ageanm

Hi all,

I'm a longtime lurker (particularly in the awesome Starwood forum) and I'd appreciate your help with an INT/INT transit question through Narita.

Question: We're going EWR->NRT->CGK and some friends in Jakarta want us to bring them wine. Can I buy wine duty free in Newark and make the international transit through Narita? (both flights are in terminal 1)

I'd rather not buy wine at NRT as I've heard it'll be really expensive, if it comes to it I'd rather check a bag that's just got wine in it, pad it really well and cross our fingers.

Arriving & departing on ANA
Connection time: 3h 45min

This article makes me think we can:http://www.japanupdate.com/2014/01/l...ry-on-baggage/
But this security page from the airport makes me think we can't (http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/secu...ection_ss.html and http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/secu...nspections.pdf) unless it's in some magic STEB bag ... can I get wine bought in Newark dutry free put in these?

Thanks so much!

jib71

IIWY, I'd just put your preferred wine into your checked luggage with plenty of padding.

If you think you can get a better deal at a duty free shop in EWR (airside), I think it boils down to whether the store carries STEBs. And the best place to ask about that would be on another forum (probably the New York forum?)

mjm

The best and really only sensible way to ship wine is in a styrofoam container designed for that purpose. They come in 1, 2, 3, 6 and 12 bottle sizes and are widely available in the US. Cost is all of about $15 for the biggest size. Packing it in your luggage is just daft if you value the wine and the clothes. The wine in Japan at NRT is not worth buying. I ship tons of wine from the US to Japan as checked luggage and by using a proper box you will be perfectly fine with what you want to do. They one tip is have an extra roll of Packing tape handy as they may ask you to open the box.

JDiver

You may find duty free prices to not be so much better for wines than your local wine purveyor, in which case you could properly pack a bag with wine and check it through to your destination, as mjm recommends. Of course, check Indonesia's customs and duty requirements before you plan anything - unfortunately rendering most of this discussion moot, as you are allowed one litre of liquor or alcohol coming into Indonesia (the world's largest mostly Muslim country).

One person on TripAdvisor in this thread posts:

How comfortable are you with bribery and the possibility of confiscation?

(BTW, Japan's customs limit for bringing wine into Japan is 3 bottles of alcoholic beverages of 750 ml each.)

As this is more related to transiting Japan with wine, we've spun it off into its own thread from the connections thread.

JDiver
Senior Moderator

gnaget

US duty free shops have crappy wine offerings. What they have is generally mediocre American stuff at inflated prices and their upmarket stuff is pathetic.

In Japan the duty will have more expensive wine but that's because it is really top of the market wine. I guess the Japanese mentality is why would you haul around crappy wine that is sold in Donki, and the idea is that it is a gift. It's not particularly over-priced. You are paying $70 because it is a $65 bottle of Burgundy. In Newark you are paying $17 for a $8.99 bottle of crapola California wine.

I have flown a lot with wine in luggage (since 2006!) and don't use anything special. Just wrap it well and make sure bottles are not touching or non-padded from the outside.

A small roll aboard, max two bottles and a big one max four. I guess with special packaging then you could get six in the latter.

gnaget

In Japan the duty is 200 or 300 yen per bottle so if you want to be honest then it's worth it for anything decent and I don't think they would bother if you declared 6 bottles where you would have to pay 900 yen.

When we moved there we declared a few cases in our shipment and they didn't bother collecting the duty.

mjm

Slight correction to this:

Japan allows 3 bottles of wine "duty free" and it is 150yen per bottle after that. You are allowed to bring in as much as you like so long as it is deemed for personal consumption. The rule of thumb is up to 10-12 cases is for own consumption. I usually bring 3 cases a few times a year, go to the "Goods to Declare" line and it is a very smooth and well organized transaction.

gnaget

It's been a while since I bought duty free drink from the States. But my experience is that they don't put it in a sealed bag but deliver it to the plane in a regular unsealed bag because domestic and international passengers mix.

Otherwise your friend can enter on a domestic ticket and you can give him booze that is 25% more expensive than off airport. And we can't have that......

gnaget

Really? On the arrival form it just says 300 yen per 750 ml bottle. But here there are different rates for different types of drink, which makes more sense. But it doesn't list wine so then the 15% for "other" would apply? It makes sense for wine since it can range from $1 to $10,000 for a bottle.
http://www.customs.go.jp/english/summary/passenger.htm

I was going to ship wine from France to Japan but never got around to doing it.

mjm

Yes, 150yen they will calculate at 200 yen a liter if you have large formats above 750. I bring in 3L and 5L sometimes and that is the method.

gnaget

Here it is in Japanese. The English site omits wine.
http://www.customs.go.jp/kaigairyoko/zeigaku.htm

Do they actually bother collecting when you bring in a few liters like that?

The commercial duty is only 70 yen per liter so there is no tax excuse for high wine prices in Japan.

dsgtc0408

To the OP: short answer - I'd buy a bottle at a good wine seller in your town, or perhaps in Manhattan, pack securely (and seal inside a couple of big Ziplock bags), and place in your checked bags around dark clothes that won't show wine stains in case of breakage. Or do what the other posters suggest, pack in Styrofoam or special packaging. I've done this before from JFK to SIN a few times, never had breakage (and all on UA, so two transits in between, thus three chances for something to get broken).

The STEB bag is used by duty free sellers on the secure side of an international airport. It's not something that would be available at a retail store - if I'm not mistaken, these bags are coded to a specific duty free retailer and are serial numbered. The question is (as asked by one poster) whether or not duty free at EWR supplies such bags. My presumption is yes, otherwise they'd be cutting themselves out of a bunch of sales. But then again, I could be wrong. This is what you need to find out. And even if EWR duty free does pack wine in such bags, it's hard to say what wine they'd sell. Thus my suggestion about purchasing from straight retail; knowing what you will buy is worth the sales tax and retail markup. As for purchasing from Japan Duty Free, not having purchased liquor from them, I suspect on a bottle to bottle comparison against US retail wine prices you won't be getting any bargains. Having said that, your 3+ hour transit time is more than sufficient to check out what they have to sell.

As for the import limits, no insult to the posters weighing in on Japanese limits but follow the limits for Indonesia. Alcohol limits for Japan are not relevant since you are only transiting NRT, you're not legally entering Japan unless you're planning to physically enter Japan (eg end up on say the bullet train to Tokyo with your wine). Excess liquids are being intercepted at a security checkpoint similar to (but more polite) than TSA between your two flights; they're only interested in liquids beyond the 100ml limit unless it's all in STEB bags.

AlwaysAisle

Since OP is transiting at NRT, Japanese duty free allowance is irrelevant. At NRT the rule regarding liquid through the transit security has changed this past April 9.

Before April 9 of this year no liquid in a container larger than 100 mL was allowed through the transit point at NRT. All liquid items in a container smaller than 100 mL had to fit into one 20 cm x 20 cm plastic bag.

However, on April 9 this year the rule has changed and now liquids purchased at duty free stores at other airports are allowed through the transit security point at NRT. However, the website of Narita Airport indicates that liquid items form duty free shops have to be in STEB. Not all airport duty free shops do provide STEB so carrying duty free liquid through NRT transit point looks as still limited situation.

I think above is the reason there are conflicting information out there regarding liquid through transit point at NRT. The rule has changed few months ago.

I think best option for OP is as other have mentioned already, buy a bottle of wine before the trip and carry those in checked baggage.

mjm

200 yen a liter is 150 yen a bottle if the bottle is 750ml yes.

Do they collect duties? Of course. You can try and pass through without declaring but I do not do that. They collect for anything above the allowed dutyfree limit.

gnaget

The Japanese language customs website was the only one that had this information. The forms that you fill out only mention 300 yen for 750 ml, which is actually for rum, gin and vodka...... and the English version omitted wine from the list completely.

They didn't bother collecting when we declared 3 cases of wine in accompanying goods. That would have been 36 - 6 (for two people) = 30 * 150 = 4500 yen.