After five years two-strokin' the right-hand streets of Japan, Moped Luau is finally moving back to the mother-island of Hawaii. It's been great reppin' Puch mopeds in this country. I probably was the only on in the country with one!!! Thanks to everyone who supported Moped Luau in Japan. Especially my fellow two-stroke head Soma-san. We carved up that Miyagase run pretty hard. Soma-san will continue to support this blog with his two-stroke adventures on his Honda MB5 and Yamaha RZR. Be sure to continue to check out his Corner on this blog. Although Moped Luau was conceived and created in Japan, Hawaii is where it belongs. Getting back my garage at full force, I can finally show the community what Puch building Hawaiian style is all about. Stay tune...
To Japan:
ドウゾよろしくお願い
ONZ Onz ONZ Onz
From:
Hey dude.
ReplyDeleteSo, I figure you might be the expert this so I'd love to ask you a couple of questions RE: bringing a moped to Japan. I want to go back but this time with moped in tow. Could you tell me what needs to be done to do it and like paperwork, shipping methods, that sort of thing. I'm on the east coast so obviously it won't be exactly the same. Also like some ins & outs of mopeding in Japan would be awesome. Thanks!
My import/export was a little different cause I was affiliated with the military so it was easier for me. Check with customs State side on how to transport it. As far as when you get it there, you need to register it with your city's land office. Kind of like their version of our DMV. They differentiate motorcycles by CC's there. You'll get a corresponding color plate for the range of CC's your bike has. So the lesser CC's your bike has, the more restricted on places you can take your bike. So I recommend you register your moped to as high a CC you can like 80cc. They have no way in checking. That's what I did so I wasn't restricted by the speed a 50cc plate bike has to travel. I think the CC range you want is 50cc to 125cc and that would be a pink plate or blue plate. I think a bike up to 250cc doesn't need insurance. It would be also be easier to buy a bike up there too. The dealer takes care of all that stuff for you. But I rarely saw any mopeds there just scooters. There is a Tomos shop in Harijuku, Tokyo if you want one.
DeleteOther than that watch out for other motorcycles and bicycles cause they dart out anywhere. Watch out especially for pedestrians cause they do not look where they are going. Japan has a hierarchy on the roads: Pedestrians -> Bicycles -> Motorcycles -> Cars. It's opposite of what we are used to in the States. Pedestrians own the road. They expect everyone else to look out for them. They everyone falls into place. So always be alert.
Good luck. And have fun.