Have you had to pay hefty customs fees when buying from Japan?

[r.e.]

In some other countries like India and Brazil the total of duty, VAT and other charges can reach 48%.

Kumar

That's why I limited my remarks to "western governments", although I realise that I'm oversimplifying. With European VAT at 20%, I see ~5% duty as a relatively minor part of the equation. I guess the European camera manufacturers still have some political pull. I wonder whether Japan imposes a reciprocal duty. Do you know whether the EU duty on Japanese cameras survives the fairly new EU-Japan free trade agreement, or will it disappear as implementation of the agreement proceeds?