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Japanese Used Car and Truck Exporters

Archive for the 'Life in Japan' Category

Life in Japan and Japanese culture

Serious Parking Issue for All Drivers in Japan (especially in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and so on)

1st October 2007

I cannot imagine how many people living far apart from Japan have ever visited Japan.
Once you are in Tokyo, the capital city of Japan, I think you would find it is so messy town because now we have to share so much narrow space with other people due to the highest population density around the big cities as well as Osaka and Nagoya, which are the other biggest cities. 
All drivers living around cities are concerning about available parking lot when they go to town with thier family and friends with thier car. I don’t know how much fee at your country, however, it costs 800 to 1,000Yen ( $7 to $8.7 USD) per hour in the highest, for example in Roppongi, where is one of the most popular night town crowded many people all day long, parking fee is 9,600Yen ($83.5USD) when you put your car at parking half a day. Nowadays, there are some parkings with reasonable price having the limit, 2,000Yen per night, to ensure young guys who come to spend thier weekends there frequently. But almost parkings around the urban cities in Japan, every parkings are not useful for drivers at the point of parking fee.
Then, how about is the parking space paid for by the month in Japan?
Japanese apartment generally has few parkings because rooms are more important than parking space to make more money for owners of apartment. People who lives in apartments or flats have to find parking lot themselves within 2 Kilometers of thier house due to Japanese law, and have to report it to the police. The monthly fee depends on the area where it is, more or less, it costs 10,000 to 100,000Yen(!) per month.
I guess it is one of reasons why young people in Japan does not own thier car these days…

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Approach of typoon to Tokyo

6th September 2007

tifon20070906 

(quotation from Yahoo!Japan)

A big typoon, named FITOW is approaching to Japan now.

We had cool weather these days…it is very nice for us because it was too hot this summer in Japan!! The Japanese record for the maximum temperature was broken, it was 40.9 degrees Celsius / 105.62 degrees Fahrenheit on 16th August in Saitama and Gifu (they are apart each other but both inland areas). In the other words, we experienced the hottest summer we had never had!

In Japan, approaching typoon is one of the phenomenons of getting Autumn every year. We usually have big typoons more in September and Octorber than in July and August.
Once it hit the city, it is hard for us to spend our daily life. Crazy wind makes our umbrella no more work, many things like Kawara, tiles on roof of Japanese house, fly away and vehicle, even if it is big one, overturn. Driving rain is also bad for us because it causes floods.
Soon it comes good season for harvest. I hope Kome has no damage!!
(Do you know what Kome is? The answer is terribly good rice in Japanese.)

It will be probable that cars in the ship from Japan cannot leave on time due to bad weather. With strong waves, it is danger for both PCC/RoRo ships and container ships.
We will thank you for your understanding about a little delay to arrive at your port because of safeness and protecting your cars from damages.

 

 

Estos dias el crima un poco frio,pero esta muy bueno porque este verano hacia muchisimo calor en japon.
Hacia un calor inusitado,renovo un recordo de tempratura.
Nunca tuvimos tan calor como este verano.

Ahora estamos epoca de tifon.Siempre vienen muchos tifones en septiembre o ocutubre.
a veces gran tifon da un golpe directo a la ciudad y nuestra vida.
El gran tifon trae viento muy fuerte y se lleva el tejado o a veces se lleva el auto tambien.
Hacemos auccion aunque tormenta,pero es muy duro examinar en ese situacion…
Despues de tormentas viene tiempo cosecha.Ojala que el tifon no le de un golpe a Kome…
(Sabe que es Kome?Kome es el mejor arros !)

Me parece que puede ser que haya unos probremitas del barco desde japon por el tema de tifon(las olas
altas etc..)
Es un peligro para barcos de PCC/RoRo y contenedor.
Muchas gracias por entender de aplazar unos dias para salir del puerto,eso para protejer y no danar
a sus autos. 

Hoy presentamos Auction en Kyushu,punta del extremo meridional de japon.
ahi se pueden comprar muy barato pero sale un poco caro por el tema del barco.
 

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For our customers who wish to visit Japan

30th October 2006

Every month many of our customers from different parts of the world visit our office in Tokyo to attend used car auctions.

For such customers we have compiled useful information about Tokyo and Japan, so that they can make their trip a pleasant experience. Please check our Japan Information page for more details.

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Japanese prejudice towards foreigners

18th December 2005

Many Japanese people have strange prejudice towards foreigners. Since we belong to an island country, there is surely a great cultural difference between the thinking of Japanese and people of other countries.  For example, a Japanese feels uneasy to apologize to a person of other country - where he is at a fault. That is because even though he admits the fault, the foreigners try to take advantage of the situation by claiming more than the real fault.

But I personally think it nonsense to distinguish a person by nationality. Whenever there are any claims by an angry customer, I go through the case personally and correspond sincerely with the customer.

Used cars are little tricky goods. Even though they are purchased after careful inspection, some faults may be discovered later.  Therefore, when there is any fault in the car, I do not make any excuses; instead when the claim is reasonable, I correspond sincerely. But in case a customer makes unreasonable demands which are beyond our control, I’ll be forced to fight.

I am not doing a one time business, and I believe in retaining customers through customer satisfaction. In fact, if you wish to be my personal friend who continues for a long time, I always welcome such opportunities for friendship seriously.

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Summer vacation in Ishigaki Island

27th September 2005

I am sorry for the inconvenience for everyone. I took a summer holiday from 24th to 27th on September.

I went to Ishigaki (south part of Japan) which is 2,000 km far away from Tokyo (almost near Taiwan).

This island has one of the most beautiful corals in the world.  I went for swimming with my family and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Tomorrow I will go back to work.

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Camping in Japan

23rd August 2005

I will go out for camping with my family on Saturday and Sunday last week. I will however try to come back soon to help you in the Japanese car auction next week. I may not be able to reply your mails on Saturday and Sunday.

I feel Canada is better for camping than Japan. Robert one of my customers and good friend from Canada had sent me his pictures of landcruiser they used for camping. I want to go to Canada by all means and enjoy camping there.

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Summer holiday for Used Car Auctions in Japan

13th August 2005

All used car auctions in Japan are having holiday this week.

Everything basically becomes a rest in Japan as for the time of Obon festival during summer vacation.

Obon(Bon Festival)
This is a In Buddhist event occurring from the 13th to 16th of August to hold a memorial service to the spirits of ancestors. Because the spirits of the dead are said to return at this time, fires are lit at the entrances to homes so the spirits do not lose their way, and, in addition to lanterns being lit inside homes, the Buddhist home alters are tidied up and vegetables and fruit are set out as offerings. And when bon is over, the spirits are sent on their way. This is called the escorting of the spirits and fires to speed their seeing off are lit at entrances of homes and offerings are floated on rivers and the ocean.

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Last week in Okinawa !!

13th July 2005

I went to Okinawa from 10th to 11th July on a friendship tour with some fellow Japanese car exporters. Okinawa is located south of mainland Japan in the East China Sea. We were there for just two days but we did a lot of sightseeing as we were discussing about business.

Especially Mr.Nishida (President of Oriental Trading) and Mr.Nakajima (President of AID company) were awake till 5:30 AM discussing about the business. They are really workaholic !! I tried to stay awake till 4:00 AM, but could not control my sleep anymore.

In Okinawa, some cars are sold cheaper than in any other place in Japan. So I’d like to establish a branch in Okinawa someday. They have a free trade zone in Okinawa. I was strongly impressed by that.

You can see here pictures of my friends who went with me to Okinawa.

okinawa1

okinawa2

okinawa3

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My trip to Kyushu

24th May 2005

I went to Kyushu in Japan last weekend. I went there to participate in the squash competition. Kyushu also happens to be my home town and it gives me a chance to visit  my father’s grave too. Kyushu is  far from Tokyo -  it takes about 1 hour 45 minutes by air plane. If you happen to come to Tokyo in my office and if you love squash, I’d definitely invite you play squash with me.

Tokyo’s real estate is the one of the most expensive all over the world. Around my house (near Shinjuku) real estate price is about 5,600 USD per one square meter. But in my home town Kyushu, the price is about 140 USD per one square meter (Ooita prefecture).  I think country side is better environment for the kids to grow than Tokyo. However if I would live there I would lose my job. So the question is ‘to be or not to be’ !! You can see picture of my home in Kyushu here.

This week we had a big computer problem. We lost  internet connectivity for some of our computers in office. And the same thing happened at my home too.That’s too bad. Normally I always reply all emails from my home from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM and 8:00 PM to 2:00 AM. We have internet cafes here and it is not a bad option, but I prefer to use my own computer. My friend came to my home to fix the problem; he needed just 20 minutes to fix it. It was very simple for him but I couldn’t fix myself. Really, is the computer wise? Certainly, we can not live without it in this modern world.

My home

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Golden week starts in Japan !!

28th April 2005

It is almost  the end of month, and I have to take care of many things before my trip to Russia. Today we prepared advertising brochures in Russian language with help of Raj and Zoya. But still we had many difficultied to get them printed because of the computer font problems.

This year, From 29th Apr to 8th May is long holiday in Japan. We call this holiday as Golden week. This custom is only followed in Japan. Are you aware of it?29th April is Green holiday (it is in the memory of former Japanese emperor’sbirthday). 30th is Saturday, First May is Sunday, 3rd is constitution celebration,4th national holiday (no meaning) 5th is for children day (Check my earlier blog on Koinobori)My friend Mr.Mituhashi (owner of Mitz Trading) visited in our Ginza office today. He has a good business with Japanese army to supply Tanks from Europe to Japan. He has a special skill in that field.Conglatuations to Mr. AD - We could buy nice Porche 928 at USS Tokyo Auction today.  I guess is GPS system working in Canada ? Now K-Line (from Yokohama to New West Minster is full booked). I must try to make advance booking for shipping in the future to avoid delays.

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