Picked up the sword oil...

Earlier, I went to EMS in Pasay to pick up the black sageo (free as a compensation to the wrong sageo of my iaito katana- it's in my previous blog,I ordered a brown sageo, they gave me a maroon) and the sword oil I bought in Rakuten that I never thought was from Tozando. I thought they will gonna charge me with PHP500+ customs tax again. When the customs officer calculated the tax ( ¥640 x PHP0.01 in the customs = PHP6.4.....), he stopped because it's a very small amount. Good thing they just asked me to pay PHP50 for handling it to me.

The customs officer didn't return the invoice from Tozando.

They told me the sageo was already sent here in Dasma, Cavite, just today and I need to wait until Monday to get it from the nearest post office. The notice card for the iaito katana was given to me just today (it arrived very late even though I already got the katana) together with the notice card for the sword oil.

I thought this notice card was for the sageo, I didn't check the EMS item no. and the customs officer keep looking for the item in the customs. 

The reason I'm buying sword oil from abroad is because the selfish motherfucking seller of the maintenance cleaning kit here revoked my transaction with them just because I didn't buy their overpriced swords. 

Anyway, the box of the sword oil was kinda funny... 

it's 12 inches by 5&1/2 inches and these are what inside:

and the main item is just this: 

A 2 inches by 2&1/2 inches sword oil.

I'm glad it finally arrived. I can now clean the iaito katana while waiting for the arrival of my other package from amazon. The oil smells like the cleansing mouthwash medicine they use in dental surgery.

Even though I just paid a small amount, I still hate EMS because they always make me feel nervous of how much will I pay to the customs.

In the evening, I went to the sites (White Plains in Camp Aguinaldo in San Juan City and Bonifacio Global City in Taguig) where the practitioners of Pekiti Tirsia Kali are practicing. I didn't able to get inside White Plain because it's a private subdivision and there's no practice today but I'm able to see 30th track fitness park in BGC. It's a very long walk to get to White Plains & I think I need to carry only a small-light amount of bag and also a mountain bike. In BGC, the tuition fee is PHP1,000 higher than in San Juan (PHP2,500 every month in BGC, PHP1,500 every month in White Plains). The rain poured hard and there's a heavy traffic jam especially that it was Friday.

My first iaito katana...

I went to customs and paid the tax for my iaito katana after I saw on the internet that it arrived yesterday in customs.

Just as I mentioned and suspected in my previous blog, they will higher the tax since I already have a record with them and they know that I can pay. The customs officer didn't believe that the price is just US$30, disregard the note that it is a "gift", searched the internet and charged me PHP1,672. This is the summary of the computation.:

Price of the sword = US$108.74 x PHP43.418 

= PHP4,271.27 x 10%

= PHP427.13

+ PHP250

+ PHP213

= PHP5,708.4 x 12%

= PHP685

Summary:

   PHP472

+ PHP685

   PHP250

   PHP265

=PHP1,672 or US$38.51

The actual price of the sword is US$119.99 so I saved almost 12 bucks.

Customs here charges a lot although their office still smells like shit. I bet nothing goes to the people but only to their pockets. Anyway, it's still cheaper than with private freight companies here. They charge by weight and when I inquired to 2GO, the minimum price is PHP2,000 for 500 gram product from the US (based on weight, not on price). You might think that it's just 38 bucks but here in the Philippines, you can buy 2 weeks worth of groceries with that. Also, those freight companies here don't handle dangerous materials like swords so I kinda thankful that my iaito katana arrived fast, safely and didn't get lost like what usually happen to most customers here in the Philippines. I should just don't mind what happened with the high tax because just like what Steve Jobs said: "Let's just invent tomorrow than worry about what happened yesterday." I'm also thankful that I can now practice basic iaijutsu kata.

When it comes to my sword, I really liked it.

It has unsharpened/blunt edge and tip as I requested but still has its hamon.

It's kinda heavy and I see a few nicks on the tsuba.

I really like the vortex design of the tsuba . It signifies that my sword blows should be as powerful as a hurricane. 

It also reminds me of how my ancestors made swords during ancient times; like the Kampilan which has a reptile design on its handle.... 

...which symbolizes that maybe this sword was used to kill crocodiles or alligators during ancient times. 

Also the tinigre (tigered sword)

Maybe used to kill tigers during ancient times.

I don't know. According to History Channel's Human Weapon, my ancestors practiced Kali with a water buffalo/carabao as their sparring partner so it's possible that they also fought wild beasts in the forest.

The only things left are for me to buy/customize: 

Sword Stand. 

for the swords:

 Sword Bag, 

Katori Shinto ryu bokken, 

Suburito:

Kamagong Suburito 

or the

Musashi's Oar Shaped Suburito,

and Animé Swords:

Kenshin Himura's Sakabatou Katana

Uchiha Sasuke's Kusanagi Sword

I'm thinking of including Filipino swords like Kampilan and Panabas if I find anyone here who makes affordable but good quality Filipino swords.

I picked up my Niten Ichi ryu bokken set of bokkenshop/tozando at the customs

Today, I woke up at 4:30 AM (Philippine time) and went to customs/EMS Pasay at around passed 8 AM to pickup my Niten Ichi ryu bokken set I ordered from bokkenshop/Tozando.

(Those photos are from EMS Pasay's Customer Service Office. I didn't able to take a picture in the customs itself but this is how it looks like: http://littlexperiences.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/picking-up-an-ems-package-at-pasay-post-office/ )

I was charged almost PHP900 for the customs' taxes which is almost the same amount of the declared price on the package when converted from Japanese yen to Philippine peso (1 PHP = 0.4516 JPY as of today, last month it's 0.4025JPY for 1 PHP). Good thing, I reminded the customer service representative of bokkenshop to lower the declared price of the bokken set co'z they will cost me much with the taxes at customs. It's also a good thing that bokkenshop's policy is just to declare 1/3 of  an item's actual price. So, 1/3 of ¥6,300 for the bokken set (it's a 10% off discount promo and the actual price of the bokken set is ¥7,000) is ¥2,100 as indicated in the package. 

This is my first time to pay for customs tax. I think once you got a record with the Philippine customs, the next time your next package came, they will higher the actual taxes since they know you can pay. Maybe next time I'll just tell the seller to declare the item as a "gift" from an imaginary someone so I'll get lesser taxes. 

I left EMS/customs at around 10 AM today.

When it comes to the bokken set, I like them. They are made from Japanese white oak tree and they are actually lighter than my kamagong bokken (below).

I can now practice the kata of the Niten Ichi-ryu techniques from some videos I downloaded on YouTube and also the ryoto jutsu from the videos of Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu Otake-ha. :)

In a way, although the custom taxes are pain in the wallet, I'm kinda feel proud of paying taxes for the first time, first hand experience.

Further details of this shipment: EMS Japan