Looking for tips/advice on Japanese customs before a mc-touring trip!

Hey all!

Don’t know if this is the right sub for these kind of things but I’ll give it a go and hopefully someone can guide me in the right direction if it’s not!

Me and hubby are planning to go to Japan next summer for about 3-4 weeks of mc-touring. We have looked into renting but it is in all seriousness flabberghastingly expensive. Well atleast compared to other countries we’ve visited. So, instead of renting we are looking into how much it would cost to ship our own bike (KTM 990 Adventure for those dying to know :D) and come to realization that it probably would be less expensive, which to me is equally flabberghasting since we live on precisely the opposite side of the globe. Anyhow. What I need some help with is regarding **Japanese customs/tariffs/anything else related**.

If anyone have done something similar or have experience with Japanese customs regarding import/export it would be greatly appreciated!

Worth noting may be that we have not decided on which port we’re going to transport to but the ones we’ve looked into are Tokyo and Osaka. This because we found a shipping company who sail there but if you have some other suggestion regarding port we’re all ears!

And as I wrote before, please do not hesitate to give me a fingerpoint in the right direction if wrong sub to post in <3

(Also, I’ve posted this in the motorcycles sub. So I guess this is a repost.)

5 comments
  1. You will probably need to start with getting an international license and a crane for the bike. I know japan has pretty strict customs for vehicles so you will need to make sure you read up on the regs for how clean your bike must be and make sure it has no oil or gas. It will probably be best to remove the front forks so the bike can be put in a crate. Plan for a day or two to clear customs and reassembly. Plus when you return.

  2. I don’t know a lot about what exactly Japan requires for their vehicles, but I know to upgrade our US vehicles to Japan standards would cost around $10,000. When we moved here, we just bought used because it was so expensive to get our car to be compliant. I would definitely look into the requirements before making your decision.

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