I'm a Japan PR holder and wanted to share my recent experiences after returning from a two weeks vacation from DownUnder ( Australian citizen here). The customs officers at Narita airport strictly questioned me about my old Tag Heuer watch ( worth around 5000AUD when I bought it 5 years ago and it's got scratches and worn out by now ) that I was wearing. They said that every person departing from Japan and then returning has to declare stuff that you wear or carry from Japan such as watches, handbags, shoes. There is a special counter where before departing you need to fill up some declaration forms. I told them this is so old as it's evident but they said it's still a rule that you have to declare it! I was held up for a while because of this situation. So if you are a long term resident here then be careful if you are traveling as this crackdown has began! I travel out almost once a month for 4-5 days on business trips and never encountered this type of situation before. It feels like Japan is becoming authoritarian country!!! If it's a new product I totally understand this customs declaration procedure but for a heavily used and old watch like mine which isn't even past the allowed 1 million yen value, it's just unbelievable! It's not like I was wearing a Patek or Jaeger-LeCoultre…lol!
UPDATED:
Declaring something it is not a big issue and a rule which I’m happy to follow. Having said that, the lines at the declaration counter is massive these days ( probably because of this tightening of rules ). For someone traveling once a year it’s not a big deal ( they might even get through without declaring these or being checked ). But for frequent travelers who travel in and out of Japan once or twice a month, standing and waiting at that declaration counter is time consuming as you need to allocate an extra 15 minutes to an hour or more. If they made this process online then it would be easier! The airport especially in Haneda and Narita are mostly crowded so you already spend a good amount of time going through the hassle but now it’s more time consuming. If 3 or more big flights are taking off or landing within minutes of each other, then there are massive queues and you need 2-3 hours to go through. To top it all up, still most of the counters at the immigration and customs have very few staff members ( usually half or more of these counters are non operational and closed)! And yes, I still have an issue as far as old items ( which just by looking at is obvious that its not been purchased while travelling abroad and clearly don’t have a value of 1million yen ) being needed to be declared prior to flying out. If it’s a new item then of course declaring it is essential but for old ones it’s just unrealistic! People who don’t travel much and make trips only once a year or so will always think otherwise because this situation doesn’t affect them so your views are IRRELEVANT in this thread! These people who travel just once a year or so think that the experience that they went through on that one occasion that they used the airport is the way airport operate daily ( they have no idea about the reality )! That’s why their views are IRRELEVANT in this post! This post was uploaded just to give a heads up to frequent travelers!
by Cruzz_99