What We've Been Up To
There hasn't been a news post in a while, and we like to keep our fans up to date. It's been an exciting summer; the first staff member other than the creator (me), new kendama's available, and most of all, a HUGE increase in popularity. Since June, our average page views per day have tripled, and it only seems to be getting bigger. Paul and I are both excited to be possibly the first really popular kendama supplier in the United Sates, and seeing how it's kinda starting to take off is exhilerating. More people are looking into us, buying kendamas, and posting comments. Due to this, we have some exciting ideas floating around in emails between Paul and I. Some of these things include:
A public message board, which is almost a for sure thing once our web hosts have the option, which we hear is coming together. So hopefully, soon we will have a forum up for kendama enthusiasts from all over to connect through. For now, however, we will have to make use of the comment boards as much as possible. If you haven't noticed, almost every page on this site allows you to comment with your thoughts, and we love nothing more than to hear what you think; they help us make decisions about what directions YOU want this site to go in, and we DO respond to them as often as possible. So please use them as much as you can, your words are of great help to us.
CLOTHING! Yes, we are considering designing and selling kendama related t-shirts. We are in phase one of this project, but it looks very within reach with minimal effort. However, we still wish to know if people would be at all interested in shirts, so please, leave a comment and let us know if you think this would be a worthy investment for us (Paul more than me).
It's only been mentioned, but a possible long term goal would be some sort of North American Kendama Players Association, an equivalent to the JKA (Japanese Kendama Association). We think it would be really neat to have official kendama tournaments in the states down the road. This is a lofty aperation, but anything is possible and it's a topic of disccusion between Paul and I, so I think it's fair for it to be a topic of discussion between us and the public. If you would be interested please let us know!
We can't thank you guys enough for how this site has grown! It's been really fun seeing things explode. It seems to be going nowhere but up, and we have only you guys to thank. So thank you, we really appriciate it.
-Brian
UPDATE: September 9, 2008
The t-shirt project is underway. We have an artist lined up and we expect to have a lot of the basics sorted out fairly quickly. Many of you have seen through the comments on this article that a design contest has been considered. We feel that although several of you have stated you would participate, there just might not be enough of you to quite justify a contest... YET! After our artist comes up with a design we like and we begin to sell t-shirts, we will be able to gauge the popularity of this project fairly accurately. If everything goes well, people are purchasing shirts, and we have the resources to sell more than just one or two designs, it is very plausible that a contest will be held at that time. This is a safer move for all of us because we will be less likely to waste anybodies time. So to those of you that have expressed interest in a contest, thank you very much, but we might have to wait a little while before that happens; we want to demo this entire idea first, but we will keep you up to date and look forward to what lies ahead.
-Brian
Comments
ryca1986 on on 8.20.2008 at 9:14 AM
This is really exciting!
I play kendama at my job. I work with international kids from all over the world who come to california to learn english. Kids from Japan and astonished on how the U.S. is starting to grow in popularity. I gave one of my kids from korea a red tk16 from this website because he had to return to his school in Michigan. He brought it to school once and a lot of people wish to buy them! Thanks for a memorable summer KENDAMASPOT!
Ryan
Brian on on 8.20.2008 at 5:34 PM
Haha, we're happy we could help.
I carry my kendama with me everywhere, and almost everybody I meet is fascinated with it, which tells me that when one person buys a kendama from this site, a couple other people are going to see them and like it enough to buy one as well. It explains it's growth on here, as well as other places like youtube, so well. It's deserved as well, it is SUCH a fun toy it's so cool to be apart of it's growth in the US. So really, we thank YOU for not only purchasing from us, but spreading the word. Paul seems to be getting swamped with orders, and only further expansion seems to be imminent.
Thanks for your comment, and everything else.
-Brian
Evan on on 8.23.2008 at 9:56 AM
im interested in all of this stuff!
i definetely feel like ive helped increase this popularity haha. "where did you get that thing?!?!" - "o ya know, kendamaspot.com" haha
ive got some decent photoshop and designing skill if you guys need help designing and creating t-shirts.
Brian, im also willing to help you in any way possible!
-Evan
Brian on on 8.23.2008 at 8:05 PM
Evan,
Thank you for spreading the word. It's amazing how many people really are curious, and our recent growth in popularity is due to people who carry their kendamas around just like you. So Thank you very much.
If you want to submit t-shirt designs, go for it. We cannot promise that any of them will be used, but if you have some ideas, we'd love to see them. Also note that you probably will not receive any payment, even if your design DOES get used, because any money Paul gets from sales goes right back into more kendamas, shirts, web hosting fee's, etc. We are pretty non-profit, so don't submit if you expect regular royalties or anything. We will still credit you, though, of course.
We already have one artist lined up to do some designs, but really, anybody is in the running and if we like your designs, we can use them somewhere I'm sure. Try to keep any in a similar mood as this website as well.
Paul is a very busy man, and I'm... well, not. So unless Paul has any objection, it might be easier for you to send them to me (spiralofourdiv@gmail.com) so I can filter submissions, make any adjustments, and respond more readily.
You're idea of submissions might go further Evan. I have some emails to make.... thank you for the idea...
-Brian
Tyler on on 8.24.2008 at 11:13 AM
Brain, I think you have done an amazing job with this web page, and if the Evan above is the one I think it is, get those damn Kendama shirts ready kid!!! I wanted one like two weeks ago! haha. Anyway, Kendama t's would be an awesome idea and I think customers would really dig them. Great job and keep up the good work here at kendamaspot!
-Tyler
Brian on on 8.24.2008 at 1:31 PM
Thank you for the kind words Tyler, I do my best to produce quality articles fairly regularly, it's really very nice to know that people appreciate it.
Thank you also for the comment on t-shirts, it's comments like yours that motivate us to get this project underway. Paul, the creator, is usually very busy with the shipping and receiving part of this site, as well as just busy in general with his real job, but we will hurry up as much as possible, and hopefully soon, we will be selling t-shirts.
-Brian
Evan on on 8.25.2008 at 3:22 PM
Sounds great Brian!
And no, I wasn't expecting anything at all. 'Payment' enough would be seeing my design on a kendamaspot t-shirt.
I'll start working on some ideas and send you an email if I make anything that I think is quality!
-Evan
ryca1986 on on 8.28.2008 at 8:41 AM
could you guys possibly offer "nihon no kendama kyokai" (japanese kendama association)t-shirts
or
kendama t's from the u.s...which ever one is cool!
Brian on on 9.01.2008 at 4:35 PM
ryca1986,
We are working on that right now. That is, brainstorming how we are gonna get the ball rolling. We might just start drawing some things up with some associates of ours and see what comes out, or me might host a design contest for all of you to contribute to; best design wins. We aren't sure yet, but as soon as we know something, you'll know something.
-Brian
~Aries on on 9.06.2008 at 6:42 PM
I would be very interested in a shirt. The very first Kendama I had was a green plastic one in the early 70's. My mom was actually quite good and showed me some of the basics. She was also the one that glued that darn thing together whenever the plastic cracked! I've been playing with Kendama's ever since although I'm more seriously into it now. Working at a toy store often gives me an excuse. I wanted to get some whole sale information (since it was mentioned on the 'store' page) but the link to send an email doesn't work. I would like to be able to get the wood Kendama's in rather than a fixed spindle that Yomega puts out. Great for kid's but not exactly something that serious players can appreciate. Keep up the great work! A contest would be fun - I know that I would seriously consider entering!
Brian on on 9.07.2008 at 1:44 PM
Aries,
Oh man. If you haven't played with an official JKA kendama you have NO idea what you are missing. They are SOOOO much better than those yomega star catch's, I don't even know how you do it... Get a TK-16 Master or Oozora, you won't regret it!
As for the contest. We are aware that some of you would definitely participate, but we are concerned that there isn't enough of you. We actually currently have an artist lined up and shes working on some designs as we speak. Hopefully soon we will have a good design from her that we will be selling on a shirt. Based upon the success of her designs we will consider holding a contest for a second design. This is good because we will be less likely to waste anybodies time; we will know how popular the shirt idea is before hosting a contest, instead of the other way around.
If the t-shirts fail miserably, we will obviously not hold a contest, if it's a success, a contest is entirely plausible in order to broaden our store front.
So a contest is NOT completely out of the running for those who are interested, it's just that right now it's taking a back seat until we test drive this t-shirt project first.
So thank you to those who have showed interest. We will keep you all up to date, and we hope you will continue to check in with us in the event that everything goes well and we end up holding a contest (which we think would be a lot of fun, really).
-Brian
brad jensen on on 9.23.2008 at 5:55 PM
nice and i ordered one like last week on monday and i still havent gotten it a week later and i never got a tracking number or anything the email u were suposeto send it to is
ljensen@doblerandsons.com and i never got anything if u could email me at armada.skI@hotmail.com with some info i would greatly appercate it
Brian on on 9.23.2008 at 9:35 PM
If you didn't receive an email confirming your order, odds are you didn't complete the ordering process and you were never charged anyway. Play it safe and look at your credit card balance; make sure that you didn't get charged.
If you didn't get charged, just order it again and make sure that it at some point says "Thank you, your order has been received and a confirmation email was sent out" or something to that tune, and you'll be all set.
If you DID get charged, then maybe there was a mistake on our part. If this is the case, email us directly at info@kendamaspot.com and we'll see what we can do.
-Brian
brad jensen on on 9.23.2008 at 9:42 PM
i think i got one but it said that the adress was uncomfermed and shit i sent it again and it didnt work ill look at my balance tomorrow and see if i got charged
brad jensen on on 9.24.2008 at 2:46 PM
i just checked my credit card and i did get charged for one but i didnt get a email back and i looked and i did get one and it said that the adress was wrong but it wosent i checked like 4 times and the adress is correct and everything is right but i never got anohter email or anything else
Brian on on 9.24.2008 at 3:36 PM
How long ago did you order it?
If it's been a while (two or more weeks), then there might be a problem, email Paul at info@kendamaspot.com and he can help you out. I am actually just a site updater and writer, I have no involvement in the shipping/receiving part, so other than general guidance, I can only help so much.
So email Paul and he'll take care of it. It's also possible that Paul is just busy and hasn't shipped it yet. Check with him to be sure.
Sorry for your troubles!
-Brian
brad jensen on on 9.24.2008 at 7:35 PM
i did but i havent got a email back but ill resend it or wait
Brian on on 9.24.2008 at 10:43 PM
Brad,
Paul is a busy guy, he'll see this and get to it soon, I'm sure.
However, it's possible that our web hosts are having some technical difficulties, for over the past week none of my emails to Paul have made it. I'll investigate further and make sure to contact Paul about your kendama.
-Brian
brad jensen on on 9.26.2008 at 3:18 PM
something is up with my emails or i dont know what but the emails come back and say they failed so info@kendamaspot.com the adress for the email ljensen@doblerandsons.com is correct and if there is a phone number i could call to clear up confusion i would like a number thank you
-brad
dama nation on on 12.05.2008 at 12:15 AM
Funny thing, my friend and i have been talking about the same thing (t-shirt wise). I'm totally down and have been trying to spread the word about kendamas. i can't get enough of it myself, and can't help but share what bring me joy to others.
kendamafan on on 12.09.2008 at 1:18 PM
i want to have a kendama shirt really really really badly