Benny bought a car in 10 minutes

That's a lie.

We spent more than 10 minutes looking at cars and sitting inside of them. But the actual paperwork to buy the car took exactly 10 minutes. And that's for the purchasing agreement (everyone pays cash for their cars here, even though you can finance a vehicle for 18 months at zero interest if you put $500 down), the military inspection so it can be driven on base, Japanese title, plates, registration and car insurance.

Buying a car is a completely different experience here than in the States.

This car is not an investment. It's a set of wheels to get you through the next three years of your life. At that point, you will probably sell it to another military person because you can't ship these cars to the States.

Okinawan car salesmen are laid back and hassle free. The process is painless and simple. Strangely simple. The only slight snag is with payment -- the dealerships only take yen or cash. No financing a car through the bank or paying with check or credit card.

Saturday was our day to buy a car. First we visited the "lemon lot" at Kadena Air Force Base. This lot is where military people can put their cars with a "For Sale" sign in the window right before they move to their next duty station. We saw a few we liked, but most were too large.

Large vehicles are a pain in the butt here because most of the streets are narrow (Benny calls them James Bond avenues) and gas is expensive. On base the price is currently $3.30 per gallon, which is actually less than in California, but I'm not going to question it.

The small cars we found and liked had big engines, so that means we would be paying a higher tax on it with the Japanese government. They also had leather interior, which sounds sticky and uncomfortable during 90 percent humidity.

With no stars on the lot, we headed out to town. We visited several used car dealerships, but only found a few cars we liked.

Here is what we ended up buying:
It's a 2000 Mazda Demio with 80,000 kilometers. It's a four-door car with a hatch back and we can fold down the seats to fit our camping, beach and biking gear inside. The engine is 1,300 cc, so we qualify for a 500 plate, which is more fuel efficient and cheaper tax-wise than a 300 car. There are also yellow license plate cars, which are super fuel efficient, and that's because a John Deere lawn mower has a larger engine that that car.

The Demio we picked was clean and sounded great when we turned it on. You don't test drive a car here, which is kind of weird. The color is a dark green, which I liked. I'm hoping to name the car Favre. I'll keep you posted on that decision.

The dealer also had the same car in this purple color:
But for some reason Benny didn't want to drive a purple car to work daily. Huh, go figure.

For that same reason, he vetoed my favorite choice:


Yup, in Japan they have pink and purple cars. I really want this car and a Helly Kitty sticker for the back window. Keep your fingers crossed for me. We still have a second vehicle to buy.