Just for your information, the temporary import (carnet or C5014) is unrelated to the 1949/1968 treaty issue. The problem is that there is a law in Japan that exempts temporarily imported vehicles from having to do Japanese registration and inspection. It states that it applies to "countries that are part of the convention on road traffic". It does not say which convention (treaty) Japan is only part of the 1949 one, so officials treat is as only applying to 1949 countries.
That is the facts, and this is my assumption: While German, etc. vehicles can be temporarily imported, they cannot be legally driven. So, customs (or JAF or the ferry company) don't want to be involved in someone possibly doing something illegal. Up to now, authorities have not really made a big issue of it (because actual driving is not something they are in charge of).

XBR-Robert, What exactly did Tatiana of DBS tell you? Please show us the email so we know the details.

klausmong1, When you said JAF does not validate carnets anymore, did you mean for Germans only?
The JAF website still has Carnet information listed. (In fact, it says "If a temporarily imported vehicle is registered in a country that is not a party to the aforementioned treaty (as it were, Germany, Switzerland, Monaco Slovenia), it must be inspected and registered in Japan on arrival, even if imported under cover of CPD." This seems like a Carnet can be used, but they want to you to register it.)

Everyone, please be specific as to whether you heard a rumor or you have information directly from authorities. It helps figure out what information is actually correct.

Hi guys,

thanks for all hints and tips so far.

To give you a quick update, our car will arrive in a few days in Japan. We managed to ship it from China to Japan via container.

JAF agreed to authenticate our German Carnet, though they stated that we need to register it but they can't help here. Seems like a strict separation of responsibilities between JAF / customs / MLIT.

I'll keep you updated how far we get.

Cheers
Henning

Exactly, I mean German ( or Swiss, Slovenian and Monaco ) vehicles.

There are some posts in Europe from people who had this problem already.

Last year definitely, but I don't find the posts at the moment in the www.

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www.klausmotorreise.com

I agree with Chris of Japan, we need to be exact. Although it is hard.

I have a contact in Japan who deals with cars a lot, in fact, I once went with him to local government for temporary license plate for one of his cars, and to the local office of ministry of transportation, to export a car and he showed me the inspection station. The inspection station where they do the (two yearly) check (like TUV / MOT) looked exactly the same as in the Netherlands. So getting it up to a state where your car would pass your yearly check in Netherlands or Germany would seem good enough. But you don't know the details.
I could ask my contact about price information on this. He could inform on the (local) ministry of transportation to see pricing for registration (older cars pay more).
But then still I'm afraid some important details could get lost in translation.

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2011 Overland from Amsterdam to Nepal and back
2018 Overland from Amsterdam to Tokyo via Central Asia and Mongolia

Good luck! Keep us updated. Which port will you enter?

At least it is good that you can use the Carnet to skip on the import tax.

If you need work done on the Land cruiser, don't go the Toyota dealerships. Because they don't want to work on your car usually. Better go to some 4x4 garage or something.
There is a very good one in Kyoto, but of course there are more.

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2011 Overland from Amsterdam to Nepal and back
2018 Overland from Amsterdam to Tokyo via Central Asia and Mongolia

Wow, a lot of posts since I last logged in


Well, first I contacted Yuri Melnikov in Vladivostok, he wrote:


"as you may know German registered vehicles can not be driven in Japan.
Ferry doen't take it aboard. You can talk about that with DBS ferry
agent in Japan: "Tatiana"


So I contacted Tatiana from DBS. She confirmed what Yuri had said and added this information (hoping she doesn't mind when I copy from her message, but this is very valuable information here):


"A. CUSTOMS CLEARANCE
Carnet de Passages en Douane for customs procedures

necessary for Japan customs procedures (please, send not later than in a week before arrival):
passport, International Driving Permit 1949, vehicle registration, Carnet copies (Cover, Cover's reverse side, 1st page, Back cover) and specify:
date of import to Japan
address in Japan (any hotel)
date of re-export
place of re-export


NB: First, it is necessary to get form V1000 (authentication of CPD for Japan) at Japan Automobile Federation. Our office can send the documents to JAF to get paperwork prepared, paperwork can be done only by holder of CDP in person with original Carnet appearing at JAF office (closest to Sakaiminato is Matsue JAF)
More information: JAF | For Visitors Bringing Vehicles with Carnet de Passages en Douane


Required fee:
port fee 11,320JPY /one way


B. INSURANCE

Compulsory Automobile Liability Insurance
In Japan all vehicles are obliged to buy Compulsory Automobile Liability Insurance (CALI), in case of accident it covers the person who was injured by driver. For other cases there is voluntary insurance which covers other costs and can be used for own vehicle.

It is illegal to drive without CALI.

It is possible to apply for insurance in advance and pick it up on arrival in terminal. Please, tell us if you would like to apply for insurance, we will send necessary documents.

C. Driving Permit

Japan recognizes only International Driving Permits issued on Convention on Road Traffic Geneva 1949 with exception to holders driving permits issued in France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Monaco, Slovenia, Taiwan who may drive using the national driving permit with Japanese translation (can be done at JAF for 3,000 jpy)."


After some clarifications, it is clear that she will take care of the issue, I'll have to provide the copies in time and make a taxi drive on the day of arrival between the customs and the JAF office in Matsue.




As to the question about my driving licence: the bike will be registered in Belgium (once I overcome the beaucratic hurdles), but I still have a German licence.

@XBR-Roberts: the e-mail is very generic, and everybody will receive it when e-mailing with Tatiana. The important thing is Yuri and Tatiana saying they don't take in German cars anymore, so that changed since end of last year.

If you have your bike registered in Belgium (on your name!) than you should be fine I guess. The driver license translation is not an issue at all, but it costs time, you have to send in the stuff some time in advance.

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2011 Overland from Amsterdam to Nepal and back
2018 Overland from Amsterdam to Tokyo via Central Asia and Mongolia

Quick question to you Japan-experienced guys:

I've read in other threads that it was easy to get Jibaiseki (compulsory insurance) in any dealer's shop even without Shaken and without Japanese license plates, just by providing the VIN number.

We've been rejected in several shops now, no one could proceed without Shaken (they claimed they don't even know how to issue without Shaken).

Any hint how to get Jibaiseki easily? We're around Hokkaido, the car is still on the ship.

Domo arigatou gozaimasu!
Henning

These guys are used quite a lot:

Travellers | Apexmoto Inc

At the time they didn't really respond to my e-mail quickly and I used the one Tatiana offered at DBS ferry, but that is not relevant I think, maybe they will not work with you?

Anyhow, other people used Apex before without issues. They may have some knowledge on getting a German car in.

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2011 Overland from Amsterdam to Nepal and back
2018 Overland from Amsterdam to Tokyo via Central Asia and Mongolia

Thank you, @Lovetheworld. Apexmoto does not issue Jibaiseki Hoken for German-registered vehicles, for obvious reasons.

We've just found help in a small local insurance agency. I think it was the 6th or 7th attempt.

I will post updates and information for future travellers from Germany/Switzerland/Monaco/Slovenia as soon as we got our little bad boy out of the container and on the road.

Enjoy your weekends folks
Henning

We made it, we're on the road. In Japan. In our German-licensed vehicle. Shipped from Tianjin, China, to Hokkaido:


Quick info wrap-up if anyone need it urgently, I'll provide more details once we settled in:

Chris was totally right and his statement motivated me to persevere: JAF, Customs and Traffic Police are each taking care of their specific duties - and don't look at the bigger picture. This lack of interaction helped us a lot

- JAF authenticated our Carnet in Sapporo on the spot (no fee). We emailed CDP upfront to them, they mentioned via email that we need to inspect (Shaken) etc., we confirmed. On the authentication sheet there is nothing mentioned whatsoever.

- JAF translated my German drivers' license for a small fee. Also sent it upfront via email then they can issue it on the spot.

- Jibaiseki: Mandatory insurance was harder to get as expected. First Toyota dealer rejected us after he investigated with JAF. He was only willing to issue it after Shaken. The next dealers were all happy to help but did not know how to issue Jibaiseki for foreign license vehicles, even when we mentioned to just use VIN (chassis no.). In the end a small agency in Sapporo was able to issue it, only for 3 months as requested by us. Cost around 60EUR iirc. They checked their little "Jibaiseki Handbook" (no joke) and it was mentioned that tourist are eligible to drive thus they can obtain Jibaiseki. German/Monaco license issue not mentioned. Success.

- Airport: When entering Japan it helps (at least it helped us) to mention that you have "unaccompanied items" (personal belongings in the car). We didn't provide detailed item list of car's content to customs' officer, that led to confusion later.

- At the port: On the first day meeting with Customs Agent (assigned by our Chinese shipping company, contacts on request).
Required documents: Passport, Carnet, Carnet-Authentication by JAF, Customs-Slip from airport AND quickly generated item list of our personal stuff in the car including items' value.
Then meeting with first customs' team: only responsible for naked car, checked Carnet, "no issue, move on" - but car is not empty, so next team:
Second customs' team was very worried about personal stuff in the car. In the end, they agreed for a quick inspection on the next day.

Second day at the port: 8 (!) people inspected our car, scanned through all cupboards and checked our item list. No issues. Carnet stamped, done.


Thanks to everyone for tipps and motivation.
I will provide more structured info later.

Cheers
Henning

Hi guys,

As promised, we compiled our info about how we successfully shipped our German car to Japan here:

https://toyotoro.com/toyororo

I hope it helps and motivates fellow Germans/Swiss/Monacan to try it.

After four months in Japan we’ve now shipped to Malaysia and are sweating like a pig here

Cheers
Henning