Kaupichthys japonicus is an eel in the family Chlopsidae.

[2] It was described by Kiyomatsu Matsubara and Hirotoshi Asano in 1960.

[3] It was originally a subspecies of Kaupichthys diodontus (the common false moray).

It is a tropical, marine eel which is known from Japan (from which its specific epithet is derived) and the South China Sea, in the western Pacific Ocean.

Males can reach a maximum total length of 23.8 centimetres (9.4 in).