Flying a drone in Japan: registration, zones and permissions

Registration comes first

Japan's Civil Aviation Bureau states that it is mandatory to register an unmanned aircraft that weighs 100 g or more under the Civil Aeronautics Act. You must display a registration ID on the aircraft and equip it with a remote ID function.

The same page defines the edge of that rule: multirotor and model aircraft that weigh less than 100 g including the battery are categorised as "model aircraft".

Where you may not fly without permission

Flight is prohibited in certain airspaces and in certain ways, and you must get flight permission or approval in advance for them. The prohibited airspaces are the areas around airports and Densely Inhabited Districts; the ministry publishes both as official maps (linked below, in Japanese), and they are the only reliable source for a specific address.

Other rules apply everywhere, whatever the airspace: do not fly under the influence of alcohol or drugs, carry out preflight actions, fly so as to avoid collisions with aircraft and other unmanned aircraft, and do not fly in a careless or reckless manner. The Japanese-language page carries the same prohibited-zone and flight-method material.

After permission: plan, logbook, reporting

When you fly under permission or approval, you must report your flight plan - date and time, route and altitude - to the ministry in advance, and keep a flight logbook covering the journey log, daily inspection, and inspection and maintenance records.

Accidents and serious incidents must be reported whether or not you hold a permission. Applications, flight-plan reports and incident reports are made online through the ministry's DIPS 2.0 portal.

Why this matters for visitors now

Japan's drone-prohibition law changed on 14 July 2026. The National Police Agency records that the amending Act expanded the area that may be designated as a facility's surrounding area to its premises or area plus generally about 1,000 m, and added sites where designated special VIPs are staying and venues for international conferences; designation notices for the 485 sites already covered took effect the same day. MLIT's designation of eight airports, Naha among them, was gazetted on 3 July 2026 and applied from 14 July 2026, and each airport's zone is listed district by district in MLIT Notice No. 813 of Reiwa 8.

The practical read for a visitor is unchanged and stronger: a site can look ordinary and still be inside a restricted zone, so check the exact location against the official notice and the Geospatial Information Authority map layer before you unpack the drone, and allow at least 48 hours for the consent and notification steps.