Medgya wrote:
> So I wonder if anyone has experience shipping religious art work (in
> this case a consecrated Buddhist statue about 70cm tall) within Japan.
> We called up trusty Yamato and were told that, while their regular
> service can't do it (something about liabilities), they have a special
> department that does handle such things. Does anyone know of other
> options? We'll try calling some of the local museums and temples
> later, but I just thought I'd ask here, too.
> 
> Thanks!

The problem with shipping religious art, particularly consecrated 
statues ... and I only know about this because I know one of the 
restorers in Nara who has worked at Kofuku-ji, Horyu-ji, and Todai-ji 
... is the incredible amount of insurance a shipping company is required 
to have in order to be licensed to ship rare art ... the amount of 
specialized training and specialized packing that their staff have to 
learn ... and then the shipper (you) has to lay on their own insurance 
on top of that.  The premium will depend on who you have do the 
shipping.  The better known, the lower the premium.  The big companies 
like Yamato, Art 123, and Nittsu are rumored to do shipments for small, 
needy temples for almost their cost, taking the profit out of the big 
museums and the government.

When the National Art Museum in Tokyo ships temple art, swords, 
hangings, scrolls, statuary, ceramics, or armor into Tokyo or Ueno for 
national exhibits, the insurance premium can run several billion yen ... 
and the traveling exhibit of The Art of Todai-ji that got sent to Europe 
last year via Nittsu the premiums were rumored to be over 20 million 
Euros.