Here’s a fun fact – in April I got detained by Chinese police for 9 hours because I had three Oishya knives in my luggage. I was trying to board a train from Guangzhou to Shanghai, planning to do a photoshoot in Seoul a few days later.
I chose possibly the worst product for content creation.
When I started, I wanted to launch multiple things at once. Japana Home – kitchen knives and accessories and Japana – clothing line with Japanese kimono – the whole ecosystem. Big mistake. You need to nail one product first, and the nature of your product matters more than you think.
Fashion and cosmetic influencers have it easier. Their products are light, portable, and you can literally wear them anywhere. I was stuck lugging knives around the world, sticking them on walls, balancing them on random people’s bikes or in restaurants in Japan – anything to get that perfect shot.
Meanwhile, we’re basically bound to kitchens for authentic content. Not exactly the most versatile backdrop.
So when choosing your first product, ask yourself: Is it hard to produce? Easy to copy? Can you do the content creation easily yourself, at leats in the beginning when the marketing budget is limited?
Choose something small and manageable. Test the market with one thing before you expand. I spent months trying to perfect three different product lines when I should have focused on perfecting one knife design.
Now with AI tools like Midjourney and the new VEO, I could generate any kitchen scene I want without risking another trip to jail. No more “Go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200” moments.
Your product constraints will force you to get creative. Those limitations taught me to think outside the box, to find unique ways to showcase our knives that competitors weren’t doing.
Start with one product. Master it. Then expand to satellite products.
