Japan has one of the world’s oldest demographics and is ranked as the 4th largest GDP with no domestic production of cannabis products. On the surface this makes Japan a hugely attractive export market.
Japan is a relatively new cannabis market, having amended its Cannabis Control Act in December 2024. One material result was to remove the blanket ban on cannabis-derived pharmaceuticals. The focus has changed to medical use of cannabis with an
ultra low THC limit for these medical products – 0.001% THC to be specific.
This creates a high bar for the cannabis manufactures that wish to service this market. The sector size is estimated to be anywhere between $115M - $145M with high growth forecasts of 28-30% CAGR (‘compound annual growth rate’) into 2030-2033 (https://www.grandviewresearch.com/horizon/outlook/cannabidiol-market/japan). Once those restrictions begin to ease, expect the growth rate and total addressable market to increase substantially.
The upsides are obvious; Canadian exporters are not subject to (rather crippling) cannabis excise tax duty, immediately improving the economics vs. domestic sales. For US exporters, emerging APAC demand for compliant bulk ingredients and finished goods rewards the few suppliers who can consistently hit spec and prove it. One of the biggest challenges for exporters now, is of course meeting those strict THC thresholds.
Unfortunately, because of the size of the shipments and potential for revenue loss if those thresholds aren’t met, there have been many cases of COA (‘certificate of analysis’) manipulation. Further to that, paper and email simply is not scalable – when permits, specifications, invoices and batch records all move through inboxes, you lose traceability, auditability and version control. Culturally, Japan places a very high value on partners who embrace a quality culture.
People + Process + Technology
This is where TrueImports and C15 Solutions come into play. TrueImports, led by Mary Szomjassy Brown and Robert Gregg, is an international certification and importation company that serves as a broker for aspiring exporters. The company has established a closed-loop system to ensure scalable, auditable, cannabinoid importation into Japan using C15 Solutions digital eQMS.
TrueImports manages a C15 Solutions eQMS environment whereby all relevant exporter documentation and test results are uploaded into C15’s 21 CFR Part 11, EU Annex 11 and ERES (Japan equivalent) compliant ‘Vault’ with audit trails. C15 ‘Vault’ provides shared access to both the exporting producer and the Japanese Ministry of Health (JMH). TrueImports also works with multiple, designated labs recognized by Japan authorities that execute official testing for all cannabinoid exports into Japan.
The exporting producer will upload specs, permits, batch records, COAs, and any other forms related to shipment into the C15 Vault for review by the international TrueImports team. Once reviewed, the JMH will then access the C15 Vault and approve the export for shipment. Tracking and any correction of issues is executed under an audit trail with full traceability across multiple versions of documents. The C15 Vault acts as a complete data repository, where all partner and client data is grouped into version controlled digital binders that are stored in perpetuity.
Role based access ensures exporting partners only see what they are authorized to.
In this scenario, TrueImports (the people) have created a closed-loop framework (the process) leveraging C15’s eQMS (the technology) to create a digital compliance bridge that ensure supply chain integrity for the Japanese medical market.
