Japan Bans Power Banks on Airplanes

Fully Charged at your Departure Gate

Charge your cell phone and devices before boarding your flight

Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has moved to ban the in‑flight use of portable power banks from April 2026, after repeated incidents of mobile batteries smoking or catching fire during flights. The ministry has also been preparing tighter carry‑on limits, reported as two power banks per passenger, as Japan aligns with new international safety moves expected to be adopted in late March.

Japan Bans Power Banks on Airplanes. I read that first line, ban the use, twice, the way you read a train platform change twice when you’re not yet sure it applies to your track.

Then I read the part that mattered most for anyone flying to or from Japan with a travel plan built around battery life: the restriction isn’t only about charging your phone from the power bank. It also reaches the other direction; the habit of plugging the power bank into the plane’s outlet to “refill” it mid‑flight. In other words: no topping up devices with a power bank in the cabin, and no topping up the power bank itself onboard.

That’s a small rule with big consequences, the kind that quietly rearranges your whole trip: what you download before boarding, what you photograph, how you navigate a new city when your maps and translation live behind a battery percentage.

The Way Japan Got Here Wasn’t Sudden.

If you’ve flown Japan domestically in the last year, you’ve already seen the first step. MLIT issued a formal request starting July 8, 2025: don’t place power banks in overhead bins, and if you must use them onboard, do it where the device can be watched; seat pocket, hand, anywhere visible. The ministry pointed to lithium‑ion risks (impact, internal short circuit, overcharging) and emphasized early detection in the cabin.

That earlier approach felt characteristically Japanese: practical, incremental, built on cooperation and visibility rather than drama. But behind the quiet wording was the reality that cabin crews can only respond quickly if a problem is seen quickly.

A Power Bank Isn’t “banned,” but Your Habits Are.

This is where travelers get tripped up, especially on Japan itineraries that hop cities quickly.

We can still enjoy our phones on Japan originating flights and Japan based airlines

Power banks themselves are not being described as “banned from flights” in the sense of being forbidden to bring at all. The key is use.

Even before April 2026, Japan’s baseline rules already treated power banks as “spare” lithium‑ion batteries:

• They cannot go in checked baggage (they must be carried onboard).

  
  

• Capacity limits apply. In MLIT’s published examples of restricted items (updated May 2025), “spare batteries” including mobile batteries/power banks are allowed in carry‑on under certain watt‑hour ratings, while higher‑capacity units are restricted or prohibited.

  
  

The MLIT document explicitly treats power banks as spare batteries (“モバイルバッテリー等…”) and shows watt‑hour thresholds that travelers will recognize from airline battery rules globally: up to 100Wh allowed in carry‑on; 100–160Wh allowed with a quantity cap (shown as two); above 160Wh not permitted.

April 2026 adds a new layer: you may still be carrying the device for the trip, just not using it in the air.  You can, however, still use an outlet if your plane/seat has one and a charging adapter to charge only your device, not the Power Bank, if needed.

So the question becomes less “Can I bring it?” and more how do we adapt to using our devices less to ensure we still have access when we need them after departure.  The phone, after all, has become our boarding pass, map, translator, transport reservation, and so much more.

The Cabin Will be Calmer by Design

Airlines have been preparing for lithium‑battery incidents with specific onboard measures. Reporting on the MLIT change notes that carriers have increased countermeasures such as heat‑resistant containment bags for burning batteries and firefighting training for cabin crew.

Power Bank on fire in overhead luggage storage onboard a Commercial Passenger Plane

That detail matters more than the headline. It explained the logic: when something goes wrong with a battery, minutes matter. If power banks aren’t being actively used mid‑flight, warming, charging, stressed, the risk shifts downward, and the cabin becomes easier to monitor.

Japan’s approach is rarely about theatrics. It’s about keeping small risks from becoming large ones.

Notes for Anyone Flying Japan after April 2026

• From April 2026, expect in‑flight power bank use to be prohibited on flights governed by Japan’s MLIT guidance, including charging your phone from a power bank and charging the power bank from onboard power.

  
  

• Expect a carry‑on quantity cap reported as two power banks per passenger. (Details are tied to the regulatory update and airline implementation.)

  
  

• Do not pack power banks in checked luggage. JAL’s own guidance is blunt: power banks cannot be checked; carry them onboard.

  
  

• Know your battery’s watt‑hours. MLIT’s published examples treat power banks as spare lithium‑ion batteries and show the familiar thresholds (notably the 160Wh ceiling and the 100–160Wh “two pieces” cap).

  
  

• If your itinerary includes codeshares or non‑Japanese carriers, rules can differ. Even under the earlier 2025 guidance, MLIT noted that passengers should follow the operating carrier’s instructions when flying foreign airlines.

When boarding your plane, zip the carry-on pocket where the power bank lives. Simply accept that, going forward, travel will return to something older and simpler. You board prepared. You make do. You start with enough charge to begin your flight.

And in Japan, that has always been part of the journey.