After sending the things we bought in Australia to Japan, we received notice that they’d arrived and could now pick them up etc.
We received a bill of lading which we took the shipping company (a 70 minute drive from Okazaki) where we paid 12,000(ish) yen for “processing” and got some forms stamped – we then took these forms over to Nagoya Customs (10 minute drive) who took the stamped forms off us and gave us other ones, we then took these forms to customs at the waterfront (a 30 minute drive) they took them off us – stamped some more forms – we then took these forms to the dock (a 10 minute drive) – took the forms up to the office – everything was in order (and why shouldn’t it be?) – our boxes were the delivered to us on a crate – we put them in the back of the car.
We then had to drive back to Nagoya Customs (a 60 minute drive) and the boxes were x-rayed – one box was opened because something “metal” was in there – baby nappies and Guess Who and Guess Where games – resealed – boxes loaded back into the car and we were off. That was it.
The above sounds easy – and now looking back it would be easy the next time as we know where to go, in what order and what to do. Only down side is all the driving around, but it’s gotta be done if you want to save some money by doing it yourself.