I did a quick check of the forum with the search function and couldn't really find anything that related specifically to this topic.

I am the type of person that likes to import alot of things specifically because there are so many products and fashion items I like that are simply not available in my home country. So I do alot of internet shopping (it also usually turns out waaaaay cheaper). Now, I do understand that you can find practically anything in Japan if you just look around a bit, but I would like to know if anyone could give me an idea of how import costs (read tax) and duties are priced. Is it terribly expensive to import to Japan? To give you an idea, on man made textiles I pay upto 20% tax on the cost price of the item, on natural fibres it can be as high as 45%. On cosmetics I've generally paid about 15% if the item was not marked as a gift, but seeing as most of my cosmetics are shipped from HK in China, almost all of it is marked as gifts.

I'd like to know this because it could save me alot of travel weight if I could be sure of getting my favorite products at still reasonble prices in/into Japan.

Thankyou for reading.