Tourists and Short-Term Visitors Caught with Drugs in Japan: From the Airport Checkpoint to Re-entry After Going Home

People who came to Japan for sightseeing, business or to visit relatives, and who then find themselves caught up in a drug case at an airport inspection point or at their accommodation. We have handled a fair number of such consultations. Cases involving the temporary visitor (短期滞在) status of residence (在留資格) have difficulties peculiar to them. The period of stay is short, so it can expire in the middle of the criminal process; the person's life is not based in Japan, which makes it hard to construct an argument for being allowed to remain; and after returning home, re-entry is blocked by Article 5, paragraph 1, item 5 of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (入管法). This article works through those three stages in turn and considers where options remain.

Key points

• Even on a temporary visitor status, a guilty verdict in a drug case brings you within a ground for deportation (退去強制) under Article 24, item 4(chi) of the Immigration Act.
• Because the period of stay is short, it may expire during the criminal process, adding a state of unlawful overstay on top.
• A person unlawfully in possession of drugs is subject to denial of landing (上陸拒否) under Article 5, paragraph 1, item 6, so entry itself may be refused at the border.
• Once sentenced, a person is subject to denial of landing under Article 5, paragraph 1, item 5, to which no time limit is attached; it does not lapse with the passage of years.
• Precisely because an argument for remaining is hard to construct in this category, obtaining a decision not to prosecute (不起訴処分) before charges are brought carries relatively greater weight.

If I am caught while on a temporary visitor status, what happens in parallel?

In these cases the criminal process and the immigration question advance at more or less the same time, but at different speeds. Understanding that shape is the starting point.

On the criminal side the sequence runs from arrest to referral, a request for detention and detention questioning, with pre-charge custody running to roughly 20 days including any extension. On the immigration side, the period of stay for a temporary visitor is short to begin with, so it is not unusual for it to expire while the person is in custody. Since the person has no practical freedom to leave the country, a state of having overstayed the period of stay arises unintentionally, bringing Article 24, item 4(ro) of the Immigration Act into play on top of everything else.

On top of that, a guilty verdict brings Article 24, item 4(chi) into independent operation. That item covers a person found guilty of violating the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act (麻薬及び向精神薬取締法), the Cannabis Cultivation Control Act (大麻草の栽培の規制に関する法律), the Opium Act (あへん法), the Stimulants Control Act (覚醒剤取締法), the Anti-Drug Special Provisions Act (麻薬特例法), or Chapter XIV of Part II of the Penal Code. It sets no limit as to type or length of sentence, so a fine or a suspended sentence is enough.

Can I be refused entry at the airport for possessing drugs?

Where the matter comes to light at the airport before entry, a separate problem arises: landing may simply not be permitted. Article 5, paragraph 1, item 6 of the Immigration Act makes a person who unlawfully possesses narcotics, psychotropic substances, poppies, opium, poppy straw, stimulants, stimulant raw materials or opium-smoking implements subject to denial of landing.

That provision does not ask whether the person has been sentenced; it captures the unlawful possession itself. It therefore operates independently at the point of deciding whether entry is permitted, without waiting for the outcome of the criminal process. Even where someone brought in a product that is lawful abroad and believed it to be lawful, how Japanese law evaluates that product is a separate question.

Is it over once I go home? Why item 5 having no time limit matters

Even if returning home brings the criminal process and the deportation procedure to an end, whether you can visit Japan again is a separate question. Article 5, paragraph 1, item 5 of the Immigration Act is decisive here.

That item makes subject to denial of landing any person who has been sentenced for violating the laws of Japan or of any country other than Japan relating to the control of narcotics, cannabis, opium, stimulants or psychotropic substances. No period is attached to it, unlike Article 5, paragraph 1, item 9. Item 9 sets periods of one year, five years and ten years according to matters such as a person's deportation history; item 5 has nothing of the kind.

A person sentenced for a drug offence is therefore not in a position where the ground for denial of landing disappears with the passage of years. Moreover, item 5 is satisfied simply by having been sentenced, so a fine is enough, and violations of foreign law are included. For any subsequent entry, the route to consider is special permission for landing under Article 12, paragraph 1 of the Immigration Act.

• Article 5(1)(v): a person sentenced for a drug offence. No time limit. A fine is enough. Violations of foreign law are included
• Article 5(1)(ix): periods of one year, five years or ten years according to deportation history and comparable matters
• Article 5(1)(iv): a person who has been sentenced to imprisonment (拘禁刑) of one year or more, excluding political offences
• For a further attempt to enter Japan, special permission for landing under Article 12, paragraph 1 is the avenue to consider

Because the case for remaining is hard to build, the pre-charge stage is decisive

In deciding on special permission to stay (在留特別許可), Article 50, paragraph 5 of the Immigration Act provides for consideration of the reasons for wishing to remain, family circumstances, conduct, how the person came to enter Japan, the length of residence in Japan and the legal status held during that time, the facts giving rise to the deportation, and the need for humanitarian consideration, among other matters.

For someone on a temporary visitor status, items such as "the length of residence in Japan" and "family circumstances" are structurally difficult to fill out with the same depth as a long-term resident can. The fact that a person's life is not based in Japan cannot be altered. That is precisely why we consider that in this category the weight of the defence work belongs in the period before charges are brought. If no guilty verdict exists, Article 24, item 4(chi) does not operate and the problem under Article 5, paragraph 1, item 5 does not arise.

What can be done in that short pre-charge window depends on the nature of the case. In possession and importation cases we examine how the luggage was handled and how the trip came about, in order to test whether the necessary intent existed. In use cases we examine whether the urine sample was truly given voluntarily, whether the warrant was lawful, and whether the identity of the analysed material and the chain of custody hold up. None of this can be answered in the abstract, apart from the individual facts, but there genuinely are situations in which these points merit examination.

For families abroad: how to view the Japanese procedure

In the Japanese criminal process, the period from arrest to the decision whether to prosecute is fixed by law, and during that period the defence lawyer can visit the client and make representations to the prosecutor. For foreign nationals there is also the consular notification mechanism under Article 36, paragraph 1(b) of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Whether arrangements exist for conveying the situation accurately in the person's own language does a great deal to determine the quality of that period.

How our office works, and matters we have handled

At Funado International Law Office (3F Fuse Building Main Wing, 3-4-10 Takada, Toshima-ku, Tokyo), attorney Daisuke Matsumura personally handles every stage, from the first detention-centre visit through to the close of trial. In temporary visitor cases the time available at the outset is limited, which makes it all the more valuable for the lawyer to have grasped the facts personally from the very beginning.

For Chinese, a dedicated interpreter experienced in cases involving foreign nationals is on staff, so that separate from the interpreter appointed by the investigating authorities you can use an interpreter who acts for you. For other languages we arrange an interpreter to suit the particular case, and matters relating to status of residence after the procedure has ended are handled together with an administrative scrivener with whom we work.

By way of example, we acted for a client prosecuted under the Stimulants Control Act for possession with intent to profit who was acquitted following exhaustive analysis of the evidence and careful examination of the defendant and cross-examination of witnesses. We have also handled international criminal cases, cases tried before lay judge panels, and serious matters reported worldwide. In another matter, a woman in her twenties alleged to have acted as a cash collector in a specialised fraud operation obtained a decision not to prosecute after we argued the subjective circumstances in the round.

Being taken into custody in a country you came to as a tourist or on a business trip is hard for anyone, and for their family, to imagine. Even so, the Japanese procedure has defined stages, and at each stage there are steps that can be taken. We would suggest beginning by setting out the facts calmly. This article is a general explanation. For your own situation, please consult a lawyer directly. The past results described above turned on the particular circumstances of those cases and are not a guarantee that a similar outcome will be achieved.

This article reflects the law as at August 2026.

About the author

Daisuke Matsumura, Attorney at Law
Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar Association (registration no. 59077, admitted 2019)
Funado International Law Office (Fuse Building Main Wing 3F, 3-4-10 Takada, Toshima-ku, Tokyo)
Practice focused on criminal defence for foreign nationals and immigration proceedings.
Results include an acquittal in a Stimulants Control Act case (possession for the purpose of profit), non-prosecution in organised fraud cases, and special permission to stay in cases regarded as difficult.

Funado International Law Office
Website: https://matsumura-lawoffice.jp/
WeChat ID: matsumura1119