Taking Kitchen Knives Out of Japan

The most important thing to learn from this article is that it is legal for a kitchen knife to leave Japan. From the Japanese side of things, there is no major issues with kitchen knife exporting. Customers buy knives from us online and in-store everyday, destined to leave Japan. This is normal, and common!

There are a couple of ways you can take a kitchen knife outside of Japan, but the most cost efficient and easiest will almost always be by personally taking it with you in your checked luggage. Your luggage is also the only way to take items outside of Japan and be exempt from sales or consumption tax, which we will talk about later.

If you have a suitcase or other luggage you plan to check, you already have what you need. If you have properly sealed the container the kitchen knife is in, you should be able take it with you without issue. Good examples of sealing the box are leaving it gift wrapped or sealed if it is tax-free, or putting it into a box wrapped in newspaper and bubble wrap if it is not.

When taking your kitchen knife to the airport or seaport, pack it in your luggage before you leave, and do not carry it around in public outside of its box. This also applies to any domestic travel on bullet trains or long-haul buses. Another way to look at this is that your kitchen knife should never be easily accessible when you are carrying it with you.

Professional chefs travel the world all the time and take their tools with them, and systems are in place to accomodate for this. Because of these failsafes, it is in most cases perfectly fine to take them in checked luggage on an airplane. They are often defined as tools belonging to a professional or craft, but it depends on the country.

Sea travel is a little different, because you normally have access to all your suitcases and cannot check them. In this instance, pass it on to the ship's staff and they will effectively check the item individually, so you cannot access it until the end of your trip.

Make sure to remember that your knife cannot go in any carry-on luggage. This could be dangerous, so make sure not to accidentally leave it outsiude of your suitcase when you go to drop it off. In short, check it in, don't carry it on.

You can also post a kitchen knife in the mail through a parcel service, provided you have properly sealed the container the knife is in.

If you are going to post a kitchen knife, especially one using Japanese steel that is hard like Blue Steel Super, or something more delicate like a Japanese natural whetstone, make sure to pack it very safely and correctly. Both kitchen knives and sharpening stones can be fragile to certain kinds of impact damage, which can easily occur in the postal system.

You can post items you have purchased tax-free out of Japan, but you will lose the tax-free benefit and need to pay the consumption tax on any tax-free items you were originally exempted from. This is due to Japanese laws changing in 2025 to prevent tax-free shipping.

When posting kitchen knives, make sure you have packed the knife in a very secure way, preferably in its original box. Cover the knife box in bubble or packing wrap to keep it from moving around too much or worse, falling out. This is very important, because if the box gets cut from a dangerous knife moving around inside, not only will it not get posted, it could hurt postal service staff. We advise putting on a fragile (kowaremono or 壊れ物) sticker.

Some shipping companies refuse to ship kitchen knives and place them on their prohibited items list, so check before visiting a location to make sure it is safe to send.

You may also need to write certain customs declarations, depending on where you are posting it to. Consult your local customs office to check before doing this.

This option is important to consider and be aware of. Many people travel without checked luggage (such as flight crew), are buying gifts for other people, or are already sending back a large parcel. Sometimes, postage is just the best way, even if it does cost more and remove tax-free savings.

But it may still cost less than a whole suitcase and fees to check it!

While kitchen knives must go in your checked luggage, accessories may not need to.

If your luggage is too full or heavy, it is okay to take items like saya, sheathes, and some smaller sharpening stones or stone accessories in your carry-on or cabin baggage. Liquids like blade oil should stay in your checked luggage, though. Some of our other cooking accessories like our cooking chopsticks (morisashi) are also regarded as pointed objects, so leave those in your luggage too. As a rule of thumb, sharp or pointed objects generally are not allowed in carry-on luggage.

Stones can be quite heavy, so they are a good item to move into your carry-on if your flight carrier allows it. Natural stones are particularly fragile, and are best kept in carry-on or cabin baggage anyway.

Remember though, even if they are fully sealed, kitchen knives cannot go in any carry-on luggage. They must be checked.

There is generally no restrictions on exporting Japanese kitchen knives, provided they are not historically important items.

Tax-free items should always be declared to Japanese customs as you leave, so they can properly inspect them. Remember, if you have opened a tax-free item while in Japan, you may be liable to pay the consumption tax, so it is better to keep it sealed. Please keep in mind also that there are some situations where you cannot buy an item tax-free, or use a tax-free waiver.

For kitchen knives that are also registered as antiques or works of art, please contact the relevant Japanese customs agencies for more information. Exporting such items is incredibly difficult and time consuming.

No Sakai Ichimonji Mitsuhide knives are currently registered as works of art at this time.

Where challenges arise most for people is after the kitchen knife leaves Japan. While Japan is okay with kitchen knives being exported, a few countries are not okay with kitchen knives being imported.

For example, Mainland China does not allow Japanese kitchen knives to be imported whether they are posted or brought in via checked luggage, bar some very small and specific exceptions.

Some countries allow kitchen knives to be imported under certain conditions. The knife may need to be under a certain length or width. Petty knives are the knives most likely to be safe from restriction, but not always.

A large majority of countries allow Japanese kitchen knife imports, but you should always check with the customs office of that country. Some countries will require you to declare the item on arrival, so they can inspect it and determine if it is okay for it to enter the country.

Be mindful that the laws regarding importing a product via mail might be different to those importing via carry-on.

This can heavily restrict the type or amount of knives you can purchase, so it is important to check both postage and carry-on rules when taking a Japanese kitchen knife home with you.

For example, one country does not allow knives over 180mm to be posted there, but does allow them to be brought in via checked luggage.

You should always check the rules for both the country and method you are exporting a knife, keeping in mind postage likely includes knives being bought online.

With the above example, we may not be able to do online retail sales of a 210mm gyuto to that country, but people can purchase one in our store and bring it home through their checked luggage.

Confusion can arise when someone is transiting between countries. Which laws apply? Do the laws for every country apply?

Sadly, the answer is that it varies. Generally if you do not have access to the luggage, it is okay to take a Japanese kitchen knife with you in transit or on layover, but this is not a hard rule.

For example, if a customer leaves Japan and has a layover in Mainland China, they can take a Japanese kitchen knife with them, as they are not able to access their luggage. If they attempt to leave the airport and access their luggage though, the kitchen knife would be confiscated.

The rules will change from country to country, but it is generally safe to take knives into a country if you are just transitting through it via a layover. You should always check with customs offices for those countries to be safe.

Kitchen knives are made up of many parts. There is different kinds of steel, and different kinds of handles.

While kitchen knives may be allowed into a country, a component of it may not. For example, in the past, one country did not allow untreated wood to enter its borders. While this has since changed, this would mean that that particular country at the time was mostly restricted to the importing of Western-style kitchen knives, or Japanese-style kitchen knives with a lacquered handle.

When importing Japanese-style knives, make sure to confirm that the country the knife is going to is okay with specific kinds of wood. If you are worried, get a knife that has urushi lacquering like our Suzuchirashi series, as this guarantees that the wood is sealed.

Keep your receipt if you purchased your knife tax-free, and be aware that airport and customs staff may ask to see and check your luggage to check your tax-free purchase is in there and is unopened.

Posting an item makes it lose tax-free status, and consumption tax must be paid on any items that are posted outside of Japan. Keep this in mind, noting that it may be cheaper to buy the knife from our webstore, or take the knife in your checked in luggage.

The easiest way to see this rule is as follows; if you buy the knife tax-free, take the knife with you in your checked luggage. Otherwise, it will lose its tax-free status and you will need to pay for it.

Remember, we are a Japanese kitchen knife manufacturer. We are not lawyers, nor do we work for any government agencies.

While this article is up to date at the time of posting, rules can change and situations may apply different to each unique situation.

Take everything here as a general guideline instead of as hard fact.

If you are worried or have questions, contact your local customs office.

If you are seeking the simplest solution, please remember it is easiest to check your Japanese kitchen knife into checked luggage, or post it home.