For the past 4.5 years, I worked as a buyer and curator of Japanese artisan products for a North American online retail company. That's enough time for a student to graduate from university, and through this experience, I discovered something troubling.
Authentic handcrafted products and cheap mass-produced items have become so mixed together online that it's incredibly difficult for consumers to find the real thing.
Yes, you can now buy "Japanese-made" products from online shops anywhere in the world. But finding authentic pieces has become nearly impossible.
Here's what I learned: online marketplaces rely heavily on reviews and advertising algorithms. Whether something is authentic or not doesn't matter to these systems - they just push products with more reviews and sales to the top of search results.
Meanwhile, authentic pieces - carefully handcrafted by artisans using techniques passed down through generations - are more expensive than mass-produced alternatives. This means they get fewer reviews and sales, making them invisible in our algorithm-driven shopping world.
When I left Japan, I was amazed by how many people genuinely love and are fascinated by Japanese culture. Yet even those who know Japan well often unknowingly use "Japanese-style" products from mass-production facilities rather than authentic pieces made by traditional craftspeople.
As a Japanese person who deeply loves our craftsman culture, this breaks my heart. Because the difference is obvious.
It's not just design. It's the materials, the techniques, the generations of knowledge behind each piece. These create products of the highest quality that you can use, love, and cherish for 10, 20, even 50 years. That's what authentic Japanese craftsmanship truly means.
To protect and spread this craftsman culture, I'm launching Makoto Made.
I want to introduce the work of the master craftspeople I deeply respect to people who:
Through Makoto Made, you won't just buy beautiful objects. You'll: