The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of lifting the ban on import of fresh apples to Japan. Japan opened the domestic market of fresh apples for trade in 1971. However, for prevention of epidemics, the ban on import of fresh apples had been still effective up to 1993. According to the result of the demand analysis, we got the fact that Japanese consumers have a tendency to distinguish among the characteristics and qualities of apples clearly. Our first imports offresh apples from New Zealand and the United States were not a menace to the domestic production. Almost all of the apples imported to Japan were relatively small and ranked as low qualities. The result of estimation implied quantitatively that the impact of lifting the ban on import of fresh apples was not so serious for the apple production in Japan.