Can you bring a massage gun on a plane?

Massage guns on flights in and from Japan

The rule for massage guns comes from the Civil Aviation Bureau's list of restricted items and is the same on domestic and international flights.

Massage guns: the battery, the off switch and the stick

A massage gun is judged as a device with a lithium battery. A plain massage stick is judged by its length.

A massage gun counts as a portable electronic device

The words massage gun do not appear in Japan's list. A battery massager falls under portable electronic devices in the battery section, where a lithium-ion device of 160 Wh or less may travel in either the cabin or the hold and one above 160 Wh in neither. The only massage item the list names is the massage stick, among the rod-shaped items.

Keeping it from switching on in the bag

For any device in this group the list asks for measures against accidental operation and damage, and gives packing in a sturdy suitcase or cushioning with clothes as examples. When the device is checked, the power has to be completely off, a condition the list applies to batteries above 2.7 Wh. CASA words it as a device that cannot be accidentally activated during transit.

Spare and removable battery packs

A battery pack taken out of a massage gun is not judged with the gun. In Japan's list a spare battery, including one removed from its device, is a separate row: lithium-ion packs of 100 Wh or less go in the cabin and are not accepted in checked baggage. Hong Kong's CAD marks spare lithium batteries the same way and wants each one individually protected against short circuit.

Working out the watt-hours

The limits are written in watt-hours. Hong Kong's CAD prints the conversion from milliampere-hours at the head of its battery tables: the watt-hour rating is the rated capacity in mAh divided by 1000, multiplied by the nominal voltage.

Bringing one into Japan: 1 set without paperwork

Japan's health ministry counts electric massaging tools as medical devices for household use. Its guidance for people entering Japan says such a device brought for personal use, up to 1 set, does not require an application for Import Confirmation. The same page describes the procedures as basically the same as for drugs and quasi drugs.

Massage guns: the rule country by country

In the United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia the authority's page lists massage guns as allowed in carry-on.

Each row comes from that authority's own page. Airlines can be stricter, and the screening officer has the final say.

If security in Japan will not let massage guns through

What to do

Move massage guns to the bag you check in before you reach security, within the checked-baggage limits above. Narita Airport states that anything given up at the checkpoint is discarded and cannot be returned.

Buying massage guns in Japan

Where to buy

Electronics shops and Don Quijote.

Related items

• Golf clubs
• Bats and rackets
• Fishing rods
• Tripods and monopods
• Skis and snowboards
• Ski and snowboard wax