So, after a few hours, Keri and I finally shipped a parcel back to Canada. We bought a lot and decided it was the easiest way to get items back without worrying about luggage or the other half of our trip.

Several tips if you have bought lots of things from Japan but time or cost matters and you don't have luggage room?

1. Japan Post sells boxes. We got a medium box for 140 yen and fit around 3.3kg worth of stuff in there (with three stuffed Pikachus though). Plus, their boxes are so cute!

2. Air/SAL/Boat, what option? Air is like their express way of sending via airplane. So pretty expensive! SAL is their combination of sea and air, combining both airplanes and boats. But for us, 6-8 weeks via boat was the way to go and the cheapest option. We still have several weeks to go and wasn't in dire need for the items. Also, our boat option and weight combined gave us a total of 34150 yen or so.

3. Silly question but, how to pack? Since we're shipping by boat, make sure to seal your stuff in plastic. We luckily brought a large rain poncho with us, so we used it as an inner layer for protection. I'm not sure if it will seal much, let's hope it ends home safe and sound.

Here's a helpful source that I read on shipping and a guide on the shipping label.