This past Friday the Paris Express steamed into Kobe, and today the cargo was unloaded and put into storage awaiting customs clearance. I got a notice by email saying that I was officially good to go, and now the ball is officially in my court.
Apparently the process is that I need to go down to a warehouse on Port Island in Kobe, fill out paperwork, take the paperwork to the customs office, bring a customs official with me back to the warehouse to inspect the cargo, go back to the customs office to finish the paperwork, then go back to the original warehouse to load up the cargo and go.
Talking with the customs official today he said that it was very unusual for normal people to deal with this stuff – usually it is on a larger scale – but it will just take some time, and that I should plan for the whole day. I called Kuniko’s dad and he’ll let me borrow the truck on Wednesday to go down and pick up the goods.
So Wednesday should be very interesting. I’ll be driving on my own to Kobe (for the first time) in Kuniko’s dad’s manual transmission truck (for the first time), to find the offices and go through the paperwork to get things cleared through customs (for the first time), and then drive the loaded truck back to Okubo. Nervous? Oh, yes. But as the title of this post says, you’ve got to weather a little risk to get the good rewards.
But after spending time on the phone today with the customs clearance warehouse people as well as the Kobe customs office I’m convinced that Japan really is a great place for foreigners to live. Both offices had somebody who could speak English and help me out, and they were both very polite, patient and positive. They gave me names and phone numbers to use during the day in case I get in a jam, and the customs office offered to dedicate the English-speaking officer to me for as long as the process takes. He seems really nice – he laughed when I said that the main part of the cargo is a BBQ grill. In his mind he’s probably wondering why I’d ship a grill all the way from America when normal people only use a grill 2-3 times a year.
Tomorrow I’ll be using Google Earth to plot my course and prepare for the big trip on Wednesday. Wish me luck!
