nzshred

I'm interested from anyone that's done this, the taxes/fees/problems faced when importing gear into Japan?

I'm heading over in December for work and would like to order a board, jacket, pants and maybe some clothes from the states but I'm unsure on what the deal is coming into the country - anyone have experience with this?

ippy

Most things are pretty cheap at customs. The only exception (pertaining to snowboarding) is leather items. Anything with leather gets wolloped at about 20% i believe. Everything else gets hit for sales tax which is about 5%. As far as i recall, and im really having to search my memory here, my items went through customs without a whisper (in korea youll get a phone call to confirm all kinds of crap before they let it through), and i had to pay a trivial sum to the postie delivering it (about 2000 yen) in consumption/sales tax or whatever it is.

Pretty smooth stuff. Again, boots are probably best bought in japan or have them exported from a private address in the states or something and sent as a gift. But everything else is pretty straightforward.

nzshred

Cheers mate, looks like I'll be in central Hokkaido, so i could be paying quiet a bit more for the postage fee? I'm hoping I get a better job offer on the mainland, but it's unlikely!

I'll probably be in boot heaven over there - I have small feet and always have trouble finding the right size here as no one imports my size. I usually buy them online for about 1/5 the price the model sells for in stores here - Which I still might do just due... Purely for the price, but the boots sure do cause me grief, it's just hard to order another brand when I have never tried them before.

Supra

sounds like you're just planning on ordering from the states when you get to Japan. You'll have the same difficulties as you currently have in NZ with product restrictions. Burton, Oakley, Capita, etc cannot be shipped abroad unless you use bongo or one of those re-mailers