How to buy a car in Japan

I became the official owner of my S15 at 9:25am on Thursday morning, I thought I should share with you all the experience.

To start I will review the purchasing process in the UK:
*new owner completes part of V5 (Vehicle document) form. Both parties sign it and goes in the post. New owner drives off and receives new V5 in a few weeks.

Japanese method:
1) You need an Inkan. An Inkan is your official Hanko. A Hanko is a stamp with you family name on it (like people would use in the middle ages in England) and is used for all important paperwork in Japan instead of a signature. To be official it has to be registered at City Hall of residence. Once registered you need a certificate to prove it is your official Inkan.
2) You need proof of a parking space. Usually you will contact an agent and arrange a parking space. In Hon-Atsugi they cost from 50 to 300 quid a month (which given the cost of living in Japan is high and incomes are lower than in the UK is a lot). Once signed up you must get an official letter or certificate confirming your address and the car parking space address plus a map showing where the space is.
3) Go to the police station. Here you must complete a form with vehicle details and hand over the car parking space documents and your Inkan certificate. Cost is about 2000 Yen.
4) The police will check the parking space to confirm it exists and that the vehicle will fit in the space.
5) Return to Police station 3~5 days later to collect certificate from the police that shows your car has been approved for the parking space. Must handover 500 Yen to receive the certificate. Go to vehicle registration office with the owner.
6) Go to building 1 and pay 25 Yen (about 12p) for a set of forms. Go to building 2...
7) Man instructs you how to complete the form. The main form has to be completed in pencil, the reason soon becomes clear - even completing the form with instruction and an example form it is easy to make mistakes as it's so complicated!
8) Form is handed back with police parking document and Inkan certificate plus forms from previous owner - Shakenshyo (like an MOT and V5 certificate all in one), Inkan certificate and vehicle new/old owner information from.
9) Wait for form to be processed - this only took 3 minutes but take 30 minutes or more on a usual day. You received new Shakenshyo with new owners details, you now own the car!
10) Go to building 3 and complete another form (in black pen this time) so that the car tax can be paid.
11) Once form has been processed go to the payment window and hand over the money.
12) FINISHED!

There are some exceptions to the above:
*If you buy from a dealer they will do all the vehicle registration forms for you and you do not have to be present
*Car tax is from April and payment due in May. If previous owner has paid for the tax then you do not have to pay it. It is for this reason that the vehicle registration place was quiet and it was so quick - no one wants to pay a years tax and then sell the car on!
*If the new owner lives in a different vehicle registration district the old number place has to be handed in to be destroyed and new ones with a new registration purchased. In my case both of us lived in Hon-Atsugi so I could keep the old registration.

It is quite a polaver but I guess it is good at detering vehicle thieft and there is no ambiguity with regards to car tax, speeding tickets etc during the change over period like in the UK as it is official recorded.

Total process from start to finish takes a minium of 4 days, in my case about 2 weeks due to timing. I planned to buy the car sooner but couldn't: Inkan requires official residence status, I can only get this if I have visa. Thanks to the wonderful HR people where I work I only got my visa completed 3 weeks ago when I should have had it before I left the UK...