# Help Support Nakaya Heiji- Disaster Relief



## JBroida (Mar 15, 2011)

@Dave and Jim- if this isnt ok to post here, please go ahead and move it to my subforum. Sorry if this creates any trouble, but i'm sure you guys will understand.


You can read this all on our website here:
Help Support Nakaya Heiji- Disaster Relief 

Help Support Nakaya Heiji







In the past few days, Japan has seen some horrendous natural disasters- earthquakes and tsunamis. The north-east part of Japan has been his pretty hard, especially with the failing nuclear reactors up there. But many other areas have been hit hard as well. One such area is Ibaraki. Ibaraki is just a bit north-east Tokyo and is located on the coast. It is in the prefecture of Ibaraki that Nakaya Heiji is based. He and his son live and work in Mito City, in Ibaraki Prefecture.

Since the earthquake, we have been constantly on the phone with our family, friends, and business associates. However, until just recently, we had not been able to get in touch with Heiji-san. Yesterday, my wife Sara finally got him on the phone. We were very sorry to hear that his home, workshop, and store had been destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami.

Many of our business partners have become more than just business partners to us- they have become friends. Nakaya Heiji is no exception. He and his family were gracious hosts to us when we visited them last year, and we communicate with them regularly. We were deeply bothered by their loss and have been thinking about what we could do to help.

We have a few things we are planning on doing. First, we will be asking our friends, family, and customer for any donations they would be willing to give to help Heiji-san and his family get their lives back together. We&#8217;ve set up a donate button through Pay Pal. Sadly, we are not a non-profit, so it is not a tax write-off, but you will be helping two very talented craftsmen (Nakaya Heiji and his son) get their lives back together and take care of their family. You can find the donation button about halfway down on this page:
Help Support Nakaya Heiji 

Anything you can give will help and be greatly appreciated. We will be wiring this money directly to him.

In addition, we will be auctioning off some of the Heiji knives we currently have in stock. All of the profits from these sales will be donated to Nakaya Heiji and his family. You will see more about this very soon, but let me just say a couple of things first. The prices will start at our list prices and will go up from there. The idea is to get the maximum amount of money to send to Heiji-san and his family. Again, 100% of the profits will be going to Nakaya Heiji. We also will have a few remaining Nakaya Heiji knives for sale on our website as usual. Just as the profits from our auctions will go to Heiji-san, 100% of the profits from these sales will do the same. You can find Nakaya Heiji&#8217;s knives on our website here:

Nakaya Heiji Knives at Japanese Knife Imports
So, if you really want a Heiji knife, now would be a great time to get one.

Nakaya Heiji and his wife have been living together in Mito city, Ibaraki Prefecture for a while now. He works together with his son in producing the knives, saws, and tools they make. His son and his son&#8217;s wife have a young daughter. We met everyone when we were there last December, and, as I said before, they were very gracious hosts. Heiji-san produces some of the most amazing knives, saws, and tools I have. And he does so with a depth of knowledge and skill above and beyond so many others. To say he is impressive would be an understatement. In addition, he and his son are exceedingly nice people.

For Sara and I, this is not only about helping out a friend in a time of crisis, but also part of the core values on which we started our company. The arts and crafts communities in Japan are slowly dying as time goes on. It is more difficult now days for craftsmen, such as knife makers, to make a living. And fewer and fewer people are going into these fields. When we started this business, we committed ourselves to supporting and trying to revive this community. We do our best to pay our craftsmen a fair or better than fair price for their works. We want them to be able to live on their work and train new craftsmen. We also make a point of seeking out younger craftsmen and helping them develop their skills and their brands. This helps us ensure the longevity of this community and hopefully, over time as we grow, will help engage younger people in these fields. We truly love this artistic, craftsmen-filled side of Japan. It is very close to our hearts. Even Sara&#8217;s parents are a part of this community, as they support themselves by making traditional Japanese Pottery.

Nakaya Heiji and his son are prime examples of what is so great about this community and we hope you can see it the same way we do. We humbly ask for your help in supporting our friend and his family.

We also ask that in the wake of these disasters in Japan, you take a look at some of the organizations participating in the rescue and relief efforts and offer your support there as well. We have been donating money to the Red Cross, but really anything that is geared towards helping would be great.

Thank you so much.

Sincerely,
Jonathan Broida and Sara Motomura-Broida
Japanese Knife Imports


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## oivind_dahle (Mar 15, 2011)

True friends rise in time of trouble


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## JBroida (Mar 15, 2011)

Thanks to everyone that has donated so far... i'm blown away by the kindness of people in our knifenut community. I hope to get around to acutioning a knife or two today or tomorrow.

Again, thanks so much. This really means a lot to sara and i.

And please dont forget about more general relief organizations like the red cross.

Thanks.

-Jon


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## Bryan G. (Mar 15, 2011)

Jon I would like to make a donation as soon as I get up and running. As many of you know I have had some troubles myself and even beyond what I posted on the forums as it seems someone is definitely testing my character (or building it). I appreciate all the folks here who offered to help with donations to me and I kindly detoured from doing so. I would ask those people if they would still like to help me out, make a small donation to the RED CROSS as Jon mentions. They helped me and my family out after our small fire more than I expected and it has definitely put them on my list of organizations to donate too. In a world where it seems the people are doomed for failure at times, you would be amazed at how many more are actually caring for the well being of one another.

Regards
-Bryan


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## JBroida (Mar 16, 2011)

This question was posted elsewhere and i wanted to post the response here:


oivind_dahle said:


> this one needs a bump
> 
> When is the auction?



I am working on the auction logistics as we speak... i hope to get this started on friday (we have family coming in tomorrow, so we're kind of busy). I'm sorry its taking a few days.

We have raised a little over $2600.00 at this point and we are so grateful for your support. Yesterday, Sara spoke with Nakaya Heiji VI (the son). They are all still safe, and working on making sense of the mess that is before them. There may be parts and pieces of their home that are salvageable. The workshop and store is completely gone.

We talked with them about the money we are raising, and they said they really appreciate it. However, the banks there are still not up and running. They have asked us to hold on to this for them until the banks start running again. In the meantime, we will try to check in on them periodically.

A huge thank you to everyone that has participated. We never expected the kind of response we have been getting. However, as i have said before, this is just one family... there are hundreds of thousands of people in the same or worse situations. If you can please take some time and check out organizations like the red cross. They can use your help too (in fact they could probably use more help to be honest).

Again, thanks so much.

-Jon


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## monty (Mar 17, 2011)

Maybe this is too personal, and if so - just ignore the question. How are your in-laws doing? Are they safe?


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## JBroida (Mar 17, 2011)

monty said:


> Maybe this is too personal, and if so - just ignore the question. How are your in-laws doing? Are they safe?


 
Thanks for asking...my in laws are safe...it's still a bit crazy out there, but they seem to be doing well. We are bringing out niece and nephew, along with my sister in law just to make sure they are safe from the radiation...you can never be too cautious. Sara and I are at the airport right now waiting to pick them up


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## oivind_dahle (Mar 18, 2011)

Time to bump.

When is the auction?
How much is donated?


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## JBroida (Mar 18, 2011)

oivind_dahle said:


> Time to bump.
> 
> When is the auction?
> How much is donated?


 

We've raised a little under $4000 at this point... again, thank you so much to everyone that has participated.

I am going to try to get the auction started early next week. Its been a bit busy over here lately, as we have some people from Japan staying with us (some family and some friends). Sorry its taking me a little bit of time.


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## Chef Niloc (Mar 19, 2011)

Wow I was worried about something like this, thank you for doing this Jon. It seems like so long ago that a storm named Katrina brought me to NY, I know how he & his family feel & they have my deepest sympathy.
Colin


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## JBroida (Mar 19, 2011)

Chef Niloc said:


> Wow I was worried about something like this, thank you for doing this Jon. It seems like so long ago that a storm named Katrina brought me to NY, I know how he & his family feel & they have my deepest sympathy.
> Colin


 
Colin-
Thanks a lot. I didnt know that Katrina prompted your move to NY. I guess it all worked out though. Times like this can be very trying... honestly, all i'm hoping for is that we can contribute to their saftey and give them a boost in getting settled down into normal life again. The response we've gotten has been nothing short of amazing. By the way, thank you for your donation as well. We really appreciate it. We're approaching the $4k mark pretty quickly. Its not a lot in the whole scheme of things, but its a hell of a lot better than nothing when you have to start from scratch all over again.

Thanks.

-Jon


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## Chef Niloc (Mar 19, 2011)

The whole story in kind of interesting and makes one think that every thing does happen for a reason. I was in NY when Katrina hit working as a grill cook at a seasonal restaurant in the Hampton's. The idea was to make a wad of cash working my but off for the summer so I could go home with a diamond ring in hand & pop the question to my girlfriend. I lost every thing house completely gone, my girlfriend did not make it out, lost a lot of other friends too. I don't have much family, & what I do have I'm not very close with so I was basically on my own. I luckily hade a good amount of money that I was saving for a ring & a house so I just stayed in NY.


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## monty (Mar 19, 2011)

For those of you on Facebook, it's easy to share the link that Jon provided on his JKI page on your FB page. Who knows, but I assume there are a lot of folks who would love to donate to a person as opposed to a cause (though both kinds of giving are equally valuable).

Nate


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