WOW, it took a while to find this
 

So as some of you may know, I've been out of the country for a little while now. Talk about being busy.


Living over here is expensive. For example, 4 litres of oil cost me almost $80. Everthing has a price and everyone needs to get their hands in the cookie jar. I just got done transferring the title on a truck. That whole process cost almost as much as the truck did. I've got a house and my Honda showed up last Thursday. Now I've just gotta figure out how to get the bike registered and legal in this country and all will be good, but I have a feeling that this process is gonna be expensive and time comsuming. Once I figure it all out, I'll try to post up so that anyone else bringing a bike into Japan will at least have a clue.

Are you stationed over there? If so, how long is your tour? Hope the process is worth the expense.

Yeah, I'm stationed over here, gonna be here for the next three years. The truck was cheap; title transfer, 12 months insurance, and parking permit parking permit (so that I can park it in my garage) were almost as much as I paid for the truck. And there is no way that I'm gonna be stationed here for three years and not do my best to ride, the bike's already here, all I need to do is paperwork.

Might be cheaper to buy a bike there and register it.

Mines already here and the cost to register it will be less than the price of a new bike. It's just the paperwork thats gonna take a while.

Good Luck! Do you like sushi? I LOVE it, and I'm dying to have some in Japan.

Sounds like a pain in the ass.

Sushi is the HEAT!!!! And you know how Ramen in the states sucks balls? FYI, it ain't the same, Ramen out here comes in a bowl that's about 12" around and 6" tall and it is good. Ramen is a meal all to itself.

Believe me, it is a pain in the ass. The paperwork sucks, the waiting sucks, my riding gear still hasn't gotten here and I need to file a claim b/c the asshats that moved my bike pretty much shattered my front fender and gouged my front brake lines. I'm fucking pissed.

Damn, sounds awesome.

It really is :)

Which bike do you have over there with you, the RC?

Yah, brought the RC out here. I'm only allowed to have one car and one motorcycle out here, and so I brought the RC. There's a lot of other things that went into the decision to bring the RC, but that's the easiest one to explain.

For example, if your bike was BUILT after April first 2001, then it is required to meet Japanese emissions standards. The test is only done in Sasebo or Iwakuni, costs about $1000 and takes 2 days to accomplish (if your bike passes the first time). I don't have to worry about this with the RC, but it is something that I would have to deal with if I'd brought the VTX.

ive been to a few ramen places over here, shits good

What's the COLA over there? That's gotta help with some of your expenses.

COLA's like six and some change and it does help, but it's still a pain having to run all over the place. Or finding out that some places only take cash, and you don't have quite enough in your wallet, so you have to hit the atm for the third time that day, grrrr.

And yes, ramen is good.

I got ya.