Prohibited Items from Japan: All 11 We Cannot Ship
The 11 items Tama-Chan cannot ship back to Thailand, straight from the company's own notice — from alcohol, e-cigarettes and car batteries to powdered and bottled green tea.
Plenty of things are perfectly normal to buy in Japan and still cannot make the trip home. Tama-Chan has 11 categories it does not carry, published as a single graphic, and a few of them catch people out — green tea, for one.
Run through the list before you order, and if anything looks borderline, ask an admin on LINE first.
The 11 prohibited categories
All of it follows Tama-Chan's own notice, in the order the graphic prints them.
1. Alcoholic drinks
Spirits, wine, sake and beer, whether you are drinking it yourself or keeping it. The Japan-only limited editions are out on the same terms.
2. Corrosive materials, such as car batteries
The line runs between a bare battery and a device with a battery inside it. Car batteries cannot ship; an appliance with its own cell orders as normal.
3. Plants, trees and natural rubber
The bonsai and variegated houseplants on Japanese listing sites fall here, and so does natural rubber.
4. Firearms, ammunition and BB guns
Including the BB guns sold in the toy section, which are not counted separately from real firearms.
5. Pressurised gas and flammable substances
Anything holding gas under pressure, and flammable liquids. Aerosol cans count too.
6. Cigarettes and e-cigarettes
Cigarettes and e-cigarettes are both out, and an e-cigarette device with no liquid in it yet is out on the same terms.
7. Chemicals and hazardous substances
In any form — household, workshop or specialist.
8. Narcotics and controlled substances of every kind
Every kind, no exceptions. The same thing the shipping terms mean by illegal goods.
9. Green tea, powdered or bottled
Matcha powder is refused outright, and so is bottled green tea; both the powdered and the liquid form are named.
Snacks that merely contain green tea, a matcha KitKat say, order as normal. The line is drawn at green tea itself, not at things made with it.
10. Cars
Only the whole vehicle is barred. Parts and accessories order as normal, and are one of the things Thai shoppers buy from Japan most — though a part that is itself a car battery, or that still has fluid inside it, is out for that reason instead.
11. Live animals, animal remains and ivory
Including antiques and collectables with ivory in them.
Frequently asked questions
Read next
- Choosing a Japan Shipping Service: 4 Things to Check Before You PayEvery provider says fast, cheap and reliable. These four things you can verify yourself before a single baht moves — from the warehouse address in Japan to the terms on lost parcels.
- Japanese Jewelry Lots: Read the K18 and SV925 Marks Before You BidA lot titled K18 or SV925 is not necessarily all gold or sterling. Real Yahoo examples, how to translate the page into Thai, and what to check before you bid.
- Used Japanese Car Parts: What 5 Categories Cost, and the TrapsYen prices off real listings across the five used-parts categories Thai buyers order most, and what makes people order the wrong thing — headlight bulbs at ¥1,250 (about ฿260)–3,280 a pair sitting beside whole assemblies at ¥10,500 (about ฿2,200)–35,000 in the same result list.
- Shipping from Japan back to Thailand, by sea or by airCompare the two shipping modes, the transit times, and the shipping rounds we run
Related keywords
- prohibited items from Japan
- banned imports from Japan
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