The market at a glance
- Currency
- Japanese Yen (JPY)
- Minimum drinking age
- 20 years
How it works
How to export wine to Japan with Asiavino
Create your brand
Open a free Merchant Studio account and add your brand with its company details.
Add your wines
Send a bottle photograph and a technical sheet for each wine: Asiavino's team builds the wine page from them.
Name or find a distributor
Invite the importer or distributor that already carries your wines in this market. With no partner yet, Trade Connect shows your brand here and lets the trade contact you.
Receive order requests
Buyers send order requests to your distributor, who confirms them, takes payment and delivers. Asiavino sells no wine.
Are you a distributor or an importer? Open the Distributor Studio
Finding a partner
How to find a wine importer or distributor in Japan
Asiavino introduces your brand; it does not choose an importer for you and cannot promise you one. Importers and distributors in this market discover your wines and ask you for more, and the decision to work together stays between you and them.
Present your brand in full
Importers judge a brand by its range. Add your brand story and every wine with a bottle photograph and a technical sheet, and keep your commercial information ready for the first reply: export prices, available volumes and the markets you already serve.
Be visible before you have a distributor
With Trade Connect, your brand page and your wines are shown in this market, as in every Asiavino market, even though no distributor carries them yet. Buyers cannot send order requests for them there: the pages invite professionals to contact you instead.
Let professionals ask for more
With Trade Connect, importers, distributors, wine shops, restaurants and hotels can send you a trade enquiry from your wine pages and from articles about your brand: a price list, samples, a tasting or distribution rights. Once the sender has confirmed their email address, Asiavino passes the enquiry on to you and you reply directly.
Add the partner you choose
When an importer or distributor agrees to carry your wines here, add it in your Merchant Studio and it receives an invitation at once. Once it accepts and sets up your wines, buyers in this market can send it order requests.
Listing and Trade Connect
Start free, add reach when you need it
Listing is free: list every wine and receive order requests through the distributors you name. Trade Connect, the paid plan for each brand, adds a brand page, visibility where no distributor carries you yet and enquiries from the trade.
Trade Connect is not bought market by market: it makes your brand visible in every Asiavino market, including Japan.
Listing
Free
Sell your wines in the markets where you already have distributors.
- Unlimited wine listings
- Visibility in markets covered by your licensed distributors
- Brand name displayed as text, without a dedicated brand page
- Visibility in search results and category pages
- No editorial articles or display banners
- Unlimited event listings
Upgrade to Trade Connect at any time as your business grows.
Trade Connect
USD 50
Be seen across Asia-Pacific and take your exports to new markets.
| Feature | ListingFree | Trade ConnectUSD 50 per month · USD 500 per year |
|---|---|---|
| Reach & distribution | ||
| Wine listings | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Visibility in markets covered by your licensed distributors | Included | Included |
| Visibility in markets with no distributor yet | Not included | Included |
| Order requests routed to your local distributors | Included | Included |
| Trade connections | ||
| Contact tool for importers, distributors and trade buyers | Not included | Included |
| Brand presence | ||
| Brand name displayed | Included | Included |
| Dedicated brand page and story | Not included | Included |
| Promotion | ||
| Visibility in search results and category pages | Included | Included |
| Articles about your brand | Not included | Included |
| Display banners across the site | Not included | Included |
| Events | ||
| Event listings | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Event sales kit | Not included | Included |
| Performance statistics | ||
| Order request statistics by market | Not included | Real-time |
| Audience and content statistics | Not included | Included |
Your current partners
Already selling wine in Japan? Support your local distributor
Asiavino works alongside the importer you already have. Buyers in Japan read your wine pages in Japanese, discover your brand, and send their order requests to your partner, who handles the rest.
Wine pages in the buyers' language
Asiavino's team builds a page for each wine from your technical sheet and translates it into the languages of the site, so buyers here read about your wines in the language they use.
Discovery of your brand
Buyers come across your wines as they browse the catalogue by region and grape variety. With Trade Connect, your brand page tells your story beside them.
Order requests for your partner
When a buyer here asks for one of your wines, the order request goes to your distributor, who confirms it, takes payment and delivers. Asiavino takes no commission on it, and your dashboard shows how each wine performs in this market.
Before you start
What to know before exporting wine to Japan
A liquor sales licence for the importer
Selling liquor in Japan on a continuing basis takes a liquor sales licence. The National Tax Agency lists an import and export liquor wholesale licence for the wholesale of imported liquor: your importer holds the licence that fits its trade.
Source: National Tax Agency
A food import notification
Under the Food Sanitation Act, whoever imports food for sale must file an import notification with a quarantine station, and food that has not been notified cannot be sold. Inspectors review it, including the producer, ingredients, additives and production method, and decide whether the shipment is tested.
Customs duty and liquor tax
Japan Customs gives the general customs rate for wine in containers of 2 litres or less, other than sparkling and fortified wine, as 15% or 125 yen per litre, whichever is lower, but not below 67 yen per litre. Liquor tax on wine is 100,000 yen per kilolitre. Your importer confirms the rate for each wine.
Source: Japan Customs
A Japanese label, the importer's responsibility
Food sold in Japan carries its mandatory labelling in Japanese, from the moment the importer sells it to another business in Japan, and a foreign producer cannot be the party responsible for that label. Wine must also be labelled under liquor law before it leaves the bonded area.
Source: Consumer Affairs Agency
Sources checked on October 10, 2026.
General information, not legal advice: your importer handles the formalities.
Questions and answers
Do I need a Japanese importer to sell wine in Japan?
Wine is sold in Japan by businesses that hold a liquor sales licence from the Japanese tax office, so your wines reach buyers through a licensed importer or wholesaler there. The importer also handles the import formalities.
What does a wine importer handle in Japan?
The importer holds the liquor sales licence, files the food import notification with the quarantine station, clears customs and pays the customs duty and liquor tax, and is responsible for the Japanese label before the wine is sold.
How can I find a wine importer in Japan?
Look for importers whose range and sales channels suit your wines: some supply restaurants and hotels, others wine shops, department stores or online retail. An importer in Japan holds a liquor sales licence from the tax office, which you can ask about before agreeing terms. On Asiavino, importers in Japan can discover your brand and send you an enquiry, and you decide whether to follow it up: Asiavino makes the introduction, it does not choose or guarantee a partner.
Can I promote my wines in Japan before finding a distributor?
Yes, with Trade Connect. Your brand page and your wines are shown to visitors in Japan, in Japanese and English, even though no distributor carries them yet. They cannot send order requests for those wines: the pages offer a trade enquiry instead, and your dashboard shows which wines draw enquiries and from which types of business, so you can measure interest before you choose a partner.
Can I use Asiavino if I already have a Japanese importer?
Yes, and it is free on Listing. Add your importer in the Merchant Studio: once it accepts the invitation and sets up your wines, buyers in Japan can send it order requests, with no commission to Asiavino. If you work with more than one importer in Japan, add each of them. Trade Connect is only needed if you also want a brand page and trade enquiries.
What information should I prepare for Japanese wine buyers?
A technical sheet for each wine giving its grape varieties, alcohol content, winemaking and any additives: your importer files the food import notification and writes the Japanese label from this information. Add an export price list, the volumes you can supply and your brand story with photographs. Importers often ask for samples before they decide, so say how you send them.
Does Asiavino import or sell my wine?
No. Asiavino does not buy, import or sell wine. It transmits each order request to a licensed local importer or distributor, who confirms it, takes payment, delivers and handles any refund.
What does it cost?
Listing is free. Trade Connect, the paid plan, adds a brand page, visibility in markets where you have no distributor yet and enquiries from importers, distributors and trade buyers.
Who handles import formalities and duties?
The importer of record in the market. Asiavino does not import, so licences, customs declarations, duties and labelling are handled by your importer or distributor.