United States: Sourcing Japanese Ingredients and OEM Products

What's selling — the 2025 US demand snapshot

The US has been Japan's largest food and cosmetic export market for years and the gap is widening. Three forces shape what US buyers want from Japan in 2025: the matcha boom and broader Japanese tea expansion (now in mainstream coffee chains), the fermented / functional food category (miso, koji, sake-derived skincare, amazake), and premium provenance ingredients (yuzu, sansho, Hokkaido seafood, Okinawan longevity).

These are not small specialty SKUs anymore. Mochi ice cream is in Costco. Yuzu cocktails are in mainstream chain bars. Hojicha lattes are on the spring menu at Blue Bottle. The category has scale now — and the regulatory framework has matured to match it.

The US regulatory framework you actually need to navigate

Three regulatory frameworks govern most Japanese exports to the US:

• FDA + FSMA (food) — Foreign Supplier Verification Programme (FSVP) is the binding US importer obligation. Producer-side: facility registration with FDA, HACCP-equivalent system, FSMA-compliant traceability records. Most established Japanese exporters already comply.
• MoCRA (cosmetics, since 2024) — Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act introduced facility registration + product listing. Each cosmetic SKU shipped to US must be listed with FDA, with facility responsible person identified. Adverse event reporting required.
• TTB (alcohol) — sake, shochu, Japanese whisky governed by Treasury Tax & Trade Bureau. COLA (Certificate of Label Approval) required per SKU.
• USDA (organic, plant material, meat) — organic JAS recognised under USDA NOP equivalence. Plant material requires APHIS phytosanitary cert.

Tariffs and trade context

Japan and US do not have a comprehensive FTA, but the Japan-US Trade Agreement (effective 2020) lowered tariffs on many agricultural and industrial goods. Specific tariff lookups:

• Tea (matcha, sencha, hojicha) — most green tea categories enter US duty-free.
• Soy sauce, miso, mirin — typically duty-free or low single-digit tariff.
• Cosmetic ingredients / finished cosmetics — generally low single-digit tariff; specific HS code dependent.
• Sake / shochu — Federal excise tax applies (per gallon basis).
• Premium beef (wagyu) — variable; subject to tariff-rate quotas.

Which trends are loudest on US shelves

Top categories where US buyers are placing inquiries in 2025:

• Matcha (all grades) — but supply-constrained (see matcha trend).
• Hojicha — emerging mainstream café category.
• Yuzu — beverages, confectionery, skincare.
• Sake-derived skincare — sake kasu, koji ferment filtrate.
• Mochi ice cream and frozen wagashi — established mass-market category.
• Functional mushrooms — shiitake, maitake, reishi extracts.
• Marine collagen — Hokkaido-origin premium positioning.
• Whisky-adjacent — premium Japanese whisky and oak-aged spirits.