We bought a car!

YAY! We now have transportation. Mike went off-base a few times and checked out various car dealerships. We had planned to buy one from the "lemon lot" on base which is where on-base people sell their cars to other on-base people. But we didn't see anything that looked like what we had in mind and/or a good deal. The dealership we ended up buying from is really just one guy who is retired military and sells to mostly military. He picked us up at our apartment and took us to his cars. We ended up getting a 2000 Toyota Funcargo. Here's a picture:

If you want to see more pictures you can go here: http://cars.nzherald.co.nz/car/view/vlcxsv/

Mike got in all the cars he was considering, since size is a big deal for him. After all the in and out of lots of small cars, he now has a huge bruise on his left thigh from the steering wheel. It's still a little strange with the steering wheel on the right. The windshield wiper and turn signal controls are backwards, but the gas and brake are the same (thank goodness!). The car we bought is very popular here. We see them all over the place. And it's also very common to see 1996 models for sale right now, so when we leave in 4 years, we should have no trouble selling it. The Japanese people take VERY good care of their cars. And also don't drive them very much. Most of the time if they're taking a long trip, the usually take the train or subway. So they usually just drive to and from work. Our car only has 33,000km (20,505 miles), which is not very much since it's 9 years old. All the cars we looked at were very clean and well taken care of.

The insurance here is different than in the states. You have to have 2 kinds of insurance. The JCI (Japanese Compulsory Insurance) is renewed every 2 years. They do a big inspection and make you fix anything they deem necessary before they'll certify it. But that stays with the car, even if it gets sold. The other insurance is liability like in the states, but is cheap. Since Mike's almost 30 (it goes down at 30 here instead of 25--they gave him the lower rate since he's only 12 days away), it was pretty inexpensive. $300 for a year. We still have to get it registered with the base after inspection on Monday, but the guy we're buying it from is letting us drive a loaner until then. So it's pretty nice to have a vehicle! Although Mike's going to need it most of this week so Jackson and I will be walking/taking the shuttle to story time at the library tomorrow.

The phone is working now, so if anyone wants to call us, feel free! Best time is 6pm-8am eastern time (that's 8am-10pm our time). That's all for now!