A Japanese man has been arrested in Indonesia for allegedly carrying methamphetamine, police said, in a country where smuggling drugs can be punished by death.

National Police spokesman Ronny Sompie identified the man as Masaru Kawada, 73, but the Japanese mission in Indonesia has confirmed neither his name nor his age.

Sompie said Kawada, from Aichi Prefecture, was arrested by customs officials at the Minangkabau International Airport in the West Sumatra provincial capital of Padang upon his arrival from Kuala Lumpur on Saturday morning.

Police allege that he was carrying more than 2 kg of methamphetamine known as "shabu-shabu."

He had traveled in Japan, China, Macau and Malaysia before arriving in Padang.

"He is now under intensive interrogation to reveal his network," Sompie said.