The Japan Biker F.A.Q.: Recommended Dealers and Stores . .......

Page 6: Recommended Dealers and Stores

Dealer recommendations:

I bought my Honda CBR600 as a re-import from Stars Trading on route 246, near Yokohama. Tel. 0427 959009 fax 0427 959008. The guy to speak with is the boss, Mr. Takahashi (who incidentally speaks good English) His company specializes in re-importing Japanese bikes from Europe, Australia, and the US, and they re-imported over 1000 bikes last year. They have all the full power export versions of bikes like Kawasaki ZZR-1100, Yamaha YZF 750, Honda CBR900RR Fireblade, as well as some good dirt bikes etc.. They only seem to touch big bikes, so don't ask for anything 400cc or less as they probably will not have it. They are very helpful and their prices are very reasonable - often much cheaper than the sticker prices for the (inferior, lower power) domestic versions of the same bikes, and they handle all the paperwork, customs, shaken, etc... As an example their price for my CBR 600 was 750 000, plus compulsory insurance, shaken, etc.. : total just over 800 000, which is just over the price of a domestic 400cc sports inline four. They also have a showroom/garage/mechanic on route 246.

GOOD STORES FOR STUFF

Tetsuya Nishimura recommended, in the Nagoya area:

Nankai Buhin Nagoya-ten parts & accessories 1-16 Tsurumai 3-cho^me, Showa-ku, Nagoya-shi tel (052)741-1669

Nankai Buhin Nagoya Higashi-ten same as above 3-320 Urasato, Midori-ku, Nagoya-shi tel (052)892-6221

Ito Motors bike sales, gymkhana, riding school 2-14 Showa-machi, Tsushima-shi tel (0567)26-3894

Tell the "Shachou" that I referred them to you!

HOW TO PURCHASE A BIKE IN JAPAN

Submitted by Rex Harris; edited for the FAQ.

I just bought a second bike to play with, 90NSR250SP for 260,000 yen. That was from an individual, not a dealer. I still have to license it, etc. See below.

Things involved with buying a bike:

- If Japanese, you need the citizen's card (JYUUMINHYOU SHOUMEISHOU), otherwise Alien Registration card (GAIKOKUJIN TOUROKU SHOUMEISHOU).

- name seal (HANKO, or INKAN), I've heard signature is OK for foreigners [except when they know you have one].

- mandatory insurance (JIBAISEKI HOKEN) sticker. This is a tab/sticker you get that goes on the vehicle and is not transferable to another machine. The bike you purchase may have some of this remaining on it. The insurance is standard price and will not deviate for anything. If you buy from a shop, this will be one thing that may be included on the price/invoice. This has to be taken care of before the bike can be registered.

- Every year around April, there is a road tax you gotta pay (you'll be billed by mail). It is around 3000yen, I can't remember the exact price and it does vary depending on the size of the machine. [my experience has been 250cc is 2,400 yen/year, anything larger is 4,000/year - see the section on TAXES under VEHICLE LICENSING ]

- Bike registration must be made every time a bike changes owners. A new number plate is issued. This can most easily be done if you let a shop do it for you. You can save money though if you do it yourself, just like the shaken. You must go to the same place to do the shaken, pay 35 yen for the paper work, pay 1200 yen to have somebody fill out the paper work for you, then about 500 yen to submit the paper work. So this can cost anywhere from >10,000 yen (shop), 1735 (mostly you) or 535 yen (all yourself).

- inspection (SHAKEN) required for >250cc. You can do the testing yourself [see section on "SHAKEN" later]. If you buy from a shop, this will be one thing that may be included on the price/invoice. And like the mandatory insurance, shaken "goes with the bike" when it's sold. For example, if you're looking at a bike that has a year left, that's real value.

Real Insurance, just like in the states, covers accidents, damage to you, passengers, bike, other guys property, etc. This also has different prices regarding AGE and maybe some other factors I'm not aware of. The prices ARE regulated and fairly standard from what I can tell.

What I have to do to License my new NSR250SP:

Bike Purchase price 260,000yen

Jibaiseki Hoken (1yr) ~ 13,000yen

Bike registration (shop) ~ 12,500yen

The REAL insurance ~ 44,000 - 55,000yen (what I'm looking at)

Road Tax ~ 3,000yen (in April)

Total: 72,500 - 83,500yen

Also the first thing that needs to be done if you buy from an individual is get them to de-register (HAISHA) it and give you the paper work, including the receipt for the previous year's road tax. There can be complications in this if the previous owner used credit and if he still owes money.

Motorcycle Rentals

Renting a motorcycle in Japan is a frequently asked question. The truth is that compared with other countries like Thailand or Australia there are few shops that do this. But here are a few (many thanks to James Haida).

In Tokyo:

SCS Inc., 2-36-10 Mukougaoka, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0023 TEL 03-3824-6298

Hotline Inc., 3-11-5 Hiratsuka, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 142-0051 TEL 03-3787-8141

MSL Inc., 5-32-1 Yahara, Nerima, Tokyo 177-0032 TEL 03-3867-2131

In Sapporo:

Prime

NB: Most of these pages are entirely in Japanese - you may need a friend to help you read through all the details.

NOTE: This page contains Japanese script--if your computer's OS or browser is not set up to read it, many words will simply look like garbage. Try changing the way your browser reads the info - for example, using Firefox, click on "View", then "Character Encoding", then choose something like Japanese Shift_JIS.

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