Import duty on guitar from Japan question

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the Japanese don`t have dual citizenship, I married a Japanese girl. Took 13 years to get my permanent visa which only means I don`t have to get a re-entry visa every time I leave the country...still can`t vote though. I am approaching to the end of my time here with any luck at all, this will be my final Christmas in Japan, still never say never but I do need to get back among my own.
 
sneakyjapan said:
the Japanese don`t have dual citizenship, I married a Japanese girl. Took 13 years to get my permanent visa which only means I don`t have to get a re-entry visa every time I leave the country...still can`t vote though. I am approaching to the end of my time here with any luck at all, this will be my final Christmas in Japan, still never say never but I do need to get back among my own.

Don't mean to contradict you, but I'm pretty sure a reentry permit is required even if you have permanent residency, as I also do. As I understand it, if you leave the country without a reentry permit, you automatically forfeit your visa.

Incidentally, if you have been paying nenkin here, you can get a lump-sum payment when you leave the country. But you probably already know that.

Bill
 
the next time I leave Japan will be my last time...and I`m just repeating what I was told by immigration... one would assume they knew what they were talking about eh, still they`ve made mistakes before with me and going to that office is not one of my favorite things to do so when I got the visa a couple of months ago I didn`t stick around to debate it with them, I said thanks a lot and left. I guess I could do a search but I`ll wait till it`s time to go for good then enquire.
 
Hi Sneaky, In Europe the sales tax VAT (17.5%) is refundable on exports (or not charged in the first place). Can that 5% Japanese tax be recovered?

Less seriously, duty-exempt presents are not the only option. There's a huge VAT fraud running here that's worth about $10 billion a year. People import and then re-export and then re-import (etc etc) the same load of fictional goods and claim back the VAT every time they cross the border. It's called the "Carousel".

I'd suggest you ship me two hundred 1978 Reborn 120s just so that I can send them back to you, but maybe the VAT Office here is full of Tokai enthusiasts reading this site! :wink:
 
don`t know about recovering the Japanese sales tax. I know in Canada some provinces offer a refund to tourists who provide receipts etc... but not all provinces and only for the provincial sales tax...not the federal. hey...we may be the second biggest country in the world but not the second richest.
The Canadian gov`t takes as big a bite as they can and will not regurgitate a single shekel.
No idea how we got into the G8...must have been hard up for members or something.
 
Interesting thread (and the related ones as well). Although it's been awhile since I've lived full-time overseas (both Japan and Britain). Duty this, Duty that, VAT and all that crap were always a hassle and varied a lot depending on how stuff was brought in or out.

These days, here in LA, it seems like everything I bring in from Japan or Australia takes about a day, arrives pristine and costs me less than it would've if I'd bought it in Japan in person (they subtract the local sales tax). The items I get from Europe seem to fall into some kind of limbo, are nearly untraceable, have huge hidden charges when they do arrive and the package always looks like it's been a play-toy for a gorilla in addition to be ripped open, ransacked and taped back together with this hideous green (red would be more appropriate) tape. Customs is brutal coming from the UK to the US. From Japan it doesn't seem to exist. Must be the times.

Nothing I can do about any of this if I want stuff from overseas but it does seem that the less anything is handled (lost, mutilated, stolen, etc.) by the US Postal Service or other governmental entity, the better my experience is.
 

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