Shiges Inbound!!!

Yes… that’s right.  Shigefusas are coming this way.  While our very first orders are still being made, we were able to find a company that had a few Shigefusa knives in stock.  Clearly, we picked those up for you guys.  Yesterday, the supplier shipped the knives to our offices in northern Japan, and as of 7:15pm PST today, they have arrived.  Today or tomorrow, they will be on their way to LA!  So here’s what is coming this way:

• 1x 270 Shigefusa Kasumi Yanigi
• 1x 300 Shigefusa Kasumi Yanagi
• 1x 270 Shigefusa Kateji Yanagi
• 2x 165 Shigefusa Kurouchi Santoku
• 2x 165 Shigefusa Kurouchi Nakiri

These items will be posted on the website with prices in the coming days.  In the meantime, if you are interested in any of these knives, feel free to contact us at Jon@JapaneseKnifeImports.com.

We hope you’re as excited about this as we are.

Over 40!!! (and we're not talking about age)

Today, Sara and I (well mostly Sara, because I was preparing for Passover) organized all of the knife maker contacts we’ve collected over the past few weeks.  We’ve been researching everything that came across our screens for about 1 month now, but until today I had not realized how many makers we had contacted.  OVER 40!!!  We’ve been in contact with over 40 knife makers in Japan.  Our files just keep growing.  And the knife makers cover a wide variety of knives… very highly refined to rustic, expensive to relatively inexpensive, huge names to ones so small only a handful of people have ever heard of them.  There is a lot of talent out there and it is very exciting for us to be searching it out for you.

Anyways, I just wanted to let you know… OVER 40!  That’s right… we’ve contacted over 40 knife makers in hopes of bringing you the best.  Hopefully you guys like what we have coming this way.

Wiring Money... The Hard Way

Have you ever tried to wire money to another country?  If not, consider yourself lucky.  What a pain.  In an ideal world, all banking systems would be standardized worldwide… or, at the very least, have an understanding of other countries banking systems.  I would have figured that banks that do wire transfers would at least have some practice with sending money to other countries in different currencies.  Well, after today it sure doesn’t seem that way.

First off, let me say this about my bank.  I like them very much.  They have always been good to me.  They are very friendly people, and very willing to help me out and explain things to me when I need it.  I opened my first checking account ever with them (I was a teenager).  They even helped me recover money that had been stolen from me when I was abroad (the Italian mob cleaned out my checking account).  But, today I gotta say I am frustrated with them.

Today, I feebly tried to make my first international wire transfer… I gotta buy these knives somehow.  So, knowing my banks cutoff for wire transfers is noon, I walked into the bank at 10am, armed with all of the information they told me I would need (and then some).  I sat down at the desk with the banker who has been helping me (super nice guy for the record).  I gave him all the info, signed a few papers and confirmed that everything was correct.  He said it was all good, and that they would e-mail me with confirmation in a few hours.  So far, so good.

About an hour later, I get a call from a lady at the bank.  She informs me that my account balance is too low for this transfer (I had just moved in extra money which would cover this transaction and my next one).   I questioned her about it.  Turns out that she thought my figure was in dollars as opposed to yen (even though the document said “YEN” and had the “¥”symbol next to the money.  In her mind, I was wiring in excess of $100,000… thank god that didn’t go through… it would be one hell of an overdraft fee.  I cleared up that issue and explained what I wanted to do.  She assured me that she understood and that they would e-mail me a confirmation shortly.

About 30 minutes later, she calls again, this time to ask me about a bank account number.  For those of you who don’t know, there are bank account numbers and then there are bank account numbers.  What I mean is that banks themselves have account numbers that identify them for the sake of wire transfers (in addition to swift codes).  Then individuals (or companies) have their bank account numbers, identifying their personal or business account within the bank.  She was confused by the first of these types.  Why?  I’m not so sure.  It happened to be a number the bank specifically asked me to have.  In fact, I had Sara call the bank in Japan yesterday to confirm all of the information beforehand.  It turned out my bank doesn’t need that number… it just confuses them.

So now some time passes… no e-mail confirmation.  At this point the electronic banking division has left for the day, and, as it is Friday, they won’t be back until Monday.  What to do?  I feel horrible for not being able to confirm with the Japanese company.  Now I am just hoping that the bank doesn’t call on Monday with another problem.  Please let me money get to japan… I want me some knives!!!

Wow!!! We are dorks!

When I say "We" here, I mean “We: all of the knife nuts who waste away on knife forums".  I'm not trying to be mean here... just state a fact, that, over time, it becoming more evident.  I always had assumed that no one could be more of a knife dork than the knife makers, but i was wrong.  Most of us at knife forums have achieved world record levels of knife-dork-ness.  Really.  I was talking with some Japanese knife makers, and a few of them that sell to the US said to me, "Some of the Americans we sell to are really dorky when it comes to technical questions about the knives".  Yes, these are makers that you knife dorks know and buy from (i know because I’m a knife dork too).  I started thinking to myself and realized how dorky I’ve become.  Terms like "Rockwell hardness" and most of the Japanese steel names (shiro ni ko, etc.) are common words coming from my mouth.  Even my Japanese wife doesn’t understand what i am talking about when it comes to knives (not because my Japanese is so bad- which it is- but because only a really nerdy person would know these things).  I find myself asking all of the makers i talk to about their target HRc for different steels, or asking about knife shapes that they don’t even have listed in their catalogs just because i know its a shape i like (i like different kinds of deba... what can i say).

My Japanese reflects my dorkiness... i can speak and understand about food and knives (and sharpening) better than anything else.  How about you?  Are you a dork too?

Looking for knives in all the wrong places

So the knifenuts out there know the places to look for knives... Osaka, Sakai, Echizen, Niigata, Sanjo, Tokyo, etc.  We all know those places.  And the knives that come from those places are often of great quality.  Cool.  Nice.  But its been done.  We can get many of those knives now from anywhere in the world.  So who cares?  Dont get me wrong... I still like them.  Those cities have awesome knives.  Aritsugu, Masamoto, Blazen, Suisin, Nenohi.  They rock.  But i want to do something different.  I want to bring people things they cant get elsewhere.  Knives from provinces like Yamagata, Akita, Itwate, Utsunomiya, and Kagawa.  Do you know these places?  I think not.  So i am on a quest to find out if these places produce high quality kitchen knives.  And, if they do, i will bring those knives to you.  Something different.  Something fresh.  Something you cant get anywhere else.

So wait patiently, because i am working as hard as i can to bring the far corners of Japan to YOU.

Follow Up? Not in Japan.

As an American, the concept of following up with people is deeply rooted in how i operate.  When i send something, i call to make sure the person got it.  If i dont hear back from someone, i call them to check in.  If i order something, i check to make sure my order was received.  And, especially with job hunting, i call so many times just to make sure they know who i am and that i am interested.

So, as i am doing business with Japanese companies, i find myself inclined to do the same thing.  Call and check that an order went in.  Call and make sure they remember who i am.  E-mail them again if i dont hear back right away.  But my wife keeps telling me that is not the way things go in Japan.  She tells me that when you e-mail someone, they will get back to you.  Just that.  Dont send them a follow up.  It is just annoying.  Just wait until they respond, because they will.

You might not think so, but it is difficult to stop following up.  We do it automatically.  So many people have told us it is necessary for so long, it has become second nature.  So, now i'm trying to stop.  But i cant resist the urge.  I sent e-mails last friday to japan.  So what if it was a 3 day weekend.  So what if it was a holiday.  So what if i'm not the only customer that company has.  I want my response.  But I guess i'll have to keep waiting.  Gotta do things the Japanese way.  Damn i'm inpatient.

Disclaimer:  If you're not Japanese, dont worry about it.  They expect you to act like an american.  I'm only having this problem because my wife is Japanese and they expect us to understand and respect Japanese cultural nuances.

The Main Site Is Now Indexed By Google Too!!!

I've now done what it takes most people 6-8 weeks to do... in under 3 weeks i've gotten my site indexed by google.  Not just the blog, but the main site.  I come up as the #1 result for "Japanese Knife Imports"!  Now to work on other keywords.

I am just really excited and wanted to share my excitement with you!

Woo Hoo!!! Google Indexed the Blog!!!

I cant even tell you guys how excited I am about this.  I've been working on getting the site indexed since day one.  When I started all this, I had no clue how difficult it is to get google to index your site.  They dont make it easy.  And there are huge firms, charging mega-dollars to help people get their sites indexed more quickly.  But, I figured I'd give it a go myself.  And it seems to have paid off.

Just 2 short weeks after starting this blog, we have officially been indexed by google!  I've heard the average is somewhere closer to 6 weeks, so I really feel like we accomplished something here.  Now, I just have to get enough trusted back links to the main site to force google to index that.  Let the battle begin.  So far: Jon 1: Google 0.

Shameless plug: www.JapaneseKnifeImports.com
Come on google... there's the link.  Index my site!

Keeping People Up-to-Date

I spend some time talking to my good friend (well, he is really more like an older brother) Jason today.  He had a bunch of suggestions for me with regard to the site.  Among the things we talked about, he emphasized the importance of keeping in touch with my clients/customers.  I said I already had a blog, facebook, twitter, etc.  He said that doesnt cut it.  People still have to search out information on their own.  So, I decided to start a newsletter... well, newsletter doesnt really describe it properly.  In fact, I hate newsletters.  I have bulk mail in general.  I really dont want to send people crap in their e-mail all the time.  So I'm not going to.  Instead, what I've decided to do is send out information when we have new products, or when things that are out of stock arrive back in stock.  Also, we will let people know when we add new services they may be interested in.  No stupid articles about this company or that company.  No op-eds.  No crap you dont want to see.  Just simple and straight-to-the-point updates on what you want to know about.  Let us know what you think.  And, in the meantime, if you want to sign up, visit us @ Japanese Knife Imports Mailing List.  I promise not to send you crap.

A few quick site updates

First off, thanks to everyone that has taken the time to look at the site and give us feedback.  I cant tell you how much I appreciate it.  We have made some changed based on your feedback.  First, we added Sara's bio... finally.  We also put up a picture of Sara and I, so you have faces to connect to the names.  Then, we changed the spacing on the "About Japanese Knives" page to hopefully make it easier to read.  I think that page is great.  We read a number of books and articles, and hoped that the information we found there would help people better understand the knives we will be selling.  Z Knives also does a great job at describing knives and knife shapes, but we thought it would be nice to have that page with solid references listed.  We also fixed a problem with some of the in-page links.  Most of the links on the site were light blue (or light green if you had visited it already).   But for whatever reason (most likely my shoddy coding), the in-page links were showing up as regular blue (and red) links.  They were hard to read.  Sorry about that.  We changed them today to reflect the colors of the links the rest of the site uses.

If you see anything else you think should be changed or fixed, please dont hesitate to let us know.

An Educational Week

Getting everything started this past week has been very educational.  I've learned about how websites have changed since I last made one.  I've learned about tax laws, import laws, and business licenses.  I've learned about Japanese business mannerisms.   And I've learned a little bit about marketing.  But, the most important thing I learned is how fun it is to work for myself.  Every time I have work to do, I'm happy to do it.  Even the boring and tedious stuff.

I also realized how awesome of family and friends Sara and I have.  Without them, none of this would be possible.  Of course both of our parents are instrumental in all of this, but I'm also lucky to have people like Jeff Marks around (honestly, my cousin is a marketing genius).  A lot of people are taking time out of their days to talk to me and give me advise and counsel.  I really appreciate it.

Heres the kicker though... I get to do all this, every day together with Sara from wherever we want to be.

Great News!!!

Well, there is great news, but I cant tell you yet...  Ha ha!!!

Placing Our First Order

Yesterday, we placed our first order for knives... Well, kind of.  We sent e-mails to a bunch of to some of the makers we have been talking to.  Now we are just waiting to hear back.  Hopefully this week!  However, we realized a few things along the way.

First, many Japanese knife makers will only sell to you if they know you and have met you.  I guess we'll be going to Japan sooner than expected.

Second, people from Tokyo tend to be very rude in business negotiations.  Really.  Try and ask them for information and they just tell you to place an order already.  No answers.

Third, people from the Kansai area really think about money all day.  A common greeting is, "How's business?"  To which someone might answer, "Well... so so."  Really?  How is that a greeting?  In Japanese it sounds even better... 「儲かりまっかぁ？(Mokari makka?)」「ぼちぼちでんなぁー。(Bochi bochi denna.)」

Anyways, we hope to get back to you soon with more info about what will be coming in on our first orders.  Now... to start planning that trip to Japan.

Web Site Design Is Fun

So... its 3:30am and I'm sitting in front of my computer... again.  Why?  Because I have a website to design and I have absolutely no clue what I am doing.  Here are a few things I have come to realize along the way.

First, web sites are far more complicated now then they were when I made my first web page.  I used to be able to sit down in front of my computer, open notepad, type a few lines, and, volia!  I would have a website.  Now I am using dreamweaver and ever piece of CoffeeCup software known to man.  And, whats worse is that every time I get close to getting what I want, it all seems to fall apart.  And I still have no clue what I did.

However, for whatever reason (maybe the Gods are looking down on me favorably tonight), I think i have something functional up and running.  I'm still testing out some things, but for the most part, I think I've got it.  Lets hear what you guys think.  Check out the new Japanese Knife Imports and let me know.

Getting started

Welcome to Japanese Knife Imports (A Division of J Broida Company).  While we are getting everything setup, let me take this time to tell you a little about us.  We are a small company... well pretty much a husband and wife team.  Our goal is to make high quality Japanese knifes from small makers available to you, outside of Japan.  Here's a little about how we got started with this.

I majored in Asian Studies at Colorado College, but before I graduated, I decided that i wanted to give the restaurant business a shot.  On my breaks from school, I interned at various fine dining restaurants in Los Angeles as a cook.  Eventually, people started paying to cook, and I stuck with it for a while.  I have worked at some very highly regarded restaurants in the Los Angeles area, as well as in Japan and Italy (at a one star Michelin restaurant).  While in Japan, I learned about Japanese kitchen knives... the different kinds, how to use them, and how to care for them.  Up until that point, the best knife I had ever used was a MAC (which is worlds better than the german knives most cooks are using).  My chef in Japan bought me a Masamoto knife (a carbon knife, the likes of which i never had used before).  From that point I have never looked back.  Over the years, I have tried many knives and waterstones, and experimented with many cutting and sharpening techniques.  Now I would like to share my experience with you.