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Important information for student enrolled at Yamasa.
Unofficial guide to shipping stuff from home to Japan
Since the FAQ on the Yamasa website is outdated and far from being complete I have decided to write this little guide.
If you need to ship to yourself stuff from your country to Japan, you may have to pay importation fees and/or endure unpleasant bureaucracy.
How to avoid this?
Easy! Ship your boxes with the following mention: Unaccompanied luggage
Or: unsupervised luggage.
First you need to create in a word processor, a packaging list.
Write this on the first line: Unaccompanied luggage
Then you need to declare the content of the box. Everything must be declared; even the packaging foam.
For every item shipped you need to declare the country of origin, the estimated value and if the item is new or used.
Write your home address with your name as the sender.
Write the Yamasa address, both in romanji and Japanese, with your name.
JAPAN 444-0832
Aichi-ken, Okazaki-shi,
Hanehigashimachi 1-2-1
The Yamasa Institute
Attention: (Write your name here)
Tel: +81 (0)564 55 8111
Fax: +81 (0)564 55 8113
Replace the blank space with your name.
Sign your name at the bottom of the form.
Make sure the following mention appears on top of the from, in bold with a larger font: Unaccompanied luggage
This sheet must be enclosed in, for example, a 3M TC-3 plastic bag labeled “ Packaging list enclosedâ€Â.
On the postal slip, you need to write in the sender declaration section: â€ÂUnaccompanied luggage - Please see packaging list on the boxâ€Â. Fill the rest of the postal slip, as usual.
This method is reputed to work with the: international parcel – SAL/Surface, shipping option.
When arriving in Japan, at the baggage inspection, request a form for unaccompanied luggage. The officer will assist you in filling the form. Specify to the officer that the items are for personal use. DO NOT ATTEMPT to send items that you have the intention of selling. Consult the MOFA website to obtain instruction on how to ship commercial cargo.
Please refer to your local post office for a list of prohibited items.
If your luggage is hold at the custom, the student services will notify you. Bring with you the unaccompanied luggage declaration form signed by the officer at the airport to the student services. At this point I have not experimented this part as all of my 3 boxes arrived without being held at the Japanese customs.
Send questions to whitewhip on this domain name.