Kiwaya Ukuleles becomes TAKUMI ukulele co.

MGM

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As of November1 Kiwaya Ukulele USA is now called Takumi Ukulele. As for the name on their ukes they just got back to USA fr4om trip so for now it looks like it still will say Kiwaya...will have more on the new company later
 
Thanks Mike

I wonder if they will bring back their long neck soprano models? Man, I hope they do!:drool:
 
Interesting, can't wait to hear the rest of this story.
 
Any idea why the name change, Mike? Was it a case of one company gobbling up another? Is production (and therefore quality) still going to be under the same management? Enquiring minds want to know. :)

John
 
Unless there is more to the story (which I will assume there is), it would be pretty stupid for a top name Uke maker that happens to start with a "K" by the way, to change to a kinda lame name. Not sure the marketing strategy on this one. Kiwaya was known for quality, what is Takumi known for?(strange name, that's what).
 
Unless there is more to the story (which I will assume there is), it would be pretty stupid for a top name Uke maker that happens to start with a "K" by the way, to change to a kinda lame name. Not sure the marketing strategy on this one. Kiwaya was known for quality, what is Takumi known for?(strange name, that's what).

You could be right. Although, we might be suffering from a sort of North American tunnel vision, too. Ukes are extremely popular in much of Asia right now, including Japan, and it might be that Takumi is a well-known brand over there even though we've not heard of it here.

I remember thinking it was crazy when "Datsun" changed their name to "Nissan" - I just didn't have all the facts. :)

John
 
The "Takumi " once known as Kiwaya USA will still be managed by the same people. Hitomi is the owner of the company and will continue to supply the North American market with Kiwaya/ Paulele and other brands such as Freemont strings, Steady case etc.
 
The "Takumi " once known as Kiwaya USA will still be managed by the same people. Hitomi is the owner of the company and will continue to supply the North American market with Kiwaya/ Paulele and other brands such as Freemont strings, Steady case etc.

Does the owner's name happen to be Hitomi Takumi? I think using the name of Kiwaya Takumi Ukulele might be better for marketing. :D
 
Takumi is a fairly popular boys' name in Japan. It can mean artisan, skilled, or pioneer. I think it has other meanings too. It just depends on how it's written in Kanji. I don't think Kiwaya is a real word, but I'm not certain.

ETA: Took a look at their site and Kiwaya is written in Katakana, so it's definitely not a Japanese word. Could it be a Hawaiian word? It doesn't sound Hawaiian to me, but what do I know -- I only know a handful of Hawaiian words.
 
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Last name not Takumi
The distribution company is called Takumi. The ukuleles sold as Kiwaya will still be called Kiwaya.
Does the owner's name happen to be Hitomi Takumi? I think using the name of Kiwaya Takumi Ukulele might be better for marketing. :D
 
From what I always understood, Datsun was just a name Nissan chose for marketing to America. They were Nissan in Japan and everywhere else, they just dropped the "fake" name.

The story goes that the CEO of Nissan consulted with a famous marketing guru and said "We need a great name to market our automobiles under to the US and Canada, and we need it by tomorrow."

And the marketing guru, shocked, replied "Dat soon?!!"

And the head honcho grinned and said "That's it!"
 
From what I always understood, Datsun was just a name Nissan chose for marketing to America. They were Nissan in Japan and everywhere else, they just dropped the "fake" name.

The story goes that the CEO of Nissan consulted with a famous marketing guru and said "We need a great name to market our automobiles under to the US and Canada, and we need it by tomorrow."

And the marketing guru, shocked, replied "Dat soon?!!"

And the head honcho grinned and said "That's it!"

Heh, heh. My folks were big fans of Datsuns. I remember that old joke in several different forms. Nothing like being the only kid in high school with a Japanese car before they became popular. At least I didn't grow up in Michigan or Ohio! LOL

John
 
Takumi can also mean EXPERT, depends on the context.
 
Kiwaya USA has changed to Takumi as at first all they sold were Kiwayas. Now they are distrubuting many other brands and will expand their brands so they changed to Takumi Kiwayas are still Kiwayas just distributed by Hakumi here in USA. Look for some new lines from Hakumi soon from Japan. As for the longnecks....due to price increases in Japan Hakumi no longer brings them in as Domestic sales for high end laminates., Although they were great sound and quality..is hard.
 
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