Hi Friends,
I am coming this Friday the 10th of Jan. 2014 to Japan and dont know if they let me uncrate the bike at the Narita Airport, to be exact, at the I.A.C.T. counter.
Is anyone there who might know about it, or knows an alternative where I can let the box transport to and do the job there? Some garage in Tokyo, biker place, or outside somewhere?
Thanks and hope to see you soon,

Thomas

Thomas,

hope I am not too late./

You might want to send an e-mail to Chris (the mod of this thread). He is the most capable guy here in Japan!! Here is also his website with quite some useful information! Please let me know if I can be of any (additional) help!!

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Hi Klaus,
I got an email of great Chris already. All seems to be fine, also the I.A.C.T. told me that over the weekend it should be possible to uncreate there, weekdays are too busi.
Hey, since you offer additional help to me, the other German biker ..., I might get through your region later in spring, how about a drink?
Kann ich dich irgendwie direkt anschreiben? (engl.: how can I get in touch with you?)

Also, which gps maps work best in Japan?

Greetings,

Thomas

If you have a Garmin, try this
https://box.yahoo.co.jp/guest/viewer...iewtype=detail
Click on ダウンロード near the top on the left side.
I am not sure if it will work. But I heard that it has maps in English.
(The most commonly used OSM version with English automatically converts the Japanese characters into the Chinese reading for the same characters, making it pretty much useless. i.e. 東京 becomes "Dongjing" instead of "Tokyo").

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Japan touring information

Thomas, Moins! (good morning for all those English speakers)

GREAT! I knew Chris would be a valuable "asset" again!!

I can't promise anything but please send mails to klausdorth(at)web.de. I will see what can be done in reference to a or maybe even 2!!

If possible send me your preliminary (or final) plans for Japan!!!
Schick Deine vorlaeufigen Plaene einfach mal - dann sehen wir weiter!!
Viel Spass im Land-der-(nicht immer)-aufgehenden Sonne!

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Chris, morning ... anything new on Thomas??

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hello ...

I will keep you updated, now all is delayed and in progress, it looks like German bikes have to be temporarily registered ... .

I will give a whole "Report" on the process once I am through, for the case someone else is trying to do it correctly with a bike registered in Germany.

Cheers,

Thomas

O, here is the report!

Customs Narita Airport, Cargo, JAF, Insurance

The most efficient order to work through to get your bike seems to be the one below. Still it might take you several days, at least count on two, if there is no weekend or holidays in between.
1. JAF in Tokyo for carnet and translation of driving license.
2. Insurance in any bigger motorcycle shop. You can do this independent from all the other institutions, but you need it of cause before you ride.
3. Warehouse company in the customs zone at Narita Airport.
4. Customs clearance in the customs zone at Narita Airport. They need your driving license and the carnet and the delivery document.
5. Payment at warehouse company for storage etc..
6. Uncrate and happy ride!


JAF(Japanese Automobile Club)

JAF gives you the validation of your Carnet and can give you a translation of your driving license.
The Carnet validation takes about 30 minutes.
You need a translation of your driving license if you are from Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Slovenia, Monaco or Taiwan (probably international driving permit if you are from other countries). At the moment, the information I can give is, that you need such translation AT THE CUSTOMS IN NARITA!.
It is possible contact and fax JAF the carnet and the driving license as described in their webpage before you reach Japan. That serves you time and you can pick up that translation for 3000 Yen without waiting up to several days!
So, BEFORE you intend to get the customs clearance you get your carnet validated at the JAF, and also the translation of your driving license if you need that one!
If you are out of the unlucky countries noted above, JAF will possibly tell you that you have to register your bike officially! This includes a technical check which is very expensive! According to my information at this point, you have to become a resident in Japan first! This is not possible for everybody.
If JAF tells you that you have to do it, say yes, you will do it, sure.
On the road you need, so far, only the driving license, insurance, because police doesnt know about the difference which country signed which treaty.
The reason behind is, that these countries signed the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic in 1968, but Japan signed the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic in 1949.
Interestingly the customs did not know about that registration! Luckily!

JAF links:
JAF Regional Headquarters MAP
JAF Regional Headquarters & Offices : KANTO
JAF|For foreign nationals with a driver�s license issued in Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium or Taiwan
JAPAN AUTOMOBILE FEDERATION (JAF)
JAF For Visitors Bringing Vehicles with Carnet de Passages en Douane


Cargo and Customs at Narita Airport, Japan
1.
IACT at Narita airport is the handling warehouse for MOST airlines in the customs zone.
At the Information booth in Terminal 2 you get a little map. Walking time from there to the customs zone is just 10 minutes.
Outside, at the gate at the customs zone, you give your name, address in japan, phone number and office you will visit (probably IACT) and you get a visitors card and a paper to be stamped at any place you visit in the customs zone. Dont forget the stamp. If you leave the customs zone you will return paper with stamp and card.

Right behind that gate on the right side is the Customs building! Second floor!

2.
From that gate you will see already a building straight on across the street with big letters: IACT
Next to it on the right side is also an IACT building. Take that.
First and second office next to each other!
Take the second office and get the original delivery documents with your copy and passport.

3.
With this go back to the customs building second floor for the clearance of the bike.
Carnet, passport, address, phone number, delivery document, international driving license!
And for the unlucky nations the translation of the driving license.
The Customs Officer might want to see the bike. Normally the transport of the crate to the customs house will cost. (In my case I was lucky, they transported it from the bigger storage place to the smaller IACT warehouse next to the offices. I think this is how it should be done anyway, since the buildings are opposite each other.)
If customs clearance is done, go to the first office of IACT and pay storage time etc..

Link document C5014, which is good to have filled out before:
http://www.customs.go.jp/kaisei/yous...m_C/C5014a.pdf


Be careful with your carnet de passage in both places! Most of the people there have never seen this document. It even is in a language they can not read. They might want to stamp it at incorrect places or make it in some other way invalid!

4.
Uncrating at the warehouse is possible. In my case they just placed it outside. You will have to pay a lot of money for the material of the crate as junk. Price is dramatically negotiable. Payment to be done at the first office.
The other option is to have the whole crate delivered to Tokyo or where ever. (In that way you might get around any trouble with your missing driving license, registration or else.)
Riding the bike into Tokyo is great in non-rush hour times, take the highway for a couple of thousand Yen.


For the folks who are in Japan for the first time:
Please understand that everybody wants to do it perfect. No one will do anything without being sure it is the right way. This usually works for you, since everything is optimally organized and fast. But in some exceptions it is creating also problems. Make sure you have all documents prepared and don't expect many people to speak English. But even with language barriers, a straight and very polite attitude is very helpful.

When I did that process in January 2014, both, JAF and Customs were calling somewhere else to find out how they have to do it exactly. You might have made or will make other experience, hopefully, but I had the impression that they got alerted somehow with the issue of foreign vehicles in Japan.
But only JAF told me about that I have to register the bike, not the Customs luckily. The customs did not want to give the bike free before I had the translation of my German driving license!

Overall, it is manageable.
Coming with a ferry, riding the bike in, the process is probably easier and quicker.
I will keep you updated about wether there was any trouble on the road with the missing registration.

If anyone has questions, dont hesitate to contact me.

Happy ride!
Thomas

Thomas, well, you did it!!

And it is always the same: don't ask too many questions, you might get answers you don't like.

Also, great report on where you did what. I'm sure it will be helpful for other bikers coming to Japan.

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