Airport customs and food.

[Morrow]

As I'm currently saving to go to Japan for a holiday, i've considered the home stay option - living with a japanese family for part of my time i'm living there. Recently I was given some advice to bring an assortment of meat as a gift to the family (if I were to stay with one), as I hear it's quite expensive to get over there. What im wondering is, how customs will go about this if I were to reveal a box or container with fresh meat in it! Are there certain restrictions?
It didn't sound like a that bad idea, so any insight into this would be great, along with any other advice you'd like to give.



- Morrow

 

[epigene]

Travel advice for Australian (and other foreign) visitors to Japan is here:
http://www.perth.au.emb-japan.go.jp/customsq.htm#animals

I think fresh meats are prohibited and taken from you at customs in Japan. The next best thing might be sausages and other preserved meats that are commercially packaged and are OK at room temperature.

 

[MeAndroo]

My host families have always claimed to enjoy beef jerkey. I think it may have been more for the novelty than anything else.

I think it'd be pretty entertaining to see someone carrying a steak in a cooler into Narita.

 

[misa.j]

My host families have always claimed to enjoy beef jerkey.

Beef jerkey would be a great substitute for fresh meat. My friend devoured it within a few days when I sent her some of the homemade.

 

[epigene]

Although it doesn't apply to Morrow because he's Australian, all beef products from the US, including jerky, is banned in Japan. (The ban is expected to be lifted, but who knows... )

Misa-san, I wonder how you could send homemade jerky... :?
Maybe just slipped through random sampling inspection at Japanese customs?

 

[bezz]

オージービーフ

I think it'd be pretty entertaining to see someone carrying a steak in a cooler into Narita.

It would be much easier to buy some Aussie beef in Japan, available at any generic supermarket there and call it a gift.
Some Japanese who are into wagyu meat delicacy might not be very impressed by "affordable" beef, they might perhaps feel it's like grilled-sandal-sole steaks though.


Link

 

[Silverpoint]

Recently I was given some advice to bring an assortment of meat as a gift to the family (if I were to stay with one), as I hear it's quite expensive to get over there.

I think the issue at hand here is: who advised you of this? If it was just some abritrary individual (i.e. not the family themselves) who was making suggestions about what you should take, I'd ignore them and just opt for something easier. I've never heard of anyone bringing meat products into Japan, and personally I don't find meat that expensive here either.

 

[Morrow]

It was just a quick suggestion a friend gave me, it sounded interesting, so I decided I wanted find out a little more. In any case, thanks for everyones input! I'll definately consider taking beef jerky as the second option. It seems a whole lot easier!

 

[Silverpoint]

As a talking point, also take a jar of vegemite. Not so much as a gift, but as an 'unusual' Aussie food for the family to try. It usually makes for an entertaining experience.

 

[epigene]

As a talking point, also take a jar of vegemite. Not so much as a gift, but as an 'unusual' Aussie food for the family to try. It usually makes for an entertaining experience.

Great idea!!

I for one would like to try it! Regardless of whether the host family will like it, it will be a great conversation piece!

Actually, "disastrous gifts" are remembered more (fondly if not humorously) than the good ones... (My experience... )

 

[Mike Cash]

No Beef Jerky​

Not from the U.S. anyway. American beef is currently under a ban and will be confiscated and incinerated.
(My mother recently sent me a care package, and the beef jerky portion of it was confiscated and cremated, much to my chagrin).

 

[misa.j]

Oh, you're right Mike! I totally forgot about Japan outlawing the US beef. It was 2 years ago when I sent mine to my friend, so nothing happened to it.

 

[Mike Cash]

Come to think of it.....that would be a perfect excuse for Americans not bringing a gift!

"Oh, I brought you 5kg of beef jerky, but it was confiscated at the airport! Sorry!"

Quite a money-saving idea, don't you think?

 

[ArmandV]

No Beef Jerky​

Not from the U.S. anyway. American beef is currently under a ban and will be confiscated and incinerated.
(My mother recently sent me a care package, and the beef jerky portion of it was confiscated and cremated, much to my chagrin).

Wasn't the ban on U.S. beef just recently lifted?

 

[epigene]

Wasn't the ban on U.S. beef just recently lifted?

No, because the US refuses to meet Japanese demands. So, they're still haggling over the details of the agreement.

 

[Morrow]

Does the same rule apply for Aussie beef?

 

[Silverpoint]

No. Japan is flooded with it. I remember my friend who is an Australian, a professional chef in Japan, and has worked for the Aussie Beef Marketing Campaign, describing it as the most underserved piece of good fortune ever bestowed on an industry. Apparently the Aussie beef industry had made a complete mess of marketing itself to Japan. Yet suddenly found its sales increasing by huge volumes, through no effort on its part, but purely because US Beef got banned.

It seems things may be about to change though (see link below):

Aussies worry as Japan eyes US beef