Import & export guides for Japan
Practical, sourced explanations of how customs and consumption tax work when you sell into Japan — or buy from Japan — without having a Japanese company. Written for logistics managers and e-commerce sellers, with references to Japan Customs and the National Tax Agency throughout.
Selling in Japan without a local entity
The decision guide: local distributor, the ACP/IOR route, or a subsidiary — compared on control, cost, and whether you can recover the 10% import tax.
Importer of Record (IOR) in Japan
Who can be the importer, why Amazon won't be your IOR, and how a foreign company imports in its own name as a non-resident.
The ACP system (税関事務管理人)
The Attorney for Customs Procedures is the legal mechanism that lets a non-resident clear Japanese customs. The exact appointment procedure, form C-7500 included.
Import duties & consumption tax (JCT)
Customs duty, 10% import consumption tax, the ¥10,000 de minimis, EPA preferential rates, and how registered foreign businesses recover the JCT they pay at the border.
Bonded warehouses in Japan (保税蔵置場)
How the bonded system defers duty and tax, storage time limits, e-commerce use cases — and which directory companies operate bonded facilities.
Exporter of Record from Japan
Buying equipment or goods in Japan and shipping them out with no local entity: export declarations, the exporter code, and using an ACP for exports. (Customs EOR — not employer of record.)