.jpg)
(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.
.jpg)
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
