OBJECTIVES: Japan is a low generic adoption market, and increased penetration has become a critical target to generate savings to fund innovative drugs and control healthcare expenditure. The objective of this research was to provide an overview of policies implemented in Japan to boost generics uptake and to assess impact of these measures. METHODS: Generics policies and uptake were identified through literature review from: Japanese authority website, Japan Generics Association website, Medline^®, ICHUSHI^® database and grey literature. RESULTS: Generics policies have been implemented in Japan since 2002. In 2002, the National Health Insurance (NHI) medical fee schedule introduced financial incentives to prescribe generic drugs for providers (pharmacies and hospitals). Since then, various financial incentives to providers have been introduced by the biannual revision of NHI medical fee schedule. Diagnostic Procedure Classification system (bundled payment) encouraging generic drug use was  introduced in acute care hospitals in 2003 and expanded to 21% of general hospitals (55% of hospital beds) in 2014. In 2007, the government put in place an action plan to encourage generic drug use. This was complemented in 2013 by a roadmap aiming at increased generic penetration to exceed 60% by 2018. More aggressive financial incentives were introduced in April 2014 setting up generic volume threshold for pharmacies. The generic market share was continuously increased from 32.5% (2005), 39.9% (2011), to 47.9% (2013), and rapidly increased from 51.2% (March 2014) to 57.1% (November 2014). The recent policy accelerating the generic market share targeting at least 70% by 2017 is under discussion at the economic advisory council and raise concern about excessive speed. CONCLUSIONS: The recent health policy measures to increase generics uptake confirm this priority for policy decision makers in Japan. Following recent aggressive policies the Japanese generic market will soon match other developed countries.