Food parcels are the category where people most often get a surprise. Sometimes it is a customs charge that turns a cheap order into an expensive one. Sometimes the parcel simply never arrives, because it was stopped at the border or refused by the shop before it shipped. Both things can happen to the same box, so it helps to think about duty and quarantine as two separate checks that your order has to pass.
Duty on coffee, tea and general food
When a shipment is small enough to clear under the simplified rules for personal imports, food is taxed at a handful of flat rates rather than the full tariff schedule. Coffee and tea usually fall under a simplified rate of around 15 percent. Most other foods sit at roughly 10 percent. These are the headline numbers people quote, but the exact rate depends on the product and can change, so treat them as a guide rather than a promise.
A few items are treated more strictly. Honey can attract duty even on a small order, so a single jar tucked into a grocery box may still be charged. Sugar and other sweeteners are taxed regardless of value, which catches people who assume a low-value parcel is automatically free. If your order mixes several of these categories, customs may assess each part differently, and that is often why a charge looks higher than you expected.
You can see how the flat personal-use rates line up on our simplified duty rates page, and you can put your own numbers in with the calculator.
The quarantine side: what gets stopped
Duty is only about money. Quarantine is about whether the item is allowed into the country at all, and this is where food parcels are most often blocked. Two systems run in parallel under Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF): animal quarantine and plant quarantine.
Animal quarantine covers meat and meat products, and many dairy items. That includes things people do not think of as meat, such as jerky, sausage, meat-based broth cubes, and some ready meals. Plant quarantine covers fresh produce along with items like rice, other grains, raw nuts, and seeds. Products in these groups commonly need an inspection certificate from the exporting country, and without it they are refused, held, or destroyed. This is why a box that looks like ordinary groceries can be stopped while an identical-looking box of packaged snacks goes straight through.
How to tell what is allowed
Before you order, read the ingredient list rather than the product name. A "vegetable" soup mix that contains chicken powder is a meat product for quarantine purposes. A trail mix is a plant product because of the raw nuts and seeds. Herbal teas can contain plant material that triggers plant quarantine even though ordinary black or green tea usually does not. The label decides the outcome, not your intent.
Larger online shops often do this filtering for you. Retailers such as iHerb block or remove items that cannot legally enter Japan, which is why a product in your basket sometimes disappears at checkout or is flagged as not shippable to your address. That is the shop applying quarantine rules on your behalf, and it is doing you a favour even when it is annoying.
Import rules and quantity limits still apply. We make no health claims; this is only where to buy.
If you are unsure about a specific product, walk it through our can I import this checker before you buy, and keep a copy of the ingredient list in case customs asks.
Why a parcel gets charged or stopped
Putting it together, a food parcel meets two gates. First, quarantine decides whether the contents are permitted. If any item fails, that item can be held or destroyed and the rest of the box may be delayed while it is sorted out. Second, customs assesses duty on what is allowed through, using the simplified rates where they apply. A parcel can pass quarantine and still cost you money, or clear duty in theory and still be stopped because one ingredient was not permitted.
The practical takeaway is to check the ingredients first, split risky items into their own orders where you can, and expect that coffee, tea, honey and sweeteners may carry a charge even in a modest box. None of this is medical or efficacy advice about the products themselves, only about how they cross the border. Rules and rates change, and border officers make the final call on any individual shipment.
Source: Japan Customs and MAFF quarantine, verified 2026-09-07.