Minor taking alcohol as a present

Our son is going to Japan in a few weeks as an exchange student. He wants to take Australian beer as a thank you gift for his host father. We are also thinking about him taking Australian wine for his host mother.

I contacted the Japanese customs to ask whether a minor would be allowed to take alcohol to Japan. They said yes. My sister that works for Customs here says he shouldn't do it.

What should we do ?

What if you write a letter explaining why your son is bringing liquires into Japan? Would it help?

just don't do it then. that should be really obvious. i don't even know if your son would be able to get that liquor through the airport in australia (assuming that he's going from australia to japan)

however, rules are made to be broken you know. whatever you do DONT write any letter or anything like that. that's the same as saying 'hey look at me, i'm an underage kid with liquor in my bag, please comfiscate them and give me a serious penalty please!'

so what do you want to do then? simple. NOTHING. That is to say, IF you get that liquor through the austrlian airport, once you arrive in Japan do not tell the customs that you have anything to declare. that really is one of the stupidest things you can do, it's asking for trouble.

of course there's always an outside chance that they might want to check your son's bags anyway.

True,but thing is that Japanese are not so strict about alchol unless you exceed amount allowed to import. Maybe D is right and your son shouldn't take any chance at all.

Juliet,

The Japanese law has changed and anyone 19 years old or younger cannot PURCHASE or DRINK alcohol while in Japan. And they are quite strict about that than they used to be.

However, there are no laws against minors CARRYING un-opened bottles of alcohol. If Japanese customs say it's okay, that sounds very convincing to me. But you can always have some alternative gifts ready just in case.

Btw, those 18 and over are quite tolerated in Japan when it comes to alcoholic matters. Also, I have no knowledge on rules about bringing alcohol outside YOUR country.