A used vehicle auction site in Noda, Chiba Prefecture, brims with feverish excitement as buyers from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Africa and elsewhere make their bids. With some 70 percent of the people there coming from overseas, the operator has even set aside a corner for Muslim prayer.
Deals at the auction site are fully computerized and when a vehicle for sale is displayed on a screen, buyers push buttons to place bids. Each deal takes only about 10 seconds to complete and more than 3,000 trucks and passenger cars from the Kanto region are traded every Saturday.
"Japanese vehicles are almost trouble-free and can run hundreds of thousands of kilometers," said a 46-year-old Pakistani buyer who exports vehicles to Russia and Africa. "Toyota vehicles are most popular overseas and those 'made in Japan' are sold at especially high prices."