Hi guys,

I just bought a one-way ticket to Tokyo to travel through Japan, buy a bike there and ride back to Europe across Asia. To most people, this sounds insane, but I hope on this forum this is just one other bike trip.

I have been trying unsuccesfully to find answers to these questions both on embasssies and online. Then I asked the Japanese community on this forum, and got some helpful advice - but if have any knowledge, tips or hints about following, I would very much appreciate that:

1) - Is it possible for me to buy and register a motorbike in Japan? I intend to come as a traveler (no visa needed for EU citizens), do I need some other status (e.g. permanent resident)?

Robin from the Japanese Community wrote that it is not possible, unless you have a temporary residence visa. With tourist visa (EU citizens don't need any to visit) I cannot take a vehicle out of the country. Can you confirm this?

2) If yes, what are the conditions? My embassy gave me a brief answer stating that I will need an adress in Japan and a proof of "parking spot" - is that correct? If so, what is the easiest way to get it?

The embassy got a slightly different answer, they said I needed a residence address and a "parking spot."

3) Will I be able to ship the bike (along with myself) to Russia, Vladivostok or Sakhalin? Do I need to pay any export taxes?

I noticed that most of you here traveled via Hokkaido-Sakhalin ferry, I expect once I get a bike with proper paperwork, I can use that connection, right?

4) Is it possible for me to get a Carnet de Passages en Douane (CPD) in Japan?

I expect not. At the moment, I have no idea if I can travel through Russia, Mongolia and the Stans without it. I have been without CDP to Iran though, so from there, I know my way

5) I fell in love with Honda CX500 recently. Can you give me any advice, where to look for a youngtimer bike like this it except for autos.goo.ne.jp - only site I know? This type was mainly for export, so there aren't many of those in Japan.

Thanks a lot in advance for any answers, further tips or comments, Matej

Robin is, as far as I know, correct.
He did say he spent a long time at the department of transport trying to find a solution for you, after all.
If you want to buy a bike here, you need to be a resident. That usually means having a visa with a say of 6 months or longer. It is possible to "buy" from someone, but you will not be able to "register" it in your own name. In Japan, vehicle registration requires you to submit your residence document. You can only get the residence document if you are a registered resident. A tourist cannot register as a resident. If you had a student visa, for example, you could get residence documents.
Possibly, you could use a bike registered in someone else's name, but I suspect you would have troubles every time you cross a border. Maybe a document proving that you have permission to drive the vehicle would work, but I personally have no experience with this.
All other options would probably involve some less than legal solutions. I would not recommend trying to use forged documents in Japan, as that could get you in a bit of trouble (especially trying to get a Carnet using fake registrations documents, as that would possibly get you locked up for fraud).
Maybe the Gaijinriders forum for expats could help you. But I assume the answers will all be the same.

As for the rest of your questions,
Proof of a parking spot is not required for motorcycles, only cars.
The Hokkaido-Sakhalin ferry probably will be discontinued next year. There is still a ferry to Vladivostok.
CDP would require you to have the bike registered in your name and you would have to pay a large security deposit equal to more than the value of your bike. If you have that kind of money, you would save a lot of hassle just by buying in your home country and shipping to Japan. In any case, you would have to bring the bike back to Japan after the trip to get your money back.
This is the only CX500 I can find for sale in Japan: http://motorcycle.goobike.com/motorc...8B30110706004/
HONDA CX500 TURBO | 1982 | WHITE | 29,758

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Japan touring information

Its been 5 years since this post was created, but I am hoping for some feedback and updates since I am in a very similar position like OP was.

It would be my dream to ride my bike from Japan to Germany, starting in Vladivostok through Mongolia, the stans, maybe Georgia and Turkey if the latter poses no problem and lastly through east Europe.

The difference between me and OP is the following.
Regarding points 1) and 2). I have already lived the last 3 years in Japan on multiple student visas and have a registered address, bike, insurance and everything that comes with it, which means I have no questions as to how to obtain a bike in Japan.

Second, I am hoping (although very unsure if possible) to ride the bike through above mentioned countries and finally keep it with me in Germany. Obviously that implies a visit to the German customs and paying import taxes. What I am more worried about is everything in between.

From reading around the forums I think I do not need a Carnet de Passage for my trip (please correct me if I am wrong). Am I correct to assume I would therefore specific temporary important documents for each respective country? The one thing that bugs me the most since not many people seem to be in this position is the following. I am a European citizen and hold a German passport, but both me and the bike would be registered in Japan.

Turkey for example seems to allow people who reside in the EU to temporarily important their bike, which must be registered in the country of residence. Since I am not residing in the EU currently, I doubt they would let me in with the bike, even though I carry a European passport. I thought about maybe leaving Japan once, changing my residency to a EU one, and then fly back to Japan and start the tour with my bike waiting for me in Japan, but in that case me and the bike would be registered in different countries which probably creates more problems than it solves...? I really don't know what the smart way of doing things is.

Would a Carnet de Passage resolve some of these issues, even though it is not required by Russia,Mongolia and the stans? Also, since I am thinking of keeping the bike in Germany I don't see how a CdP would work since the bike is not getting returned to Japan.

Is what I am planning even possible in our current world?

I would be thankful for OP and Chris of Japan if they have any new insights.
Matej, were you able to do your trip in 2015?

All the best, Stacklucker

Couple of things to think about:

-Sakhalin ferry is a nope. A little research and you'll find plenty of posts that confirm that. It is a passenger ferry and does not take vehicles.

- there ARE ferries that service Vladivostok (via sKorea) to Japan. The principal one is DBS Ferries, and it is now closed defunct since 2019. Ive been talking to Tatiana who is still answering her professional email, and there is a slim chance it will reopen in the future.

-travelling and arranging the ferry is normally easy. See https://www.madornomad.com/how-to-ge...ssia-to-japan/

-the CdP is not necessary and is expensive. Not really worth it for Japan>Europe travel.

-Meanwhile the CONIV19 has closed the Japanese border indefinitely as per the MOFA website. https://www.mofa.go.jp/ca/fna/page4e_001053.html

-insurance taking a bike FROM Japan to Europe will be complicated. Getting insurance in Russia is easy, many gas stations will do it, and it is not expensive. However i understand that getting insurance for Europe (green card) is quite difficult. Seems to me that there is a moto company out of Bulgaria (i think) that can do it and has good reviews. The name momentarily escapes me, but you can easily search HU for the answer.

-i suspect to convert a Japanese plated moto to European plate will be horribly complicated if not impossible. Here in France i would not even try.

-passing borders (turkey) is no problem having a passport different than the bike. As long as the bike is registered in your name (or you have a notarized or similarly official authority by the owner to use the motorcycle) you can cross having completed all the TIP paperwork. Source: Canadian using French plated moto.

I left my EU bike in Japan in the winter of 2019. Looks like I won't be getting near it for the next year or so...
Good luck.

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2023 back in Japan on the road after COVID, 2019 Paris Siberia Japan tbd -2010 WR250R; 2015-2016 Paris-Mongolia and Paris-Silk Road; 2011-2013 Canada Ushuaia

I will follow up with more info later, but you need to know one important thing right now:
There are no more ferries to and from Japan, except to South Korea.
All ferries going between Japan and Russia are out of business. And I think there is no ferry now between South Korea and Russia.

That was a great load of valuable information, thank you very much! I guess if DBS is not operating there is no way to leave Japan with your bike and going to Russia. Here's to hoping...

This year travelling (of any kind) from or to Japan is definitely not a smart idea and it is impossible to guess how the Covid situation will play out. I was planning on doing the trip in either late 2021, starting in August, or early 2022, starting around March. 2021 would be very nice but I fear leaving in August will put a lot of time pressure on the whole trip as every country on the itinerary starts to cool down from July onwards.

Seems like CdP is not really needed then, at least that's a small relief.

I haven't looked into whats needed for converting the number plate once ins Europe, but I like to hope that will be possible somehow. Definitely need to do my research on that.

What worries me about the borders as well is that, knowing Japan, a lot of the official documents will be in Japanese with little English.

If I may add one more question, do you know if Japan/ JAF will say anything (or even prevent me from leaving by ferry) if they know I do not plan to return with the bike? I imagine the whole process of unregistering ( + converting to EU plate) will have to be done once I arrive at my destination in the EU right?


Edit: Thank you Chris of Japan, I roger that. I will wait for your post

I wouldn’t be too worried about registering the Japanese bike in the EU as there has been for many years a good trade in 250/400 pocket rockets Japanese bikes that have been brought over to the UK and registered with no issues. To confirm this it may be worth contacting a company that do “grey imports”.

There is a useful page on one of the British insurers webpages here - https://www.confused.com/motorbike-i...Grey%20imports. I know what you are thinking -“what, an insurance company be useful? Since when does that happen?” And the answer is that this may be the only time.

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.

Hello


Have a look at this way

https://www.zoll.de/DE/Privatpersone...ngen_node.html


sushi

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My RTW:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrXt660ztenere

@Jay_Benson
Thanks for the information. If I were to follow through with this I most definitely would be looking at a "parallel" import, to save money and for ease of maintenance / availability of parts etc.

@sushi2831 I hope I will be able to get my hands on those "Nachweisdokumente (u.a. zur Verlegung des gewöhnlichen Wohnsitzes)" without having entered Germany beforehand.

"Officially" if you export a vehicle from Japan permanently to another country, you have to de-register it first. However, if you do that, you can't ride it until it is registered in the new country. So, you would have to do a temporary export and hope you can change it to permanent export later.
I know someone did something similar to Croatia a few years ago, but I didn't hear if they were able to register. Maybe you can try to contact them and see how it went.
https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hu...-croatia-95068
There are no ferries now, but FESCO operates RO-RO ships to Japan. Their agent in Japan is "Trans Russia Agency" 会社概要-トランスロシアエージェンシージャ� �ン株式会社
You will definitely need a customs agent in Vladivostok. (Yuri Melnikov of Links Ltd is recommended). As long as the bike is in your name, you should have no problems at borders. But once you arrive in Europe you will have to de-register the bike or someone will get a bill every year for taxes. In the worst case, you will be stuck with a bike you cannot register in your name in Germany. But you can probably sell it for parts.

Stacklucker:

I doubt very much if you would be able to import to Germany and successfully register (get a licence plate for) a vehicle that was purchased in Japan (in other words, built to Japanese homogulation standards).

Germany has some of the strictest standards in the world for vehicle conformity. The motorcycle would have to have a placard on it indicating that it conformed to EU emission standards as of the date of manufacture. Even if the moto was absolutely identical in every respect, right down to the last screw and nut, to what gets sold in the German market, if it doesn't have that conformity placard on it, you likely would not pass the emissions requirement.

Then there are other concerns, such as the headlight beam pattern being different (right hand drive vs. left hand drive), nomenclature (labeling of controls) needing to meet EC standards, tires needing to conform to TUV standards for that particular model of moto, etc.

I suggest you very carefully research whether or not you would be able to put a German licence plate on the bike before you go further with your project.

Michael

No, quite the contrary, it is super-easy for a bona-fide tourist to get liability coverage (a 'Green Card') for a vehicle that is registered in a country outside of the EC.

I live in Canada, and often ride my Canadian-plated bike in Europe. There is a very well-established system for permitting tourists to temporarily insure - for touristic purposes - vehicles registered outside of the EC.

In the case of Starlucker, he could get the insurance coverage either at the first entry point into the EC (there are typically insurance kiosks at such border crossings), or he could arrange it in advance with a provider in any EC country and have the green card mailed to him.

The Bulgarian insurance provider you refer to is MotoCamp Bulgaria, their website is www.motosapiens.org.

Michael

PS: But, having said all that, I agree with you that insurance isn't going to be the problem, importing a Japanese market motorcycle into Germany and passing the TUV examination to get a licence plate is going to be the insurmountable barrier.