Best Trading President’s Blog

Not so long ago, Japanese art was confined to artistically designed temples and shrines, woodblock prints, sumi ink drawings and rock gardens.  But the sense of beauty is changing fast in today’s generation in Japan.  Being Cute is the norm of today - You go anywhere and everywhere and you would find girls exclaiming the word ‘Kawaii‘ meaning cute - almost hundred times a day! 

Japan Inc., which was once famous for more serious products like the Sony Walkman, Nikon cameras and Toyota cars is busy exporting the cute culture - Pokemon video games, bubble-headed Hello Kitty, Tamagotchi virtual pet, and the singing duo Puffy are just to name a few.  Japan’s global image is changing to cute-worshipping nation.  Cute is now cool in Japan. You can see mobile phones decorated with cartoon pictures, restaurant waitresses in cute looking frilly maid outfits, bows and ribbons decorating bags. 

Japan Railways is also changing its image with this craze for cute things. To keep the people happy, you can find trains decorated with cute and colorful pictures of Japanese Anime and Manga characters like Doraimon,  Pokemon, Ultraman and Pikacho.  Surely my kids and wife are very happy when they commuite in such trains.

Even Japanese car makers like Suzuki and Nissan recently launched cute looking cars to attract the Japanese women.  Nissan’s Pino, a 660 cc mini car can be customized and decorated with stuffed animals, patterned seat covers with hearts and pink bear-shaped cushions, matching tissue covers, and handbags,  cd cases etc.

Technorati Tags: Japanese art, Japan, Cute, Kawaii, Anime, Manga, Japanese car, Nissan, Pino

Who doesn’t love to own a car? However, buying a new car may not be affordable to everyone. Especially during the current recession and the bad economy, many people are not even thinking of buying luxuries like a new car.

Most of these people don’t even think about used cars because of the prevalent misconception that used cars will not be of good quality and would require lot of expenses on maintaining them. However, let me tell you, the used cars from Japan are far off this notion. Japanese used cars will be as luxurious as the new ones and also will not require any special maintenance other than what a new car would need. And on top of it, you can buy a used Japanese car for almost half the price you would pay for a new car.

The clear advantage of purchasing a used Japanese car during a recession is that you can save lot of money. When you buy a brand new car, it starts to depreciate fast as soon as you buy it. On the other hand, used cars have already taken pretty much of the big depreciation. Apart from this, when you purchase a used car, you will also avoid the added fees that most dealers tack on to their cars.

Strict Government regulation is the reason behind the good quality and condition of the used cars from Japan. The Government of Japan requires the car owners to keep their cars in good running condition. Also, the road conditions in Japan are very good, so the wear and tear of the car parts is minimized, and that keeps the cars as good as the new ones. So, there is nothing to worry about the quality of these used Japanese cars. You can buy used cars from Japan with your eyes closed. That’s the degree of confidence that you can keep while buying used Japanese cars.

At Best Trading, we can offer the trust when you a used car from us.  Thousands of our satisfied customers worldwide are the best testimonial for our service.

Technorati Tags: used cars, Japan, Japanese used cars, recession, quality, condition

We at Best Trading, Japan wish you a Very Happy and Joyful New Year - 2009.

This week is an important holiday for most businesses in Japan. Most used car dealers in our network as well as Japanese used car auction houses also observe holiday in the first week of the new year.

Daruma Dolls

Japanese people typically welcome the New Year in tradional fashion. We clean our houses and offices before the new year begins, and have traditional new year decorations made from pine, bamboo and plum trees at the entrance of homes and shops.  On the new year eve, families will get together and welcome the new year by eating soba noodles which symbolize longevity.  A visit to a temple or shrine for offering prayers is a must for every Japanese in the new year holidays.

Many Japanese people or even businesses will buy a Daruma doll at the new year.  Daruma doll is one of the most popular talismans of good luck in Japan.  A daruma doll as shown in the picture is a armless, legless and eyeles doll made from papier mache.  On the new year day, people will make a wish or resolution and paint one of the eyes of the daruma doll. At the end of the year, when their wish is fulfilled, they will paint the second eye and offer the doll at the temple.  May all your wishes in the new year come true !

Technorati Tags: Japan, New Year, Japanese, used car auction, holiday, Daruma doll

Under Russian traffic rules, drivers must drive on the right side of the road but traffic officials generally tolerate cars with Japanese style Right Hand Drive (RHD) cars designed to run on the left hand side of the road. 

Used cars from Japan are as popular as Left Hand Drive (LHD) cars by Russian automobile makers such as Volga.   As per the latest estimates, Russia has more than 1.5 million RHD vehicles on its roads.  In the far eastern regions of Russia, such as Vladivostok, RHD cars make up to 90% of the total.  Many drivers in this region own cars with right-hand drive imported from Japan.  This includes not only private cars, but also government vehicles, ambulances and police cars.

However, Russian bureaucrats have recently launched a full-scale campaign against used cars with right-hand drive. This is said to be incited and financed by Russian domestic automakers and Western corporations who plan to set up their automobile factories in Russia.  Russia also plans to sharply raise duties on used imported cars to protect its domestic automobile makers.

Right Hand Drive Car from Japan

Recently, thousands of drivers in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok have rallied against a possible government ban on cars with right-hand steering wheels, which is proposed by the Russian government commission.  Protesters also criticized a proposal to raise tariffs on imported vehicles.  Drivers gathered in the city centre and held signs saying “We have the right to right-hand wheels”.

Similar protests were held in other cities of Russia’s far east, including Khabarovsk and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

We understand that many of our Russian customers would be affected by such regulation changes.  However, we will try to do our best by finding partners who could offer services to conver RHD cars to LHD,  replace headlamps etc to meet the new regulations.

Technorati Tags: Japanese, Used cars, Japan, Russia, Vladivostok

Micro car iQ from Toyota Motor Corporations’s  is named the Japanese Car of the Year 2008-09. This award is organized by Japanese Coty Web site. The winners were selected by a committee of sixty-five jurors who are writers and consultants from automobile industry. 

Toyota IQ - Japanese Car of the Year

Toyota iQ won this prestigious award by a great margin over competitors such as Citroen’s C5, Audi’s A4 and Jaguar’s XF. This is a good news for Toyota, as it will help them to advertise the 1-liter iQ to boost sales amid slumping demand for new automobiles in Japan and the U.S.

The iQ micro car from Toyota, will be available in Japan from Nov. 20.  It can carry three adults and has additional space for a child or luggage.  It will be priced between 1.4 million yen ($14,300) and 1.6 million yen.  BMW’s Mini One is priced from 2.08 million yen, and Daimler AG’s twin-seat Smart For Two is sold from 1.76 million yen.

The Toyota iQ, is currently the world’s smallest four-seater car Measuring just under 3 meters. It is shorter than Japanese mini cars such as Daihatsu Motor Co.’s Move. and little longer than the 2.4-meter Smart ForTwo.

The iQ won this award mainly because of its space efficiency and design, particularly its ability to seat four people in a body less than three meter long, as well as its combination of safety and low CO2 emissions.

This car is currently not available in other countries. If you are interested, we can arrange shipment for you. It is a nice car for those who are looking for a compact, fuel efficient car for small family.

Technorati Tags: Japanese Car, Toyota, automobiles, Japan, micro car, Toyota iQ, mini car

Best Trading is an authorized member of 90 auctions located all over Japan which offer over 150,000 vehicles every week. Our clients can access Japanese auction system from our website, where you can take a virtual tour of Japanese used cars offered at varioys auction houses such as the USS Auto Auction and view all the vehicles available for sale there.

Apart from participating in the online auctions, we encourage our clients to visit the high-tech  auction halls in Japan. For buyers who wish to buy used Japanese vehicles from auto auctions on  a regular basis, we encourage to visit our company office in Tokyo. We can then persoanlly accompany you to various used car auctions in Japan. It can be a valuable experience for your used car import business.

If you visit our office, I recommend you to stay in Hotel Kinuya in Ueno, Tokyo. This hotel is just 10 min on walk from our office. You can check their homepage at

http://www.kinuyahotel.jp

It is about 65 US$ a night and conveniently accessible from Narita International airport.

For commuting from Narita airport to Ueno, I recommend you to take the Keisei Skyliner Express train. You can check more details at

http://www.keisei.co.jp/keisei/tetudou/keisei_us/top.html

Technorati Tags: Japanese, vehicles, auto auction, Tokyo, used car, import

Toyota’s Hilux pickup truck has been a workhorse around the world for a long time since it was launched in the early 70s.  This pickup truck has evolved over the years but still retains the essence of the original design.

The Toyota HiLux is a big, strong versatile Action Utility Vehicle (AUV).   It has got the performance you want and the toughness you’ve come to expect. It has virtually Indestructible mechanicals, huge space, tough image, a leading power figure with the 169bhp three-litre.

The Toyota Hilux is an incredibly durable and tough machine as has recently been demonstrated on BBC’s Top Gear program.  Jeremy Clarkson tried to bang, drown, and burn a Toyota Hilux to test it’s strength. In this video you can see how Toyota’s old workhorse survived the trial by fire, flood, tumbling tower block and deadly caravan.  There is no doubt it is one of the toughest hardiest pick-up trucks around.

Technorati Tags: Toyota, Hilux, pickup truck, AUV, Top Gear

We had a week long holiday in Japan because of Obon festival. Most businesses including Japanese used car auctions are on holiday this week.  So I planned to visit Thailand and India with my friend Mr. Shiotsu.

It is summer here now in Japan and it is very hot and humid especially here in Tokyo.  I was surprised to see that India was much cooler than Japan at this time.  Our Indian friend Raj was kind enough to show us around in Mumbai as well as in the satellite city of New Mumbai.

Crowded local train in Mumbai

We tried some adventures in Mumbai, and one of them was commuting by the local train in ordinary class. The train was very crowded even on Sunday, and it was quite unusual for us to see people hanging out from the trains.  In Japan, the train doors get locked before the train starts, so we can not see such scenes in Japan. But we challenged and we did it ! We travelled for about 40 minutes from Mumbai to New Mumbai in such crowded train.  It was quite an experience.

Mumbai is a vibrant and busy city.  It is changing quite fast and one can easily see the contrasts in lifestyles everywhere.  On one hand, you can see tall modern skyscrapers where the price of an apartment or office is as high as in Tokyo or London;  on the other hand, you can see old style markets and small businesses being run in old dilapidated buildings.   

Overall, we had a nice trip.  It was a good break from the busy life in Japan.

In New Mumbai with my friend Raj

In old Mumbai with my friend Shiotsu

Technorati Tags: Japan, Japanese, used car, auction, India, Mumbai, train

When a person plans to buy a car, he looks for certain quality indicators like the brand image, comfort, efficiency, safety, luxury and the shape or looks of the car.

Every year, numerous models of cars are launched by different car manufactureres all over the world.  It may happen that the car models available in your country are either too expensive or lack in various features such as fuel efficiency, comfort and safety.  In such cases, it makes sense to import a used car from other country. 

In imported used cars, Japanese used cars are the most popular. By ‘Japanese used cars’ we mean that these cars were manufactured in Japan, used by Japanese owners and then made available to the secondhand car market. 

Why Japanese used cars are in a great demand all over the world?  What are the benefits of buying a Japanese used car and not a new car? Here are the advantages:

Low mileage:  Japan is the No 1. country in the world where public transportation Trains are highly advanced, convenient and most popular among the Japanese commuters.  Japanese do not drive long distance, so the Japanese used cars have very low mileage. 

Superb car condition: According to the Ministry of Transport in Japan every vehicle has to be in good condition to run on the road. The Ministry of transport constantly requires the cars to undergo the road worthiness test called shaken. That is the reason why a large number of Japanese used cars are in superb condition.  The conditions of the roads in Japan is another reason the Japanese vehicles are in good condition. Japanese economy is strong and so Japanese people prefer to buy new cars. That’s why a large number of Japanese used cars are available in the used car market. Japanese used cars and spare parts are not only cheap, but also worth every penny you pay.

Body Condition: The condition of the vehicle engine of the Japanese used cars is in excellent condition. The cars are checked at service stations regularly. Oil is changed on time. Japanese people are very clean they regularly clean and polish their cars. The exterior and interior condition is amazing when compared to American and European cars. Even a ten year old Japanese used car will still be in a good condition. Cars used by rental car companies are popular too because the condition of rental cars are very good. Though they have a higher mileage, these cars are given better care and guaranteed for a better performance. Japanese used cars are popular in the world for less engine troubles. In the event of an accident, cars are always replaced with new parts in the exterior as well as the interior, so their reliability is very high.
 
High Fuel Efficiency: Japanese automobile manufactures ensure that fuel efficiency is very high in Japanese cars.
 
Automatic transmission is better in Japanese used cars than in cars from other countries.

Technorati Tags: car, used cars, Japanese, Japan, condition, reliability, automobile

This year is very difficult for the Japanese supplier in the Philippines to export SUV or Vehicles including those small mini-truck due to most of the buyer in the Philippines specially the Subic base company and Visayas region importer stop buying from Japan, due to strict campaign of Bureau of Customs and Anti-Smuggling Car group in the Philippines. Most of the Japanese supplier in the Philippines who have some ready stock for Philippine market had a very big problem on thier existing inventory specially those being ordered already but eventually result to cancellation.  And the only reason they say to Japanese supplier is that they (importer ) do not already understand the system of the government in the Philippines. They just say to wait and see, cause if they are going to ship it in the Philippines, it will be seized for whatever reasons of the Philippine government. Its just like STOP LOOK AND LISTEN.  But for the Japanese supplier it means a big downfall of sales from the Philippine market.

Just the other month one of our buyer from the Philippines send us a news from the Philippines that even mini-truck which is already with car registration and plate number still being seized by some government agent like Traffic Management or the likes.  So they just can’t understand what rules to follow and what system to do. So again it affects  us too, as we are also one of suppliers of mini-truck to the Philippines and of course to our co-suppliers too.

Technorati Tags: importer, downfall, seized, mini-truck