Part One Co Ltd Interview - 17th October 2003
In October 2003, you can see the exact data above, we had the honour of performing the first and so far (May 2006) interview with Part One Limited, the company behind e-Hobby Shop. Although the staff there have changed, the service hasn't, and their staff their have been exceptionally helpful, and generous.
Part One Company Ltd are best known for their online store e-Hobby Shop, which specialise in Japanese toys (primarily with their affiliated company Takara Co Ltd. Their shop is well known for it's great prices on regular Transformer toys, offering both domestic (Japanese) toys as well as some imported from abroad (the USA Edition Transformers). e-Hobbies have in the past created new Transformer characters, which are represented by re-coloured Transformer toys, from the G1 era. These toys have ranged from Autobot cars up to re-colours of Super God Ginrai, and are proving to be both popular and highly sort-after by fans outside of Japan, where their prices have reached over £100.00.
We have been purchasing toys from e-Hobbies since January 2002 (our first buy was a set of 6 Fire Guts God Ginrai toys). Soon after this more exclusive Transformers were announced, and we decided to not only import toys for ourselves but also for friends and visitors to the site and message board. These proved an instant hit, with us selling them at cost prices (as we were importing the toys for ourselves, so it made sense to bulk buy - to save on shipping for everyone). We have continued to do this ever since, and each time have taken more and more orders for the toys. Around the middle of 2003 we were contacted by a representative of e-Hobby Shop, Masaaki Yoshizawa (or Yossy), regarding a link exchange with e-Hobby. Yossy and ourselves conversed for a few months until we asked if we could arrange for an interview, to gain some information on e-Hobby, and the company behind them Part One Co Ltd. Below is the interview with Ootuka Makoto, President of Part One Co. Ltd that Yossy kindly translated for us.
TF @ The Moon: Thank you for giving up your time to speak to us sir. We would like to thank your staff for the service we have received over the last two years since we have been using your e-Hobby shop. We have found the staff and service to be excellent through out.
Ootuka Makoto: Thank you very much for your email...we also really appreciate the continuance of your great patronage toward e-HOBBY SHOP.We are very honored that you have been interested in us.Now, on behalf of e-HOBBY SHOP, I would like to answer your questions, explaining a little bit about our company and informing you of the latest news about ourselves. I have no confidence in doing it well...but anyway, I will try.
TF @ The Moon: Thank you. We were wondering how long Part One Co Ltd have been established and what the actual relationship is between yourselves and Takara?
Ootuka Makoto: For over 20 years, we have been working on business for products planning, package design, character design and promotional planning as a company affiliated with TAKARA CO.,LTD. Our current work contents are "DTP design", "Internet business", and as you know very well, "e-HOBBY SHOP".
TF @ The Moon: Fascinating, we were not aware that Part One are involved in the design process, could you tell us more?
Ootuka Makoto: We have been doing consistent services in the wide range of planning, designing, doing the shooting, and producing & distributing products. Among our products, "Transformers" are the inextricable characters that we have been involved in since "Dyacron" and "CarRobot" which were the predecessors of "Transformers".
TF @ The Moon: So what projects are your DTP design division current working on?
Ootuka Makoto: In our DTP designing division, we have received orders for package designing of a series of "TF Collection" and a series of "Binaltec", and other orders from TAKARA. It seems that the new, high-quality versions of "Binaltec" or "Unicron" are now well-received by customers.
TF @ The Moon: Yes they certainly seem to be, we ourselves recently purchased them and we totally agree with the quality. We first found out about e-Hobby Shop at the end of 2001, with our first purchase (Fire Guts God Ginrai) in January 2002. We were wondering how long has the e-Hobby Shop been running for now?
Ootuka Makoto: 3 years ago, we formed "e-HOBBY SHOP" in cooperation with TAKARA, and from the beginning, the "Transformers", which is the biggest brand of TAKARA, was and is the main item for "e-HOBBY SHOP".
TF @ The Moon: What does the future hold for Part One Co Ltd other than the recently announced Astrotrain Recolour and Minibot sets?
Ootuka Makoto: There are many projects, including NEW series, planned and released from end of this year to next spring. Especially, next year being the 20-year anniversary since 1984, therefore, we predict that various projects would be actualized.
TF @ The Moon: We appreciate the time both you and Masaaki Yoshizawa have taken out of your busy schedules to answer our questions. We'll continue to be strong supporters of Part One Co Ltd and are sure that the readers of our site appreciate the work and effort Part One Co Ltd continue to put in
Ootuka Makoto: We hope that we could continue to exchange information on a wide range of contents for many years to come. Many thanks to you.
Ootuka Makoto, President
PART ONE CO.,LTD
We would like to thank Ootuka Makoto and Masaaki Yoshizawa for their giving up their time to answer our questions. We hope you have all learnt something new about e-Hobby Shop and Part One Co.Ltd from this article and will continue to support them in their efforts in the future as we ourselves shall certainly be doing.
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