Bringing an Assistance Dog to Japan in 2026: What’s Better, What Isn’t.

Eleven years after our first guide to visiting Japan with a guide dog, more assistance dogs can come in and the law has more weight. Some things have not moved, and these are the details that catch people out.

In July 2015, we published one of our very first articles, a short guide to visiting Japan with a service or guide dog. It covered a frustrating gap: Japanese assistance dog law only recognized dogs trained in Japan, and the only workaround was a temporary ID for guide dog users.

That guide and our permanent Guide Dogs page both live on here at Accessibl…