The Japanese Waxwing is about 18 cm in length and its plumage is mostly pinkish-brown.

The Japanese Waxwing breeds in coniferous forests in the Russian Far East and in Heilongjiang province, north-east China.

Japanese Waxwings often occur in mixed flocks with Bohemian Waxwings which, as well as having the row of waxy tips, are slightly larger with a yellow tail-tip, greyish centre to the belly and no reddish-brown stripe across the wing.

As the Cedar Waxwing inhabits only North America and the Japanese Waxwing only Asia, the Bohemian Waxwing is the only member of this family whose range circumnavigates all the continents just below the sub-Arctic latitudes.