In Japan, e-cigarettes are regulated as medicinal products. This means they cannot be legally sold or distributed without pharmaceutical approval. Online sales of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes are not allowed either, and their commercial importation is prohibited. Some unofficial sources suggest that Japanese vapers may be able to import up to one month's supply of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes for personal use, but this information cannot be independently confirmed. Despite the regulatory restrictions, survey data from 2017 estimated that around 2.1 million adults in Japan were current e-cigarette users, and the adult current e-cigarette vaping prevalence was estimated to be 1.9%.in the same year, 11.4% people reported having tried e-cigarettes at least once. If you have more recent or verified information about e-cigarette regulations or use in Japan, the GSTHR team would welcome your input by email.
Prevalence
- 1. Tabuchi, T. et al (2017) Heat-not-burn tobacco product use in Japan: its prevalence, predictors and perceived symptoms from exposure to secondhand heat-not-burn tobacco aerosol. Tobacco Control. https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2017/12/15/tobaccocontrol-2017-053947?papetoc=#DC1 2. Calculation based on population size data of people over 15 years of age (16+). Source of population data: World Population Prospects 2019 [Internet]. United Nations; 2019. (Department of Economic and Social Affairs, editor. Population Division). Report No.: Rev. 1. Available from: https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Standard/Population/
- Tabuchi, T. et al (2017) Heat-not-burn tobacco product use in Japan: its prevalence, predictors and perceived symptoms from exposure to secondhand heat-not-burn tobacco aerosol. Tobacco Control. https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2017/12/15/tobaccocontrol-2017-053947?papetoc=#DC1
Regulation
| Year | Value | Reference/Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 or earlier | Banned | 1A |
| 2024 | Banned | 1B |
| 2024 | Banned | 1C |
- Data cross-referenced where possible using the following sources :1. Vapetrotter website. Available at: https://www.vapetrotter.com/laws/ ; 2. Global tobacco control website. Available at:https://www.globaltobaccocontrol.org/node/14052 ; 3. Tobacco Control Laws website. Available at : https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/legislation/
- Act on Securing Quality, Efficacy and Safety of Products Including Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices—Japanese/English— Japanese Law Translation. (1960). https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3213
- Anti Smoking Global Index. Vaping Products. Available at: https://antismoking.global/world-map. Accessed: 22 July 2025.
| Year | Value | Reference/Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 or earlier | Yes | 2A |
| 2024 | Yes | 2B |
- Data cross-referenced where possible using the following sources :1. Vapetrotter website. Available at: https://www.vapetrotter.com/laws/ ; 2. Global tobacco control website. Available at:https://www.globaltobaccocontrol.org/node/14052 ; 3. Tobacco Control Laws website. Available at : https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/legislation/
- Act on Securing Quality, Efficacy and Safety of Products Including Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices—Japanese/English— Japanese Law Translation. (1960). https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3213
- Anti Smoking Global Index. Vaping Products. Available at: https://antismoking.global/world-map. Accessed: 22 July 2025.
- Act on Securing Quality, Efficacy and Safety of Products Including Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices—Japanese/English— Japanese Law Translation. (1960). https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3213
Availability
- Anti Smoking Global Index. Vaping Products. Available at: https://antismoking.global/world-map. Accessed: 22 July 2025.
Regulations and restrictions
Publications
Why is tobacco harm reduction needed and what is the evidence it works?
Our latest Briefing Paper explains the importance of tobacco harm reduction as well as providing a range of country case studies demonstrating the power of safer nicotine products to bring down rates of smoking.
Trends in Current Use of HNB Tobacco / E-Cigarette, Both Sexes, Japan
Takahiro Tabuchi , Silvano Gallus , Tomohiro Shinozaki , Tomoki Nakaya , Naoki Kunugita , Brian Colwell
Surveys of the adult population show the initial uptake of heat-not-burn (HNB) devices in Japan. In 2015, 1.3 percent of adults were using e-cigarettes (despite their illegality) but only 0.3 percent were currently using IQOS and 0.3 percent Ploom TECH HNB devices. One year later, in 2016, these levels had not changed greatly. By 2017, e-cigarette use had increased to 1.9 percent, while use of IQOS had increased to 3.6 percent, use of Ploom TECH increased to 1.2 percent, and use of the glo HNB product was 0.8 percent. The other sources of information about HNB come from market data. Philip Morris International’s (PMI) IQOS uses ‘HeatSticks’ which accounted for 0.4 percent of the tobacco product market in December 2015, rising to a 14.1 percent share of the tobacco market by December 2017.56 In two years, IQOS has overtaken specific cigarette brands – for example PMI’s own Marlboro which has about eight percent of the tobacco market.
The other sources of information about HNB come from market data. PMI’s IQOS uses ‘HeatSticks’ which accounted for 0.4 percent of the tobacco product market in December 2015, rising to a 14.1 percent share of the tobacco market by December 2017. In two years, IQOS has overtaken specific cigarette brands – for example PMI’s own Marlboro which has about eight percent of the tobacco market.
See also p. 55 of the report: No Fire, No Smoke: The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction 2018 — Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (gsthr.org)
Weekly Google Search Volume for HNB Tobacco / E-Cigarette 2013-2017 (Past 4 Years) in Japan
Takahiro Tabuchi
In 2014, Philip Morris International introduced the IQOS heat-not-burn (HNB) device to the Japanese market, initially as a test in the city of Nagoya. It was then rolled out across Japan in 2016. Japan Tobacco International had started Ploom sales online in December 2013 and launched Ploom TECH in March 2016. British American Tobacco started selling its HNB glo device in December 2016. There was extraordinary interest in IQOS, as reflected in internet searches in 2016. This Figure shows weekly Google searches from 2013 to 2017, normalised to 100 to show relative search volume.
See also p. 55 of the report: No Fire, No Smoke: The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction 2018 — Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (gsthr.org)