UK to Japan
Removals to Japan
The shipping half of a Japanese move is routine. The delivery half is not, and the reason is dimensional: European furniture is built to a scale that Japanese apartment corridors, entrances and lifts were not designed around.
The genuine question on this route is not whether your sofa will fit the room. It is whether it will reach it.
Who moves this way
- People relocating for work to Tokyo, Yokohama or Osaka, frequently into company-arranged housing.
- Academics and researchers moving to university cities with a flat's worth of belongings.
- Returning Japanese households bringing a UK home back.
How the goods travel
By sea in a container, or by air for a small urgent consignment. On this route the air option is used more than most, because consignments are often small — the furniture that will not fit gets sold before departure rather than shipped.
From the port of arrival, domestic delivery is excellent and highly organised. The difficulty is entirely at the door, and it is measured rather than negotiated.
Where we deliver
Customs, and who obtains what
Japan permits used personal effects to be imported duty-free on a transfer of residence, declared on arrival and supported by a detailed inventory. The paperwork is orderly and predictable. The controlled list requires attention, particularly for medicines and certain personal items, and the quantities permitted are lower than people assume.
The file, split in two
| Document | Obtained by | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Detailed valued inventory | Us | In English and Japanese, item by item, prepared before shipping. |
| Passport with residence status | You | The visa or status under which you are entering. Immigration advice is not ours to give. |
| Unaccompanied baggage declaration | You | Submitted on your own arrival. Missing it complicates the relief considerably. |
| Proof of the Japanese address | You | Lease or purchase documentation, plus residence registration at the ward office. |
| Medicine declaration where required | You | Quantities permitted are lower than most people assume. Check before packing. |
| Export and import entries | Us | Lodged by us or our appointed agent against the inventory. |
Rows marked You are attached to you as a person and take real time to obtain, so start them before you have a shipping date. Rows marked Us are built here from the inventory taken at the survey.
The corridor, the entrance and the window
Here is the measurement people never take. Japanese apartment corridors are frequently narrower than the European equivalent, entrance doors are smaller, and lifts — where they exist — have both a small car and a smaller door opening. A wardrobe that walks into a British bedroom may not turn the corner outside a Tokyo one.
So the survey for this route goes the other way round from usual: instead of measuring what you own and finding a container for it, we measure what the building will accept and tell you which of your things will not get in. That conversation is far better had in Britain than at a doorway in Setagaya.
The third word is window. Where an item will not pass the corridor or the lift, Japanese movers routinely take it in through a window using a hoist or a lift truck, and it is completely ordinary practice rather than an emergency measure. It is arranged in advance and it is quoted in advance.
The fourth is tatami. Traditional rooms have floors that mark under point loads, and furniture with feet — wardrobes, bookcases, pianos — needs boards or spreaders. It is a small thing, it is easy, and nobody warns you about it.
And a word about what not to ship. Because the dimensional constraints are real, a Japanese relocation is one of the few where selling large furniture before departure genuinely makes sense. We will say so where it does, which costs us container volume and is plainly the right advice.
the UK to Japan
Questions on this route
- Will our furniture fit?
- In the room, usually. Through the corridor, the entrance and the lift, not always. We measure the building rather than the room, and tell you which items will not get in before you ship them.
- What is a window delivery?
- Taking an item in through a window with a hoist or a lift truck, which is ordinary practice in Japan rather than an emergency. It is arranged and quoted in advance.
- Should we sell things before we go?
- On this route, frequently yes, and we will say so even though it costs us container volume. Large European furniture and Japanese apartment access are a poor match.
- What is an unaccompanied baggage declaration?
- A form submitted on your own arrival covering belongings shipped separately from you. Missing it complicates the duty relief considerably, so it is worth knowing about before you fly.
- Can we bring our medicines?
- In limited quantities, with declaration where required. The permitted amounts are lower than most people assume and the rules are applied, so check before packing rather than after.
- What about tatami rooms?
- Traditional flooring marks under point loads, so anything with feet needs boards or spreaders. A small precaution that almost nobody is warned about.
Moving to Japan?
Both addresses, roughly what is going, and how firm the dates are. We will state plainly whether destination charges are in the figure, which is the question worth asking everybody.