Exports and Imports
ASHIZAWA SHOKAI started business as an international trading company in Osaka. It was 1979, and we exported mainly Kitchenware like spoon and fork to Southeast Asian countries. And our biggest sales in 1980s was Playing Cards to Thai Airways International.
After 1985 agreement of G5 nations “Plaza accord”, Japanese currency yen was raised drastically stronger, and Japan’s export was decreased. So our sales of household products dropped down, and we shifted main merchandise into high added-value products; Food Additives for food-processing factories, and unique type of Machinery.
For imports, we have experienced of plastic cookware, toys and cowskin pet toys. In 2019, we started importing Manuka Honey from New Zealand, and distributing widely in Japan market.
E-Commerce
We started our first online store of Chinese food dim sum in 1999. It sells well and received the Shop of the Year award of Rakuten mall. We opened the second online store in 2003 which sells porcelain dolls as gift items, and also won the Shop of the Month and Week prizes.
In 2015, we started promoting GPS shoes for dementia patients, and this inventive item has been featured by mass media widely, TV shows, radio and newspapers. Also, we are operating to collect students for care worker training school.
Crowdfunding and more
Recent years, we are paying attention to crowdfunding sites as new effective ways to launch products. Baumkuchen project Nov. 2016
Also our big concern is Sustainability; eco-friendly and ethical-style must be keywords for us.