Taking your pet to Japan requires a microchip, two rabies vaccines, serology, a 180-day wait and 40 days' prior notice to AQS.
Japanese control does not punish for “lack of papers”; punishes for lack of time. The relevant clock is the mandatory 180-day wait after rabies serology, and that number defines the earliest date a dog or cat can enter with a short quarantine. In consultation in Trujillo, the most frequent stumbling block appears when the owner understands the procedure as a final certification, when in Japan the procedure is a calendar.
The consequence of planning late is not a fine: it is a quarantine of up to 180 days in Animal Quarantine Service (AQS) facilities when the file does not meet conditions upon arrival. When you try to bring your pet to Japan with a closed date and no margin, the correction does not occur in Peru: it occurs within the quarantine system. Japan does not improvise at the border, and traceability is validated with microchip reading, certificates and sequences.
The Japanese authority separates origins between designated (rabies-free) and non-designated regions. From non-designated regions – where most of Latin America falls – the file requires a microchip, anti-rabies vaccination compliant with international movement regulations applied with the microchip already implanted, serology and a 180-day wait. The margin is clinical and documentary at the same time: a piece of information out of sequence invalidates the previous section.
The most common mistake in consultation is assuming that Japan is similar to Europe. Europe usually works with short windows around the certificate and with a focus on anger and documents; Japan adds a residency of months, and that residency is not accelerated. When an owner arrives from Peru with a fixed flight date, the file is already decided by the calendar, not by the intention.
This scheme also affects routes with stops. Even if the flight transits another country, the file is judged by the real origin of the animal and the chain of evidence. In practice, what is audited is what the official document declares and what the microchip allows to verify by reading.
Japan requires a microchip compatible with ISO standards (11784/11785) and requires it before the first rabies vaccine that you want to claim. The order is verified in certificates. When the microchip is placed later, the authority loses the possibility of linking the vaccine and the animal with certainty, and the file becomes fragile right in the section that supports the serology.
The point that few anticipate is double vaccination. For non-designated origins, Japan requires at least two rabies vaccinations after microchipping. The first cannot be applied before 91 days of age, and the second must be applied with a minimum interval of 30 days with respect to the first. The actual schedule depends on the type of vaccine and its validity, but the “two valid doses” requirement is consistent in the AQS guidance.
In consultation we work on this as a continuity verification: microchip number read, record with complete data, and dates consistent with the age of the animal. Without that coherence, any next step becomes reversible, and in Japan reversible steps take months.
Rabies serology (antibody testing) is taken after the animal is already microchipped and has two valid vaccinations. Japan sets an antibody threshold (0.5 IU/ml) and, once the sample is taken, requires a minimum wait of 180 days before arrival. This section exists even if the animal is perfectly healthy. It is not a clinical criterion, it is a biosafety criterion.
The owner often hears “six months” and thinks it is advice. In Japan it is a regulatory minimum. If the animal lands before completing the 180 days, the AQS may retain it to complete the remaining days in quarantine. This situation is not resolved with a new certificate issued in Peru or with a letter from the veterinarian. It is resolved by waiting.
Another operational detail: the serology result has a validity window in Japanese regulations, and the complete file needs to fit within those validity periods. That is why it is not advisable to advance exams without an arrival plan. A case well put together at the beginning can lose value due to a simple misalignment of dates.
Japan requires advance notice of arrival to AQS at least 40 days in advance. It is not a “report” form; It is a control for the port or airport of entry to schedule the inspection and verify requirements before arrival. When this notice is submitted late, the file is exposed to flight changes, last-minute corrections or entry through a route that was not planned.
In this section, the difficulty is not usually getting “a certificate” but rather getting certificates with correct content: exact microchip number, documented dates and rabies product, serology with an accepted laboratory and method, and an official export health certificate issued by the competent authority of the country of departure. From Peru, this translates into coordination with the official export circuit and consistency of the data that is endorsed.
For the complete technical foundation, you can read Quarantine in the International Importation of Dogs and Cats: Epidemiological Basis, Regulatory Models and Critical Failure Points in our Technical Series. This text explains in detail how quarantine at borders is interpreted and why some destinations convert a documentary error into actual retention of the animal.
The first decision is temporary, not emotional: setting a possible arrival date only after calculating the 180-day stretch from serology. In Trujillo we see owners who start with the ticket and then try to fit in vaccines, serology and prior notice; In Japan that order breaks the case because the 40-day notice and final certificates depend on an already closed calendar.
The second decision is traceability. A microchip that doesn't read correctly, a transcript with a changed digit, or a vaccine without complete data produces a record that appears correct until the inspection arrives. That is the scenario that generates repeated corrections and reissues, just when stability is needed on short dates.
The third decision is health logistics: defining who maintains the complete file from the beginning, with a copy of each document, control of validity and plan for rescheduling. Japan tolerates flight changes; does not tolerate sequence changes. When the case leaves Peru, documentary discipline is part of clinical care.
A late armed case heading to Japan usually ends with a prolonged quarantine to complete the remaining days of the 180-day period after serology. At Zoovet Travel we verify the microchip, rabies chronology, serology, 40-day prior notice and the departure file from Peru.
Calle Cuba 241, Urb. El Recreo — Trujillo, Perú