Bringing pron through customs

[Mad Mage]

I'm coming home to the U.S. and want to bring some illicit material (ero manga) with me. "pornograhpic material" is listed in customs as a no-no. Have others done this without a problem? I imagine if I put it in a bag and tape it, it won't be checked. Should I put it in carry on or with my check in?

Or am I better off mailing it home?

 

[Sakunyuusha]

The bigger a deal you make about it (suspicious packaging, nervous behavior), the more likely the customs folks are going to mistake your relatively harmless porn comic for something quite serious -- and they're going to search it.

I think the best strategy would be to wrap your comic up in gift-wrap and put a gift sticker on it that says "From: [your first name]" and "To: [somebody you know in America, preferably immediate family who aren't with you on this trip]". Then, put this gift-wrapped book in your suitcase. Make sure the wrapping is thin so that the suitcase checkers can tell it's a paperback book and not a box containing explosives or drugs or some such. It wouldn't hurt to have several books of similar size packaged in this way, porn or not. One draws attention, but multiple gifts seems perfectly reasonable for somebody traveling internationally. Also, thin wrapping paper's important to let dogs get the scent of the package. I don't know if they have book-sniffing dogs (lol) but they obviously have the drug-sniffing ones, and you'd rather the dog tell its master "this is 100% not a drug" than tell its master, "Well, I'm sort of on the fence with this one. Sort of hard to tell what it is, to be perfectly honest with you," forcing the human to open up the package to see what's inside.

If you'd prefer to place it in your carry-on bag, then do so but don't draw attention to yourself or to your bag. Be totally calm when they dump your bag's contents on the Customs table, if they even feel the need to do that. And when they ask what the gift-wrapped package is, tell them as very near to the truth as you can without disclosing the pornographic nature of the book. Tell them quite honestly that it's a rare Japanese comic book written by one of your little brother's favorite authors. Okay, maybe the "little brother" bit is a white lie, but how're they gonna prove that? This way, in a worst case scenario, if they rip open the packaging and see the dust jacket or flip through the book and see its contents, at least you won't have said anything to them which they could prove was a lie. It is, after all, a Japanese comic book. ^_^;

 

[Mad Mage]

Hey, thanks for your input and experience. I appreciate it. I've given it some thought, and decided I'm probably gonna mail it home. I remembered that some of the stuff I want to bring home could be considered illegal by a certain law passed under the Bush administration.

Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but people have gotten in trouble for much, much stupider reasons.

Any other opinions or advice from anyone is welcome though.

 

[redrooster]

Sorry, I could only give you some advice for importing stuff into the European Union, but not into the U.S.

Normally I would think that importing illegal stuff always is a risc which cannot be calculated. In the best case the material will be confiscated only so that you won´t see it again, but there even can be a high financial punishment or more like jail or something. Is it worth that risc?

Just regarding child porn (even virtual/drawn = loli) the world has changed a lot in the younger past...

Bestiality is another indexed material in the U.S.

 

[Mad Mage]

That's right. I bought it on a whim, and if there is even the slightest chance of getting arrested, then tossing it now is preferable.

While we're on the subject. What's the deal with having girl cashier's in Ero-manga shops? I know Japan is less uptight about the stuff than American's, but you'd think people would prefer guy cashiers on the non-yaoi floors.

 

[redrooster]

If you don´t have problems to enter a sex/porn shop why worry about female cashiers? Would you leave the shop with a red head when a female customer is entering it too?

Males and females have sex, so there are male and female customers in these shops, at least I know that, and there are male and female cashiers too...

 

[Mad Mage]

Rooster, of course you speak with logic. I don't deny that. And because of that I entered the checkout despite being embarrassed.

Maybe it's different in the UK, but in the U.S. we have underlying (arguably archaic) puritan principles that are a part of society and permeate the perceptions of even non-christian people like me. In other words, yeah, I was embarrassed that some of the stuff I was buying was loli. Hell, I'm a bit embarrassed to say it here, though I'm sure you guys aren't judgemental.

 

[Sakunyuusha]

I don't see why gender should matter. If you're embarrassed about what you're buying -- so embarrassed that you think it would ruin your chances at a relationship with the cashier once he/she sees what you're purchasing -- then it doesn't really matter whether the cashier's a man or a woman. Sure, if it's a woman, you could say it means you've lost a chance at a girlfriend. But that's really wishful thinking, quite frankly. If the odds are 100:0 that any given cashier man would be your friend but not your boyfriend (b/c you don't swing that way), then I'd say the odds are 99:1 that any given woman would be your friend but not your girlfriend. In other words, for every 100 female cashiers who see you buying loli, only one of them might have been a potential gf for you. The other 99 are incompatible. (Maybe you're too ugly for them, maybe they're too ugly for you? Maybe they're too stupid or too intelligent? Maybe they're psychotic? Maybe they're devoid of emotion? Maybe they're a lesbian? Maybe they only have a few years left to live? So on and so forth.)

And of course, if you're not embarrassed about what you're buying, then all the more reason to not worry. And you really shouldn't be embarrassed: it's not like you bought a lolikon eromanga at K-Mart. You bought it at a store that sells nothing but hentai and related products, and a good deal of that hentai is loli. Whatever it is that you bought, it ain't nothin' compared with what she's seen before.

 

[cattz]

Hmm, is this how all those cases where people get arrested for bringing loli manga overseas starts out?

I wonder..

 

[Mad Mage]

...wait, there are cases of that? Please elaborate.

Oh, and for the record, I've decided not to bring it on the plane. I went and bought some dollar store wrapping paper and am wrapping my manga now while I watch crappy torrented sitcoms. Not a bad way to end my stay in Japan. I'll send it to my home address tomorrow.

 

[redrooster]

Don´t you think there is mail customs office? Courier shipments like FedEx or DHL possibly are checked too...

 

[Mad Mage]

Yup, but how I can I get in trouble for having something mailed to me? If one is responsible for the content mailed to their house, then one could mail child porn or other illegal materials like drugs to their enemies and get them arrested.

Plus, what would the authorities do in the case of multiple residents, arrest everyone who lives at the receiving address?

Even then, I'm guessing WAY less packages sent are checked, than luggage through an airline. I mean, incredible amounts of packages are sent overseas each day. Even if by some extremely odd chance, my package is opened and checked, they'll find several books, wrapped. I don't think that would warrant undoing the wrapping.

I can't help but feel you are playing devil's advocate.

 

[redrooster]

No, but I know a lot about customs procedures...

 

[Mad Mage]

Well then. Any info you have about customs procedures is extremely welcome.

But yeah, I really think mailing it is safe, seeing as there are whole websites such as J-list who do it professionally.

 

[Sakunyuusha]

If I hadn't talked with Red about his real-life job a few months back, I would have had no clue, either, Mad Mage. But he definitely does know what he's talking about, so any advice he gives you about customs should probably be heeded.

That stated? I agree with you, both on account of the accountability clause you brought up (i.e. how on earth could they charge the addressee with the crime if they can't prove he even requested the package in the first place!?) as well as the past precedent with others doing the same (Japanese eBayers who sell doujins and manga to Europeans and Americans, as well as companies like J-List and YesAsia who do the very same). I think mail would probably be safest for you legally, but I think it's also the most expensive, the most time-consuming, and possibly the least safe for the book itself (i.e. I think that mail delivery Customs are more thorough than their airport cousins, and I think that a hell of a lot of contraband gets intercepted at the border and confiscated by the government, whether it's Japanese eromanga or not).

 

[Mad Mage]

Freaking out. This whole idea was stupid. I sent the stuff to myself, only to then learn of the Chris Handley case

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...r-handley-pleads-guilty-to-possession-charges

I should have just tossed it but it's too late for that. Red Rooster, I guess you know a lot about customs. Do they search random boxes that just have books in them? Do they unwrap books when it is obvious the wrapping contains just a book?

 

[redrooster]

customs staff knows very well what kind of books can be sent from Japan, they always are authorized by law to pick and check samples.

 

[Mad Mage]

What percentage of samples?

 

[redrooster]

don´t know, depending on amount of people and time or suspicion or just coincidence...

depending on goods description / customs declaration / value of goods (invoice/bill?) too.

 

[Sakunyuusha]

There's absolutely no point in freaking out over it now. If you're going to get caught, then you're going to get caught and there's nothing you can realistically do to evade arrest. You're a citizen of one of the most powerful nations in the world. You have ties to home. You can't just up and leave on an airplane and start life anew in France. I mean, you could, but that'd be fucking drastic and you don't have any evidence that you need to resort to that sort of drastic measure just yet.

On the other hand, the odds support you not getting caught -- better still, they support that even if you get caught, Customs will simply confiscate the book and that's that. Chris Handley cases are (thankfully) still the exception and not the rule.