dog out inside his kennel, I claim him and loading to my car that was parked in the airport already. Finally freedom for the dog.

Step 13: Go to your ward office with the Japanese Health Certificate and find someone with a clue. Good luck with that. I go to the agency that administers national health care and told them I wanted to register the dog and receive a proof of rabies vaccination tag. They said such a thing was not possible and that I would have to go to a vet to vaccinate the dog AGAIN and come back. Then I explained to them the process, the law and their obligation to accept the health certificate. They made a few calls, and after about 2 hours they got confirmation from Tokyo of the correct procedure accepted the form and issued me a rabies and registration tag. (Cost about $35 and a day of my life)

Rabies and Registration Tags
[img]http://lh5.google.com/madfuku/RrWIL2BYu-I/AAAAAAAAACM/MqWAa7RyCKE/s400/ImportDog0016.jpg"[/img]

There other cost I did not include which where related to my particular situation but these would be the average costs for most people. My vet is probably a little more expensive than most but it is a premium operation, even Al Pachino and Rosie O'Donnell use the same vet as they where neighbors of mine.

So for the curious and interested in importing a dog thats the whole deal in a nutshell.

[AssKissinger]

Holy Fuck!

I guess Rover's staying in a kennel or going to the pound for a long doggy dirt nap if I move back altogether. With all that shit, I'm surprised they don't have him taste tested in Korea.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to write all that up. Goddamn.

[GuyJean]

Shit! Much easier to get a Chinese prostitute in..

GJ

[madfuku]

Another interesting thing to note is that if you leave Japan you have to requalify all over again to return to Japan with the same dog using the same procedure I outlined in my previous post.

So that chip your dog had implanted has no actual reusable value within Japan or when returning to Japan in direct contrast to Europe where you have a doggy passport and registered vaccinations that are recorded to the chips ID and verifiable making it unnecessary to refile paperwork or redo steps that where already done.

In theory the purpose of the chip is to serve like a fingerprint to uniquely and indisputably identify your pet. However, in reality the chip is not used in this way by the Japanese and they don't actually have a usable database saying your dog already had entered Japan in the past and passed all requirements to enter. As far as they are conserned you are bringing back a new dog and the process starts all over again. At least on the ward level you don't have to do anything as long as your original registrations are still valid when you return.

[DrP]

So how long did that take you again, in dog years? And how long do you plan to stay in Japan? I could see going through this if I was living here more or less permanently, however for a 1-3yr stint - no way. It's off to grandma's house for the pooch. I can visit him/her on the regular holiday trips back. Besides, who wants a full size dog in Tokyo? If that's not animal abuse, nothing is. I see this raggedy Afghan hound some dolt keeps walking around Azabu. The poor beast has scabs from scratching himself silly - probably out of stress. hasn't run in years, if it all. My brother raised purebred Dobermans in Idaho - even with a HUGE fenced in runway, they were bound to get bored and antsy. NIMBY!

[madfuku]

So how long did that take you again, in dog years? And how long do you plan to stay in Japan?

I started the process in January of 2006 and got him here in May 2007. I have very strong professional connections with Japan so I will always have a residence here. At the moment I don't have any plans to leave Japan.

Besides, who wants a full size dog in Tokyo? If that's not animal abuse, nothing is.

I agree in principle, but I don't live in Tokyo . I live in spacious Fukuoka and have a very large property by both US and Japanese standards. My dog is more likely to be exhausted than bored. This is my forth Doberman since childhood soon to add the fifth.

In my area big dogs are more common than little dogs because its all private houses with property. This may not be the case in many parts of Tokyo but it is the case here. BTW, I am a big fan of Idaho and actually most of the mid-west

[Greji]

In my area big dogs are more common than little dogs because its all private houses with property.

That's true in my area also. When you have a lot of big dogs present, small dogs begin to resemble "doggie snacks" and tend to disappear at an accelerated rate.

[halfnip]

Damn... I brought my pet back 2 months after 9/11 and although it was a tedious process, looking at it like that makes it seem more painful than it was. Back when I went through this, there was a required time period where your pet needed to be quarantined (I think it was like a month or so), but I believe they did away with that. The funny thing was after I got off the flight and brought my pet through to get quarantined, I begged and pleaded for them to let me take him home because he was up to date on paperwork, blah, blah, blah. Much to my surprise, they agreed, but I had to promise to take him up to Narita for a health check each weekend (on Sat or Sun) until the quarantine period was up..

[GomiGirl]

I guess Rover's staying in a kennel or going to the pound for a long doggy dirt nap if I move back altogether.

Does this mean you are coming back? *Party time*

Thanks a lot for taking the time to write all that up. Goddamn.

It was a fab writeup!! Great one for the archives.