Japan
More actions
| Japan | |
|---|---|
| 日本 (Nihon) | |
| |
| Tokyo, with Mount Fuji beyond | |
| Capital | Tokyo |
| Continent | Asia |
| Subregion | East Asia |
| Cannabis Status | |
| Legal Status | Illegal (medical and industrial use regulated) |
| Status Since | 2023 |
| Enforcement | Licensed cultivation for fibre, seed and research; use is now a criminal offence |
| Documentation | |
| Growing Regions | 0 |
| Growing Areas | 0 |
| Accessions | 1 |
Japan is a country in East Asia whose cannabis law is among the oldest still in force anywhere: the Cannabis Control Act, Act No. 124 of 7 July 1948, which has governed cultivation, possession and transfer for three-quarters of a century.[1]
That Act received its first major revision in 2023. Cannabis-derived products for medical use were brought under the same regulatory framework as opioid analgesics, the long-standing restriction confining industrial use to mature stalks and seeds was lifted, a stringent tetrahydrocannabinol threshold was introduced alongside it, and new penalties for use were created. The revised law came into effect on 12 December 2024.[2]
The wiki documents one Japanese accession, a reproduction of a hemp landrace from Hokkaido, the northern island that ACE Seeds describes as the prefecture which has traditionally grown the most cannabis in the country.[3]
Geography
Japan is an archipelago running north-east to south-west off the Asian mainland, from the subarctic to the subtropics.[citation needed] The cannabis the wiki documents is northern: Hokkaido, where ACE Seeds reports that the plant grows wild and that the authorities carry out annual eradication of it. No site within the island is named in any source consulted.[3]
Demographics
Agriculture
Cannabis in Japan
History
Cultivation
Cultivation has been a licensed activity since 1948 and the licence classes are narrow. The Act provides for cultivators licensed by prefectural governors to grow cannabis for fibre or seed, plus researchers licensed to study the plant or to use it in research. Applicants may not be narcotics addicts, may not hold relevant criminal convictions, nor may they be minors or persons under guardianship.[1]
Alongside the licensed crop there is an unlicensed one. ACE Seeds describes cannabis growing wild in Hokkaido and subject to annual eradication by the authorities, giving its own stock as a second-generation pure hemp landrace from the island.[3]
Preparations and consumption
Trade and commerce
Legal status
Cannabis is prohibited, with licensed exceptions for fibre, seed and research cultivation and, since the 2023 amendment, for regulated medical and industrial use.
The governing statute is the Cannabis Control Act, Act No. 124 of 7 July 1948. Article 1 defines cannabis as the cannabis plant, Cannabis sativa L., and its products, excluding the mature stalk and its products, resin apart, together with the seeds. Unlicensed cultivation, import or export carries imprisonment of up to seven years, rising to ten where it is for profit; unauthorised possession or transfer up to five years, rising to seven for profit.[1]
- The official English translation is not current.** It reflects the Act as last amended by Act No. 160 of 22 December 1999, in force from 6 January 2001, and therefore does not carry the 2023 revision described below.[1]
The 2023 amendment was the Act's first major revision since 1948. Masataka and co-authors summarise it across three domains: cannabis-derived products for medical use were brought under the same regulatory framework as opioid analgesics, which in principle allows physicians to prescribe them; the restriction limiting industrial use to mature stalks and seeds was lifted, counterbalanced by a stringent tetrahydrocannabinol threshold; and on the criminal side cannabis remains an illicit substance, with new penalties for use introduced. The revised law came into force on 12 December 2024.[2]
Growing Regions
Landrace cannabis growing regions currently documented on the wiki: No growing regions documented yet.
Growing Areas
Landrace cannabis growing areas currently documented on the wiki: No growing areas documented yet.
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Conservation status
Japan is the one country in this corpus where the wild population is subject to a standing, annual programme of destruction and the cultivated one to a narrow licensing regime, and where the wiki holds neither: its single accession is a second-generation reproduction with no collection site, no collector and no collection year.[3]
Whether the 2023 amendment changes that is open. It lifted the restriction confining industrial use to mature stalks and seeds, which widens what a licensed grower may do, while adding a tetrahydrocannabinol threshold that a traditional landrace population has no reason to satisfy.[2]
Recent news
No recent news items.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Cannabis Control Act (Act No. 124 of 1948)". Japanese Law Translation. Ministry of Justice, Japan. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Masataka, Yuji; Akahoshi, Yoshiyuki; Katayama, Munenori; Umemura, Futaba; Miki, Naoko; Nakazawa, Ryota (2025). "How Has Japan's Cannabis Control Act Been Amended?". Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research. 11 (3): 284–292. doi:10.1089/can.2025.0006.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Hokkaido Japan". ACE Seeds. Retrieved 24 September 2026.