Dog Registration and the Annual Rabies-Vaccination Cycle
Dog registration in Japan is a one-time municipal filing plus a rabies shot every year under the Rabies Prevention Act.12 Miss the filing or skip the spring shot and the dog is unregistered in the eyes of the city, with a fine of up to ¥200,000 on the books for either gap.1
Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare rabies page and your municipal office.
Overview
Japan keeps itself rabies-free through a simple owner-side routine: register the dog once with the municipality where it lives, vaccinate it once a year, and keep both tags on its collar.2 The duty binds every owner keeping a dog aged 91 days or older, with no visa-status or nationality exception.1
Registration is lifetime. The shot repeats every April to June. The rest of this article walks the two halves in order, then the fees, the penalties, and the move-update filing.
Registering Your Dog with the Municipality
Registration puts the dog on the municipal registry so the city can identify its owner and reach owners fast if rabies ever re-enters Japan.2 File it once per dog. It stays valid for the dog's life unless the dog moves, changes owner, or dies, each of which triggers its own notification.3
The following flowchart shows the full cycle from registration through the repeating annual loop.
Where and when to register
File within 30 days of acquiring the dog.1 For a puppy acquired before 90 days old, file within 30 days after the day it passes 90 days old; municipalities phrase this as dogs 91 days old and older.14
The counter is the ward or city office with jurisdiction over the dog's location: a health center or branch office in most cities, the Health Sanitation Division of the ward office in larger cities.45 Hours and counters differ by city, so confirm with your local municipal office before going. Some municipalities also let a contracted veterinary clinic accept the registration together with the shot, but only some clinics offer this, so ask the clinic first.53
A contracted clinic can finish registration and tagging on the spot, while a non-contracted one leaves the counter visit to the owner.4 One phone call before the appointment decides whether the day needs one stop or two.
Registration card and tag
The mayor enters the dog in the registry and issues the license tag to the owner.1 The 犬鑑札 (inukansatsu, "dog license tag") is a metal plate that doubles as a lost-dog tag.5 Keep it attached to the dog's collar at all times.1
If the tag is lost, the city reissues it for ¥1,600 (as of 2026-04).4 The table below summarizes the registration fees; figures are current as of 2026-04 (as of 2026-04; confirm current figures with your municipal office).
| Item | Amount | As of | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| New registration | ¥3,000 | 2026-044 | One-time per dog, lifetime validity |
| License-tag reissue (lost) | ¥1,600 | 2026-044 | Replacement plate only |
Since June 1, 2022, dogs sold by breeders and pet shops must be microchipped, and in municipalities that joined the special provision the microchip-database registration counts as the Act's registration application.26 This article covers the standard counter filing; chip-bought puppies should confirm with the municipal office whether any counter step remains.
The Annual Rabies Vaccination Cycle
The shot repeats every year for the life of the dog.1 Think of registration as the entry ticket and the annual shot as the renewing stamp that keeps it meaningful.
The April to June vaccination window
The statutory vaccination period runs April 1 to June 30 each year.43 The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare brands April, May, and June as rabies-prevention-shot months, and cities run collective spring clinics inside that window.2
Owners of already-registered dogs typically receive a mailed notice postcard in March to early April that doubles as the tag-application form.3 A shot given March 2 to March 31 may be counted toward the following year's tag in some cities, so confirm which year the tag covers when vaccinating off-cycle (as of 2026-04).4
Vet administration and municipality reporting
A veterinarian gives the shot, either at a city collective session or at an animal hospital, and issues a vet certificate.45 The certificate alone does not complete the duty. The owner, or a contracted clinic acting for the owner, must present it to the municipal counter to receive the year's shot-completion tag.3
At contracted clinics the tag is issued on the spot.4 At other clinics the owner carries the vet-issued certificate to the health center or branch office and pays the tag fee there.4 Resident guides describe vets routinely filling out and submitting this paperwork for the owner, with the new tag arriving by mail in some wards, but ward handling varies.7
Taking only the vet-issued shot certificate home leaves the municipal half undone.3 The duty is complete when the city issues the year's shot-completion tag, so finish at the counter or confirm the clinic filed for you.
Where a vet judges the dog unable to be vaccinated because of illness or age, the vet issues an exemption certificate which the owner files with the municipality instead.4 Duration practice varies by city, so confirm locally each year.
Post-vaccination tag for the collar
The mayor issues the shot-completion tag for each dog that received the shot.1 The 注射済票 (chūshazumihyō, "shot-completion tag") is issued per vaccination year and must be kept attached to the dog's collar alongside the lifetime license tag.13
Tag shape and color vary by city: Soka uses a bone-shaped plate whose color rotates red, blue, and yellow by year.3 Reissue after loss costs ¥340 (as of 2026-04).4 The table below summarizes the tag fees; figures are current as of 2026-04 (as of 2026-04; confirm current figures with your municipal office).
| Item | Amount | As of | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shot-completion tag issuance | ¥550 | 2026-044 | Per vaccination year |
| Shot-completion tag reissue (lost) | ¥340 | 2026-044 | Replacement plate only |
Costs and Timelines
The calendar is short: register once, then vaccinate each April to June and collect the year's tag.4 Registration is lifetime; the shot and its tag repeat yearly.3
Registration costs ¥3,000 per dog (as of 2026-04; confirm current figures with your municipal office).4 The shot itself costs about ¥3,200 at municipal campaign sites (as of 2026-04), and the tag issuance fee of ¥550 sits on top of whichever venue is used (as of 2026-04).48 Private clinics set their own shot fees, with one resident guide placing the typical range at ¥3,000 to ¥5,000 (as of 2026-05).9 Inagi's contracted-clinic total is ¥3,750, combining a ¥3,200 shot with the ¥550 tag (as of 2026-04).4
| Item | Amount | As of | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration (one-time) | ¥3,000 | 2026-044 | Lifetime per dog |
| Rabies shot at campaign site | about ¥3,200 | 2026-044 / 2025-038 | City dependent; private clinics set their own fees |
| Shot-completion tag | ¥550 | 2026-044 | Per year, on top of the shot |
| Combined campaign total (Inagi example) | ¥3,750 | 2026-044 | ¥3,200 shot plus ¥550 tag |
The shot fee and the ¥550 tag fee are two separate charges even when paid in one visit (as of 2026-04).4 Owners who budget only the injection price come up short at the counter.
Non-Compliance and Enforcement
Failing to apply for registration, to keep the license tag on the dog, or to file a required notification is punishable by a fine of up to ¥200,000.1 Failing to give the annual shot or to keep the shot-completion tag on the dog carries the same upper limit.1
Day-to-day enforcement is described in resident-facing guides as light or uneven, while owners who use vets are surfaced to the municipality through vet-to-municipality reporting (limitation: enforcement-intensity characterization rests on resident guides, not a government enforcement statistic).9 Municipal pages print the fine provisions on the same page as the procedure rather than publishing prosecution counts, and no per-city enforcement rate was found.3
Either tag missing from the collar on its own is a punishable item, so the collar check matters as much as the paperwork.1
Moving to a New Municipality and Other Updates
A move does not cancel the registration, but it does require a transfer filing. File it promptly so the reminder postcards and the vaccination record follow the dog.
Address-change update on a move
When a registered dog's location or another prescribed matter changes, notify the municipality with jurisdiction over the new location within 30 days.1 Bring the old tag: Soka exchanges the prior municipality's tag for a local one free of charge.3
Without the old tag, the new city verifies with the prior municipality. Where the prior registration is confirmed, the owner pays a reissue fee of ¥1,600 (as of 2026-04); where it cannot be confirmed, a new registration at ¥3,000 applies (as of 2026-04).3 Verification may be unavailable at evening or Sunday counters, so visit during weekday hours when possible.3
Minato instructs owners to complete the new-registration or moving-in procedure before coming to a vaccination site, since the site staff work from the local registry.8 On ownership change, the new owner files with the municipality of the dog's location within 30 days.1 On death, the owner files within 30 days.1
For the household side of a move, companion reading on the address-change logistics sits in Mail-Forwarding at Move and Departure and Move-Out Procedures: Closing Utility Accounts as context, not as procedure sources for the dog filing itself.
Good to know
The spring campaign is the cheapest and simplest slot
Cities run group sessions at parks and community halls each April, and the mailed postcard doubles as the application form.3 Unregistered dogs can often register on site together with the shot, which compresses two filings into one visit.3 Campaign pricing bundles shot plus tag, against a private-clinic shot that adds the clinic's own fee plus the same ¥550 tag fee at the counter (as of 2026-04).4
A vet outside the city contract means a second counter visit
Only contracted clinics issue the tag on the spot.4 At other clinics the owner must carry the vet certificate to the health center or branch office, pay ¥550 there, and only then hold the year's tag (as of 2026-04).4 The vet certificate alone does not complete the duty, a point Soka prints explicitly on its procedure page.3
Keep both tags on the collar, not in a drawer
Both the lifetime license tag and the current-year shot tag must be attached to the dog.1 Either tag missing on its own is a punishable item under the penalty article.1 Tag form varies by city, from metal plates to bone-shaped plates to ribbon mounts reported in some wards, but an inspector looks for both current tags on the collar.57
Moving without transferring the registration breaks the reminder chain
The annual notice postcard goes to the address on the registry.3 An owner who moves without filing the transfer stops receiving reminders and risks missing the April to June window. Bring the old tag to the new counter, and avoid evening or Sunday visits where the new city cannot reach the prior municipality for verification.3
See also
- Finding a Vet in Japan
- Pet Ownership Cost Realities
- Boarding, Day-Care, and Pet-Related Services
- Mail-Forwarding at Move and Departure
- Importing a Pet to Japan
- The Pet-Friendly Housing Reality