It's been a while since I(Kazuko) posted on the blog...over 4 months now. December was a so-so month for us. It was our first Christmas sale and I think our ad on Google played a big role. Now things were quiet down, so we post some of our products on eBay here and there. eBay is huge...we sold a lot. I know we have good and interesting products, but not enough people are stopping by our store. It's frustrating. Oh well, it takes time and we're not in a hurry...if our customers like our products, that makes us happy.
In February I came down with pneumonia. Last year was rough for us. My dad passed away and I had to go back to Japan to hold funerals, take care of legal side, then earthquake happened. I was in Japan that time. Then we launched our website. In July John's mom passed away and in October my step mom in Japan passed away, another funeral and so on...then Christmas sale. I was down and sick in January and February. Taking product pictures, adjust them, load them, Facebook, putting on eBay, shipping, bookkeeping...etc, etc, on top of our full time jobs!!
I hope to quit my day job and concentrate on our online store soon.
I've been buying so many Kokeshis lately. I'm kind of hooked on them. Did you know Matryoshka originates from kokeshi doll? Kokeshi dolls were first made as a souvenir for guests who come to enjoy hot spring in norther parts of Japan (Tohoku region, where tsunami hit). There are like 11 schools (kinds, strains, whatever you call) of kokeshi dolls. Famous ones are Naruko, Togatta, Yajiro, Kijiyama, Tsuchiyu, Hijiori..and these are called "traditional" kokeshi. There are "creative" or "sosaku" kokeshi, too.
I checked eBay and boy, so many people are selling Kokeshi dolls. Not sure if we can compete, but just looking at their various faces makes me smile.
We are also looking at selling Japanese woodblock prints. We know many people are already selling them. We hope to pick up others don't have.
From this Saturday Japan goes into a "Golden Week" and my cousin and her son are coming to visit us! We are so excited! I have a feeling that this is the first and the last time they come visit us. We want them to experience USA as much as they can.
Well, that's all for now. I will try to post more often (at least try..), but you all know how it goes.
