Japan to USA — tax will be required for parcels arriving on August 29
Starting from August 29, small commercial parcels from Japan coming to the US will be charged a 15% tariff. The previous “de minimus” arrangement will no longer exist on that day.
Parcels sent through post will be charged with an extremely high flat tax between 80 to 200 per item. We do not want that. Maybe you won’t either.
Therefore, postal service will be suspended for all US destinations on August 14, 15 days before the deadline and the usual lead time for postal shipment, to avoid any unwanted confusion.
Before a proper set up on the US side for managing proper tax collection we shall need to rely on our designated commercial courier to process the tax for us. For the meantime, it is FedEx.
Tax will be charged at checkout beginning August 22
***All shipments to the US will have only the FedEx shipping option starting from August 14***
Beginning on August 22, tax on all items will be charged when you place the order so that we can pay FedEx the required tax to get the order through the US Customs smoothly. This is the Friday a week before August 29. This will allow a workday for order processing and 4 days for FedEx processing and shipment. Before that the de minimus arrangement will still be in effect.
If in any case a tax is not required at the customs but has been charged by us, it will be refunded to you.
This arrangement is not ideal but will still ensure smooth delivery. Hopefully a more efficient solution will come about soon.
A new routine like that for EU
New small parcel tax collection agency seems like a profitable business for people in the US. Maybe such service will come about soon. We rely on one of these for parcels to countries in the EU, where a tax called IOSS is charged on all retail parcels coming from outside of EU.
If you have information about this topic please do share with us.
If you have questions, please let us know.
Thank you for staying with us through this change of routine.
110+ varieties, pure quality teas
A very large lineup of new products to be release
We shall continue to deliver the true quality that has been the main reason you return to us.
Actually 20 new tea varieties are in the lineup for subsequent release. Some extremely rare ones. And 50 Yixing teapots. And new gaiwan sets. And different styles of utilitarian teapots. And a large collection of Japanese artisan-made kyūsus… Stay tuned-in.
A good teapot is not only an important tea infusion tool that, when properly chosen and used, can greatly enhance the infusion quality, but it can also be a collection item.
Happy sipping,
Leo Kwan
(Reposting of a newsletter on August 11, 2025)
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