No fentanyl had been seized at Japan's borders in the six years through 2024, Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato said on Friday, after a media report alleged a Chinese group in Japan smuggled chemicals into the United States to make the synthetic drug.
"Japan will continue to take all necessary steps to prevent the smuggling of illegal drugs," Kato said at a regular briefing when asked about the allegations reported by the Nikkei Business daily. Kato did not say whether fentanyl he referred to included precursor chemicals as well as the finished drug.
The media report, which identified a company operating in Nagoya, central Japan until at least July 2024, comes as Japan tries to negotiate a trade deal with the U.S. in a bid to roll back or eliminate a 25% tariff on Japanese automobile imports.
U.S. President Donald Trump in March slapped additional tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China after he accused those three countries of facilitating the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., where it has caused nearly 450,000 overdose deaths,
The allegation that fentanyl precursor chemicals had been shipped from Japan will not affect Japan's ongoing trade talks, Japan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya said.
"Japan intends to continue actively working toward the eradication of illegal drugs, including fentanyl, through close coordination with the United States and other relevant countries," he said at a separate press briefing.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
14 Comments
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sakurasuki
Is this just another appeal in tarrifs negotiation that so far no progress at all, between Japan and US?
GuruMick
All about the fentanyl.
Hey US morons , why are your citizens so unhappy ?
Oldboy
That's because it all go through.
The_Beagle
I read the report in Nikkei Asia. It alleges a Chinese organization has used a base in Japan — a company set up in Nagoya named Firsky KK — to smuggle chemicals to mak fentanyl into the US.
A key figure in the group registered a company in the city of Nagoya and until at least July 2024 issued instructions from Japan on the delivery of the dangerous opioid and on the management of funds.
Japan has not previously been officially linked to fentanyl trafficking. If Japan is part of a trafficking route, then the country could get caught up in the global frictions surrounding this issue, including the trade war.
Firsky had personnel and capital ties to Hubei Amarvel Biotech, a Wuhan-based chemical manufacturer targeted by the American authorities. Amarvel executives were convicted in a federal court in New York this January of charges that included conspiracy to import fentanyl precursors into the US.
The_Beagle
You can view the graphic used for the article that shows how the companies and execs are linked here:
https://x.com/Byron_Wan/status/1938016351618273782/photo/1
BeerDeliveryGuy
Unfortunately, I can see Fenty becoming quite popular in Japan.
Japanese anti-drug education throws all drugs in the same category “dangerous” and high schoolers get the impression that weed is just as bad as heroin.
So, try some weed or E, they’ll think “hey, that’s not so bad. This heroin and crack stuff must be pretty chill too.”
The sheer rarity of actual hard drugs in Japan (other than Meth. Thanks to NK) is probably the only reason it isn’t a serious societal issue.
Asiaman7
Fentanyl: Trump’s go-to tool for trade leverage. Won’t work against Japan though. They’re laughing him off.
garymalmgren
RE:Japanese anti-drug education throws all drugs in the same category “dangerous”
Yep, That's the education that my kids got here and when they went back to OZ for high school they were prepared and educated beforehand.
And I am thankful for that.
Gary
Oldboy
Meanwhile, from the Eighties,truck drivers were constantly dependent upon uppers such as denzedrine, amphetamines,and so on,to reach their targets.
Blattamexiguus
Nothing seized should be alarming not cause for celebration! Homer Simpson mentality?
wallace
That is great news. There are a few countries with no smuggled Fentanyl.
OKuniyoshi
What does it means??? Custom failed? Everything got through? Trying so hard to be like the "Daddy" guy from Europe. At the start, trump said "lick my arxe", Another "Daddy" guy looking so happy to do that.
Peter Neil
BeerDeliveryGuyToday 05:32 pm JST
I don’t see that. Amphetamines are the drug of choice, behind beer.
wanderlust
The other meaning is that they failed to catch anything, the smugglers were able to hide it.