Shipping from Japan to USA with Japan Luggage Express. Cost for air and sea shipping
Shipping from Japan to USA
Moving from Japan to USA
The United States is the No. 1 destination when it comes to international moving and shipping from Japan.
Japan Luggage Express has been offering the services of moving from Japan to USA at reasonable cost for 27 years.
Whether you need to move just a few cartons by air or a large number of packages or pieces of furniture by sea, we can provide a service to meet your requirements at competitive shipping charges. We handle shipping of both personal belongings / household goods and commercial merchandise from Japan to America. Moving from Japan to the U.S.A. is easier and cheaper with us.
- Service by ocean and air - Airfreight is normally cheaper for small shipments than shipping by sea. Choose the suitable mode of transport depending on how large or heavy your shipment is.
- Ocean Freight service to various inland cities in the USA via port of Los Angeles
- Pickup from anywhere in Japan
- All-risk moving insurance (air and marine insurance) available
Rates for service by air to USA
Air rates(Commodity: personal effects / household goods)
| San Francisco & Los Angeles | 950 yen per kilogram |
| Other international airports (mainland) | 950 yen to 1450 yen per kilogram |
| Honolulu | 950 yen per kilogram |
Services are basically available to almost all international airports with customs facilities in the USA, however, there may not be services available to some destinations or the rates may be different.
Note that volume of cargo is also a pricing factor and shipments under certain weight density set by IATA (International Air Transport Association) will be charged by their volumetric weight (also known as dimensional weight) i.e.. the volume instead of the actual gross weight.
The calculation is based on the following equation:
Length (cm) x width (cm) x height (cm) divided by 6000 equals the volumetric weight in kg and the higher of the actual gross weight or volumetric weight will be the chargeable weight of an air shipment.
For more details on minimum requirement (45kgs is the minimum weight for this service) and also on volumetric weight, please see information on the main page of rates for service by air on this website.
The above rates are exclusive of "destination charges" on the US side i.e. charges payable to airline's destination agent/office such as their handling or terminal charges, demurrage, delivery charges from the airport to a residence or customs clearance charge that will incur if you use the services of a custom house broker. Majority of our customers go to the airport to custom clear the shipments and pick up the packages. The procedure is normally relatively easy. (See information from our customers)
Our handling and customs clearance charges on the Japan side:
Y5,900 per declaration (The number of packages does not matter.)
Pickup charge:
We offer free pickup service for Tokyo wards area and part
of Chiba areas. For other areas, pickup charge will normally be 50 yen to 250 yen per kg. We can arrange pickup from almost anywhere in Japan including Tokyo, Osaka, Hokkaido and Okinawa.
Insurance:
1.5% of the value you declare on your packing list will be the insurance premium with the minimum premium of Y3,300. To give an example, if you declare the value of Y400,000 for the entire shipment, the insurance premium will be Y6,000.
Rate example:
If, for instance, you are shipping 60kgs to San Francisco, the charges will be
Y62,900. (Y950 x 60 +5,900) *This excludes air shipping insurance.
The above rates are for personal effects/household goods shipments for individuals moving from Japan to the US as of 2017. If shipping commercial merchandises, the rates and charges are different. Rates are subject to change and fuel or security charges may need to be added. Also, depending on the nature of shipments, higher charges or rates will be applied especially when the shipment seems time consuming.
If shipping as airfreight, the minimum weight is 45kgs whereas the minimum for sea freight is one cubic meter. Service by air is more cost-efficient than service by sea for a shipment of small weight and size. If you are looking for the cheapest shipping from Japan to USA, it is important to compare charges both by air and sea.
All rates are subject to change.
Rates for service by sea to USA
The cost for shipping from Japan to the U.S.A. by sea is calculated by the volume of the shipment with the exception of extremely high density cargo.
Please contact us for a quotation. We have competitive rates especially for shipping from Japan to the USA. Shipping services by sea to inland cities are available via California.
Due to a newly-implemented US regulation, ISF (Importer Security Filing) must be submitted to US customs for sea shipments. Japan Luggage Express can arrange submission of ISF on your behalf. ISF is only for sea shipments.
Transit time from Japan to U.S.A. is about four to six weeks or so depending on the shipping destination within the USA. The actual port-to-port shipping time from Japan to California is only 11 days. Please note that the transit time depends on a number of factors such as customs clearance, departure dates of ships etc.
To bring in personal effects to the US, proper visa will be required. If you are a permanent resident there (returning US citizen), there will be no problem at the time of customs clearance but if you are a holder of a tourist visa, the entry of the goods may to be denied by the US customs.
Shipping Furniture from Japan to U.S.A.
Although most people ship what they can pack themselves in cardboard boxes, when shipping some pieces of furniture it is necessary to arrange proper packing for them. Normally a crate would have to be made. If a wooden box, crate or pallet is used for shipping, it can cause customs/quarantine problem once the shipment arrives at the port in the USA. If you are making a wooden box or a crate yourself, please be sure to use wooden materials that were heat-treated and/or fumigated in accordance with U.S. customs and quarantine standards. The wooden materials used for packing when shipping to America must have been treated in accordance with ISPM15 standards, which are worldwide standard of wooden materials used for international freight shipping and must have stamps verifying that the wooden materials meet the ISPM standards. We offer packing services using treated wooden materials for those who are shipping and moving from Japan to the USA using our services. Please contact us about the availability and the cost for packing services if you are considering shipping furniture from Japan to the USA. We offer packing services in Tokyo and Osaka area.
Moving Back to the US - Shipping
If you are are newly immigrating to the US or if you are a U.S. citizen moving back to the US from Japan and shipping your personal belongings home, you can import your goods duty free provided that you have owned them in Japan for over a period of one year and used them at least six months. Newly purchased items are subject to import tax.
Services to Hawaii, Guam and Saipan, USA are also available through Japan Luggage Express.
Japan Luggage Express Ltd - Home
Call toll free 0120-48-0081
