A Japanese buyer likes your rattan baskets and your glazed bowls. Then a forwarder tells the workshop that everything made of plants must be fumigated for Japan, and a fumigation certificate goes into the quotation. Meanwhile the one document Japan does care about for the bowls, a lead and cadmium test, never comes up. Japan does check handicrafts. It just checks different things for different materials, and fumigating the goods is rarely one of them.
💬 Sunsho Trade is a Japanese-managed trading company in Ho Chi Minh City. We act as sales agent and distributor for Vietnamese products in Japan, negotiate with buyers in Japanese and handle the export from Vietnam. Send us the product list and the materials.
What Japan checks, material by material
Finished rattan, bamboo work and woodwork are outside Japan’s import plant quarantine; the controls that apply are ISPM 15 on wooden packaging, the Food Sanitation Act on anything that touches food, and the Clean Wood Act on wooden furniture.
| What you ship | Japanese rule that applies | Who acts in Japan | What the importer needs from Vietnam |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finished rattan work, bamboo work, woodwork, furniture | None under the Plant Protection Act. Processed articles are listed as not requiring inspection [1] | Nobody, for plant quarantine | Nothing for plant quarantine |
| Seagrass, water hyacinth, palm-leaf and other plant-fibre goods | Not named on the plant protection station’s list of exempt items [2] | Plant protection station, if subject | Ask the station before the first shipment |
| Wooden pallets, crates, dunnage, packing blocks | Japan’s wood packaging measures, consistent with ISPM 15, in force since April 2007 | Plant protection station at the port | Wood packaging treated to ISPM 15 and carrying the ISPM 15 mark |
| Straw, straw matting, rope or bamboo used as packing | Inspected as plant packing material; it cannot carry the ISPM 15 mark | Plant protection station at the port | Avoid it, or ask the station first |
| Ceramic bowls, plates, cups, teapots | Food Sanitation Act import notification (Article 27) plus the lead and cadmium limits in Notification No. 370 | Quarantine station, food sanitation inspector | A lead and cadmium test report, which the station may require, and the material details |
| Wooden or bamboo bowls, trays, chopsticks, lacquered tableware | Same import notification; the positive list only if a synthetic resin layer touches food | Quarantine station | Material of every part, the coating used, colourants used |
| Wooden chairs, desks, shelves, bed frames and similar | Clean Wood Act legality check (revised Act in force 1 April 2025) | The first business to bring the goods into Japan | Species, country of harvest, a written legality document |
Checked against the published texts on 18 September 2026.
[1] Japan Customs FAQ 1803 and the Yokohama Plant Protection Station’s list of plants not subject to import plant quarantine.
[2] The list does not name seagrass or water hyacinth. It does exempt fibre products and coarse fibres, such as hemp sacks, cotton, loofah products, paper, string and rope, never used as plant packing. Whether a woven plant-fibre article falls under that entry is the station’s decision. We found no published ruling, so raise that entry with the station and assume neither answer.
Finished rattan and bamboo: Japan’s plant quarantine does not apply
Japan Customs states that inspection under the Plant Protection Act is not necessary for processed articles such as woodwork, bamboo work, furniture and rattan, and the plant protection station publishes the same exemption.
Two consequences follow:
- A fumigation certificate for the product itself is not a Japanese import requirement for finished rattan, bamboo work or woodwork. If a buyer asks for one, it is a commercial condition. Price and contract it as that.
- Raw material is a different case. The exemption covers bamboo work, meaning finished articles. Raw bamboo poles are not on the list; ask the plant protection station.
For contrast, fresh produce is fully inside plant quarantine. See the fresh fruit checklist for what that involves.
The pallet under the baskets is what Japan inspects
Japan regulates wooden packaging consistently with ISPM 15: pallets, crates, dunnage and packing blocks must receive an ISPM 15-approved treatment and carry the ISPM 15 mark.
This is where the “Japan requires fumigation” advice comes from: the wood the goods sit on. The plant protection station has applied the international standard since April 2007, including the later amendments that added dielectric heating and sulfuryl fluoride to heat treatment and methyl bromide. Its FAQ lists what is regulated; plywood, particle board, OSB and other highly processed wood packaging are outside it.
The same FAQ treats straw, straw matting, rope and bamboo such as madake and moso as a separate class: packing material that is inspected by the plant protection station and cannot carry the ISPM 15 mark. Straw padding around a basket is a quarantine question; the basket is not.
If the packaging is not compliant, the station’s forms include a disinfection or disposal plan and an application to re-export, and its FAQ says ordered treatment must be completed within 30 days. In practice that is a held shipment. Cartons on plywood pallets avoid the question, and that choice is made in Vietnam before loading.
💬 Packing, pallet treatment and other charges on the Vietnam side fall on buyer or seller according to the Incoterm. See local charges by Incoterm in Vietnam, or ask us to review the packing and the quotation.
Ceramic tableware: an import notification and a lead and cadmium test
Ceramics that will touch food are “apparatus” under Japan’s Food Sanitation Act, so the importer files an import notification at the quarantine station, and the ware must meet the lead and cadmium leaching limits in Notification No. 370.
Article 27 of the Food Sanitation Act requires an import notification for food, additives, apparatus, containers and packaging, and infant toys imported for sale or business use. It goes to the quarantine station for the port of entry, where a food sanitation inspector decides whether an inspection is needed. Goods not notified cannot be sold or used in business. Who imports and files is agreed case by case with the buyer; put it in writing, because the documents below must reach whoever files.
Ceramic is one of the materials with its own specification, so the station may require a test report, and importers commonly submit one with the notification. Ask the importer what the station for their port expects before the order is confirmed.
The test leaches the ware with 4% acetic acid for 24 hours at room temperature in the dark. The limits:
| Ceramic ware | Cadmium | Lead |
|---|---|---|
| Heating and cooking ware, 2.5 cm deep or more | 0.05 µg/mL | 0.5 µg/mL |
| Other ware under 1.1 L, 2.5 cm deep or more | 0.5 µg/mL | 2 µg/mL |
| Other ware from 1.1 L to under 3 L | 0.25 µg/mL | 1 µg/mL |
| Other ware of 3 L or more | 0.25 µg/mL | 0.5 µg/mL |
| Flat ware under 2.5 cm deep, or ware that cannot hold liquid | 0.7 µg/cm² | 8 µg/cm² |
Source: consolidated text of Notification No. 370, Part 3, D-1, published by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. A report is only useful if it was run by a laboratory registered in Japan or a foreign official laboratory on the ministry’s list. The Viet Nam list, dated 31 July 2026, names laboratories in Vietnam, but some test items are not accepted from foreign laboratories.
Bamboo, wooden and lacquered tableware: the coating decides
Wooden and bamboo tableware still needs the import notification, but Notification No. 370 sets no wood or bamboo specification; the positive list for synthetic resins applies only if a synthetic resin layer is the food-contact surface.
Wooden and bamboo bowls, trays and chopsticks are apparatus, so Article 27 applies. Part D of Notification No. 370 has material standards for glass, ceramic, enamel, synthetic resin, rubber and metal cans, but none for wood or bamboo. The general rules still apply, including one that matters here: synthetic colourants not listed in the Enforcement Regulations must not be used unless the colour cannot leach into food. For lacquerware, the coating decides:
- Synthetic resin finish on the food-contact surface (polyurethane, other synthetic lacquers). Since 1 June 2020 only evaluated substances may be used in synthetic resins for food apparatus, and the transition ended on 31 May 2025. The Consumer Affairs Agency’s Q&A of 5 June 2026 treats coating resins as base materials within the list. The workshop must name the coating, and the importer will usually want written information from the coating supplier on its conformity.
- Wood or bamboo on the food side, resin behind it. The Q&A excludes synthetic layers behind a food-contact layer of wood or paper.
- Natural materials. Unrefined natural products are outside the list, as are inks used only to decorate lacquerware. Neither removes the import notification or the colourant rule.
The practical document is a material sheet per item: body, each coating and its supplier, each colourant.
Wooden furniture and the Clean Wood Act
Since the revised Clean Wood Act took effect on 1 April 2025, the first business to bring covered wood products into Japan must collect the species, the country of harvest and a written legality document, and confirm legality.
The Forestry Agency calls this business the first-category operator: for imports, the trading house, import agent or manufacturer importing for itself. Ownership does not decide it, and selling on commission can count. It must also keep records and pass the result on.
Covered products include timber, veneer and plywood, furniture made mainly of wood (chairs, desks, shelves, storage units, bed frames and similar), pulp, certain papers, flooring and doors. Bamboo, pallets, MDF, particle board and transport crates are listed as out of scope, and tableware and ornaments are not named. For a covered item the workshop supplies the species by its usual trade name, the country of harvest (a region such as “Asia” is not accepted) and a certificate in writing, which can be a harvest permit issued in the producing country or a forest certification.
What has to happen on the Vietnam side
Every document the Japanese side needs is produced in Vietnam before the goods are packed, so the order of work at the workshop decides whether the shipment is clean.
- Pallets. Wood treated in Vietnam carries the ISPM 15 mark with the country code VN. Ask who treated and marked the pallets, check the mark at loading, and keep a photo with the packing list. If the workshop cannot answer, switch to plywood pallets or cartons.
- Packing fill. Replace straw and bamboo padding with paper, carton or foam before the first shipment, rather than asking the station afterwards.
- Glazes, in this order. Fix the glaze and decoration on the approved sample. Agree the laboratory and test item with the importer. Test each glaze and decoration ordered: a report on a white bowl says nothing about the same bowl with a red rim. Confirm the order once the reports are back, and retest if the glaze supplier changes.
- Timber. Vietnam has its own legality system, the Vietnam Timber Legality Assurance System under Decree 102/2020/ND-CP, amended by Decree 120/2024/ND-CP, which governs the timber records Vietnamese businesses keep. The species and harvest country the Japanese importer asks for come from that chain: origin papers from the sawmill and timber supplier, or an FSC or PEFC certificate if the workshop holds one. Collect them for each order, and confirm the current Vietnamese text before you rely on it.
Where Sunsho Trade fits, and where it does not
We sell the range in Japan and handle the export from Vietnam, working with your workshops and with testing laboratories; who files the Food Sanitation Act notification and who acts as the Clean Wood Act first-category operator is agreed in writing for each deal.
Our Japanese management approaches buyers through our business network in Japan and negotiates in Japanese. On the export side, we support the standards check, labelling, documents including the certificate of origin, and logistics. Who imports, and so who carries the Japanese duties above, is settled with the buyer before the first order.
Japan’s tariff schedule as of 8 August 2026 shows bamboo and rattan basketwork (4602.11, 4602.12), ceramic tableware (6911.10, 6912.00) and wooden tableware (4419) free under the Viet Nam EPA and CPTPP, against WTO rates of 7.9%, 2.3% and 2.7%. The preference needs valid proof of origin, and a mixed-material item can classify elsewhere. How origin is proved from Vietnam is covered in proof of origin from Vietnam by destination.
💬 We check the material-by-material requirements for your range, take it to Japanese buyers and carry the negotiation in Japanese. See selling into Japan or send us photos and the material of each item.
Frequently asked questions
1. Do Vietnamese rattan and bamboo baskets need fumigation for Japan?
Not for Japanese plant quarantine: finished bamboo work, woodwork, furniture and rattan are listed as not requiring inspection. Wooden pallets or crates are different: they need an ISPM 15-approved treatment, most often heat treatment, and the ISPM 15 mark. A buyer may also ask for fumigation as a commercial condition.
2. Does Japan require a phytosanitary certificate for finished handicrafts?
Not for processed articles on the exempt list. Seagrass, water hyacinth and other plant-fibre goods are not named on that list. The list does exempt fibre products such as string and rope never used as plant packing, so raise that entry with the plant protection station and get its answer before the first shipment.
3. Who files the Food Sanitation Act notification for ceramic tableware?
The importer, at the quarantine station for the port of entry, under Article 27. The Vietnamese side supplies the material details of each item and the lead and cadmium test report the station may ask for.
4. Will Japan accept a lead and cadmium test done in Vietnam?
It can. The ministry’s list of foreign official laboratories names laboratories in Vietnam, but some test items are not accepted from foreign laboratories. Confirm the laboratory and the test item with the importer before testing.
5. Is a carved wooden bowl covered by the Clean Wood Act?
Not as a named product: the Forestry Agency’s list of covered products does not name tableware or ornaments, so confirm the classification with the importer. Wooden chairs, desks, shelves and bed frames are covered, and for those the importer needs the species, the country of harvest and a written legality document.
This article describes the published Japanese requirements as checked on 18 September 2026 and is not legal advice. Plant quarantine decisions are made by the plant protection station, and inspection decisions by the quarantine station, for each consignment.