Back in July, just days before my family boarded a Boeing 777 to wing our way to Japan, a truck arrived at my home to haul away my Chrysler Town & Country. In the ensuing weeks, while we struggled through lost luggage and looked for a place to live, the van was trucked to California, loaded into a container and placed aboard a ship. As the summer wore on and we worked through the details of an overpriced lease and did our best to get the kids enrolled in their new school, the ship crossed the wide expanse of the Pacific and made port in Yokohama. While we were accepting delivery of our household goods, the ship was being unloaded and its containers sent to a customs warehouse. Finally, just as we were beginning to settle into our new lives, I was contacted by a Japanese customs broker. The Town & Country had finally and irrevocably arrived.
Those of us who love cars have likely imagined this same scenario dozens of times, but always in reverse. In our imaginations the car, usually an exotic (to us) grey market Nissan Skyline GT-R or something really interesting like a Mazda Cosmo Rotary, makes its containerized way from Japan to our own sunny shores where it will become a regular feature at local Cars and Coffee events and drive the wannabe drift racers mad with envy. The scenario is always the same and we never think of it the other way, where a person ships a not-so-interesting car to Japan where it will sit outside in the rain and be put to daily use schlepping the kids to school and its owner to work.
One of the reasons for this is that importing a car into Japan is supposed to be fraught with hardship and additional expense. Just the thought of long forms, written in almost indecipherable kanji, and stone-faced Japanese bureaucrats with their tedious attention to detail and orange-colored stamp pads is enough to drive most people mad. Why then would yours truly undertake such a mission?
I'd like to say that it is for you, dear reader, but that's not entirely true. The real reasons run more towards the fact that I am reluctant to throw away thousands of hard-earned dollars by selling my still fairly new van at a huge mark down. If I must spend thousands of dollars, I reckoned, then let that money be spent importing the vehicle into Japan where I could use it for the next several years and consume the remainder of its value myself.
Also, despite the transmission troubles it had last year, I still like the van. I like it a lot, actually. It looks, runs and rides good and, because Chrysler stopped selling its vans in Japan around 2010, they are seldom seen here which leads into my last line of reasoning: patriotism. Without being overly maudlin here, having lived much of my adult life overseas, I think it's important to be a good representative of our country, its people and its products. When I roll up in an American-made vehicle, people notice and I think it's important that I send that message.
Will my decision prove to be wise or fatally flawed? Time will tell. However, this I commit to you oh Best and Brightest, I will bring you along for the ride as I work my way through the process. It looks to be a long and arduous one and, as of this writing, the vehicle is here, in front of the house, wearing the temporary tags that will be required to drive it to the various inspection stations it must visit. Tomorrow, I will take it some 50 miles away to a location north of Tokyo for its first round of testing, the dreaded Japanese emissions and noise tests. I am told the test takes two days and I will have to leave the van with them overnight. What will the result be? Place your bets.
Thomas M. Kreutzer currently lives in Kanagawa, Japan with his wife and three children. He has spent most of his adult life overseas with more than nine years in Japan, two years in Jamaica and almost five years as a U.S. Merchant Mariner serving primarily in the Pacific. Although originally from Snohomish, WA, he has also lived in several places around the United States including Buffalo, NY and Leavenworth, KS. A long time auto and motorcycle enthusiast, Kreutzer has pursued his hobbies whenever possible. He also enjoys writing and public speaking where, according to his wife, his favorite subject is himself.
The post Swimming Upstream: Importing a Car Into Japan appeared first on The Truth About Cars.
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