Recently, I went to check out a restaurant on Richmond St. just east of Yonge. The restaurant happened to be just next to a sushi restaurant I have been to on many occasions. I was totally shocked to notice that this Japanese restaurant known as SUSHIMAN was no longer there and being replaced by a new business.

Ever since the early 1990’s, I have noticed that many of the traditional Japanese restaurants run by actual Japanese or restaurants that serve real Japanese food has been quickly disappearing. These restaurants are being replaced by what I would classify as imposters. Operated by either Korean or Chinese operators. I presently call them imposters since the true art of Japanese food preparation and showcasing are not present at most of these establishments. The food for the most part is served with a slight Korean or Chinese influence and not truly Japanese.

The focus of many of these imposters are about the food at cut throat pricing. The true essense of the art is lacking in the food. For example, real Sushi establishments run by true Japanese sushi chefs would offer exquisite migiri sushi at around $2.50 - $5.00 per piece depending on the netta (fresh seafood used). Nowadays, there are dozens of imposters that serve sushi for around $15.00 (All You Can Eat). This is not sushi in my books.

Sushi is not just about the food itself but the whole experience and atmosphere plus the high quality of the food and service. This means serving the freshest and most exotic seafood available with courteous and attentive service.

All you can eat at a respectable restaurant would cost anywhere from $150.00 per person on up. This may seem very expensive for those not familiar with true quality but what you get at a respected sushi restaurant would be like you just died and went to heaven.

Here is what makes a great nigiri sushi: Nigiri sushi 101. Hand made sushi.

1: The rice has a perfect balance between the vinegar and sugar mixture.

2: The rice is not too sticky and slightly hard.

3: Rice must be served slightly above room temperature with the fresh topping below room temperature. This is very important for all fresh seafood. Unless the topping is made warm to begin with like grilled eel.

4: A wide range of seafood. At least 12 or more of the items listed below should be available at all times:

- Amaebi (sweet shrimp)

- Kani (crab meat)

- Lobster

- Namako (sea cucumber - it is a sea animal and not a vegetable)

- Tako (octopus)

- Ika (squid)

- Maguro (tuna)

- Toro ( tuna belly - fatty section)

- Sake (salmon)

- Ikura (salmon roe)

- Tobiko (flying fish eggs)

- Mirugai (giant clam)

- Kai Bashira (scallops)

- Hamachi (yellow tail)

- Iwashi (sardine)

- Shiromi (white fish of some kind of which there are dozens available)

- Kanpachi (amberjack)

- Saba (mackeral)

- Ebi (shrimp)

- Uni (sea urchin)

- Hirame (flounder)

- Engawa (The outer edge of the flounder)

These are just the fresh seafood. Then there are the non seafood items like:

- Foie gras (liver of duck or goose)

- Unagi (fresh water eel)

- Kuri (cucumber)

- Japanese pickles (picked white radish)

- Tamago (egg)

- Natto (fermented soy beans)

- Umeboshi (pickled plums)

- Gobo (burdock root)

- ninjin (carrot)

Plus many more that I cannot think of at this time…

Sushi should be experienced right at the counter and ordered as you go. Not the current style of ordering which is a plate or boatload of prepared sushi. This means the sushi is cold by the time you get part of the way through and the real essence of the flavor is gone. Sushi should be ordered in pairs of one neta and eaten immediately.

Other Japanese food like domburi or various smaller appetizers are as much an art as it is about good tasting food. Traditional Japanese food in Japan is truly an experience. Japanese people are very fussy and will pay top dollar for the best food. This does not mean all food in Japanese restaurants in Japan are all very expensive. You can find locations all over Japan that serves great traditional food at reasonable prices.

Japanese restaurants in North America that are willing to create the atmosphere and quality Japanese food means using the freshest ingredients and spending the time to preprep the ingredients. There are many still in Vancouver. The service is also very important and the servers should be fully aware of what is being served. In the end, this translates into a higher consumer price and the trend lately in Toronto is for lower price points unfortunately. The current lack of real Japanese restaurants is not solely due to the influx of imposter Japanese restaurants only. The Japanese community in general has some responsibility to recognize the lack of true Japanese cuisine in Toronto and step up to the plate and create these quality restaurants I feel. Until we see a selection of true Japanese restaurants appear in the Toronto area, it will be hard to convey to anyone what it truly means to eat at a real Japanese restaurant.

I hope that the trend for low cost Japanese food will come to an end soon and we will eventually see some quality Japanese cuisine in the near future in the Toronto area.

Some great Japanese restaurants that are still around:

Nami - 55 Adelaide St. East

Toshi Sushi  - 565 King St. West 

Katsura - 900 York Mills Rd. - Kaiseki Dinners -Topic for another blog.

Some good Japanese restaurants that are still around:

Tokyo Grill - 582 Yonge St.

Okonomiyaki House - 23 Charles West

Kokyo Restaurant - 501a Yonge St.

There may be other good places still around and I do appologize if I have not listed them here.

I recently decided to order two teeth whitening products knowing full well that there must be a catch to this.  Here is one of the commonly seen ads.

http://www.tips4teeth.info/msnteeth/

The story seemed real enough about how a single mom tried two trial offers of a teeth whitening product and made her teeth whiter with only the trial versions.

Towards the bottom it says that you only pay $0.99 shipping for Denta White using the discount code which is normally $3.99 for shipping. Plus you pay only $1.95 instead of $4.95 for shipping using the discount count for Sparkle White. In both cases I would receive a 14 day trial supply that I could try and return the unused portion within 30 days and not pay anything more. Sound great right? I figured I could try the whiteners for 14 days and have whiter teeth like the “single mom” for cheap.

Well they do indicate that I need to call them directly and arrange for a RMA number to ship the unused portion of the product back to them within 30 days otherwise they will automatically ship another 30 day suppy which costs $79.95.

So basically I was getting a product worth $80.00 to try for 14 days for only $0.99 or $1.95 and return the unused portion before I get charged the $80.00. Sounds OK but was it?

I ordered them for one key reason. I wanted to learn more about the whole process that was involved in promoting, shipping and handling the return of the product to see if I may gain some good promotional sales techniques that I could use.  I was really curious on finding out how this company made money shipping products out this cheap. Is the product truly that good that some of the people would actually buy further quantities at the $79.95 price?

Here is what happened.

I placed the order using my Paypal debit card for both on the same day. I did not want to use a real credit card just in case it was a scam and I would be charged the full $79.95 for the product even if I did return the product per their instructions. The debit card only had $8.00 remaining after both transactions so I was not too worried at the time.

First the Denta White.

I expected to get the product in 3 - 5 days as indicated when I placed the order. I placed the order on a Thursday night. By Friday of the following week, I had not received the Denta White. Since I was getting close to the 14 day trial period, I tried calling them through their toll free number to prepare for the return of the product. It took me over 1 hour to finally get a real live operator. The line would always busy or I would get an automated message saying all operators are busy so please stay on the line for the next available operator. I was disconnected once waiting on the line. Once I got a hold of a live operator, I explained I have not recieved the package yet. The operator was not very concerned that 5 business days had already lapsed. She informed me that the product will arrive any day now and I have a full 30 days to get the product back to them. The 30 days starts from the date ordered. The day I called already 8 days have been lost. Only 22 days left before I get charged the $79.95 and also only 7 days left to try the product. I requested an RMA number anyways and waited for the package to arrive. I finally received the product after 25 days which was a Wednesday. On Thursday, I went to the post office to return the package. I was instructed to return the package to an address just outside my city. I figured the shipping charges would not be too high but shipping it back was a pain though. Next day delivery was not available for the location and only 2 day delivery was available. This meant the package would be delivered on Monday which would be the 29th day. I shipped it and the cost was around $10.00 for 2 day priority. Done, no more added costs.

Second the Sparkle Whitener

Sparkle was also stated as taking 3 - 5 business days to receive according to their order processing. I received the package in 5 days. I tried it for one day and then called their toll free number to get an RMA. Even this company I ran into the same problem. The line would be busy and it took me over 1 hour to even get through. About 1 1/2 hours later I was talking to an operater after being put on hold for the next available operator. One interesting offer that was presented to me by the operator was I could keep the item and in return they would offer me a great low price of $19.95. I said no thank you and got the RMA number. I went to the post office to return the package to Florida. Since I am located in Toronto Canada, I had to pay a higher shipping cost over the return of the Denta White. The return shipping turned out to be $22.00 for regular air mail. This was more than what was asked by the original company to keep it. At least the money did not go to your company but to the shipping company so I felt a little better. I was not too happy about paying $22.00 though for a small light package. Anyways, I had to return it or else I would be charged the $19.95 for this shipment.

It has been almost 2 months now and I have not been charged the $79.95 or have seen any further shipments of the teeth whitening products. Is this a SCAM? It certainly is as far as I am concerned.

First the teeth whitening product recieved was in a glossy packaging with lots of glossy literature plus the tubes of whitener is probably worth less than $1.00 to manufacture. Some form of gel that has hydrogen peroxide in it. Is it worth $79.95? Absolutely not! Is Sparkle even worth the $19.95 discounted price as the operator indicated? Absolutely not! Should I have paid $19.95 to keep it instead of paying $22.00 to ship it back? Aboslutely not since it would have meant the original company makes the $19.95 off of me for trying something that was supposed to be a trial offer. No thank you.

After all of this, I had spent around $35.00 to find out how this whole trial offer process worked. Was it worth the effort? Absolutely not! I know better now that something that sounds or looks too good to be true is really too good to be true. In the end, I did not even gain anything that I could use to promote my one products online. I should have tried calling the toll free numbers first to see if I could get through and maybe ask some simple questions before ordering.

Now I know better to avoid promotional deals like this. Another thing I should have done was a GOOGLE search to find out if anyone else had tried this and if it is for real or not. I fell for the “single mom” story which in the end was not true at all. Sad but I was scammed and wasted $35.00.

I hope I can save at least 1 person from making the same mistake I made in trying this teeth whitening trial offer by making this post available to all. The product is not worth even the original cost of shipping of $1.95. Someday it may even appear in a dollar store for $0.99. Stay away from the teeth whitening promotional deals.

Over the last couple of decades I have worked in a number of customer service related positions. It has always been important to all of these companies and to myself to offer every person that enters the building the best possible service until that person has left the building.

Lately, I am finding that many new and also established companies are losing their focus on customer service and equate customer service with cost and not added revenue.

What I mean by this is a staff person that does not treat a potential customer or existing customer with the utmost respect and friendly atmosphere will surely leave without investing one cent with the company or salesperson on that particular visit.

Let me give you a few examples based on personal experience.

Example 1: I recently went to purchase some ink cartridges for a printer with my dad. We went to the same store that my dad regularly visits. His first task before making a purchase was to scout out the store and see if a particular salesperson was at the cashout counter. As soon as my dad spotted this person he made a decision not to go in and make the purchase. We walked to another different shop afterwards and made the purchase there instead. My dad has been going to the same location for over 3 years to purchase ink cartridges and one salesperson never remembers that my dad has been given a 10% discount when he purchases ink cartridges and hands them a used cartrdge to dispose of. This particular salesperson only offers 5% or no discount all. Other salespersons in the same store will recognize my dad as a regular customer and immediately offer the 10% discount during cashout.

Example 2: I went to a well known computer manufacturers retail outlet for technical assistance. I flagged a salesperson and asked how I can get one of the Genius to help me with my problem? This salesperson asked if I have the product here and my response was I did not since the computer has a large 17 inch screen built in. Her response was for me to bring it in. I responded back stating that I just require an expert to try and resolve my problem which was not a critical one but an annoyance. Her response was that the store is very busy today and one of the Genius available may not be suitable for my problem and she went off to find someone else that might be able to help. The person I was eventually able to talk to for help was not really helpful in addressing my problem directly. This salesperson suggested I call the customer care line since I have added customer care service on the computer and the problem can be remoted diagnosed. So much for getting some help on a problem that day. I was considering buying an accessory at the same store after getting some technical assistance but I did not purchase anything on that day.

Example 3: I had recently contacted a distributor for a location of a local retailer to purchase a part I needed. I provided all the details in the email in regards to the actual part I was looking for, and asked where I would could purchase the part near me. The response I got back via email was to call them directly. I did call them two days layer and talked to a sales rep. Once I explained my situation, his first response was did you email us about this product? I said yes and his added response was I have had the product sitting on my desk for two days now and been waiting for your call. Since they are the distributor, I expected to have a local dealer suggested for me to purchase the part. I did not expect to buy the part directly from the distributor since that has not been the norm in the past with distributors.

After all of this, I was informed that the part can be shipped by overnight courier after receiving all the details in regards to payment and shipping. Needless to say, I did not receive the part overnight. In the end, it took 7 days for me to get the part. 2 days for the distributor to process the order plus 5 days for the courier company to have me pick up the package at their customer pickup location. I was not too happy but at least I got the part when I really needed it. The original distributor failed to ship overnight based on the salespersons guarantee. No contact from the processing department as to completion of the order and no tracking number provided. The courier made one attempt during the time I was home to deliver the package but I did not get it that day for some unknown reason.

After calling the courier, the first response from the courier company was I can pick it up. My response back was I paid to have it delivered, I would like to have it redelivered. Next business day was the only option therefore I accepted next day redelivery. I get a call later the same day that the package cannot be redelivered the next day since it needs to be sent to the redelivery centre and that will take one full day. This meant the package will arrive in two days instead. I did not have much of a choice so I agreed to wait two days.

Now on the second day when the package was to be redelivered, I get another call that the package is waiting to be picked up at the customer pickup center. I was furious but decided to go and pick it up instead of dealing with this non delivery. When I got the package, I noticed a large redeliver sticker on it. I could not believe that I got a call to pickup the package when it clearly indicated on the package that the package was to be redelivered.

The end result of all of this is I will not deal with the same retailer and courier in the future. This means these companies have immediately lost revenue due to poor customer service.

Here is what I would expect from any and all companies that deal directly with the customer.

1. A friendly greeting regardless of how busy the salesperson is or what personal issues that salesperson may be dealing with internally. A simple hello and a smile would be a sufficient start. Plus an added, “I will be with you as soon as I am finished with another customer” if the salesperson is dealing with another customer at the time.
2. Apologize for the wait if I have been waiting and give complete attention to me as the customer from that point onwards.
3. Always maintain a steady and positive tone of voice while speaking. Getting excited or raising your voice due to a noisy environment just adds to any frustrations I as the customer may already be feeling.
4. If a product or service is not available onsite, immediately offer to take down my personal details so that someone at the company can contact me back when the product or service is available. Even suggest to call another location to see if they can hold the item or have it delivered to me.
5. The money the salesperson earns while working is paid for by me the customer. The accounting department only issues the checks. Every salesperson should regard each customer as the one directly paying for his/her wages.
6. You probably hear that “the customer is always right”. This is still true and should be written in stone. Once you have a disagreement with a customer or disappoint the customer once, the customer will no longer be a customer for you or more importanly for the company. This means you have lost another customer that pays for your wages and generates revenue for the company.
7. Answering every customer email a company gets is most important. For every email not answered in a timely manner means revenue lost regardless of if the email is directly linked to a sale or not. The reason a company has an email address is to respond to them as they are received.
8. Treat every person that enters your business in person or virtually over the Internet as the best customer you have ever had. Do not have the person leave with a negative impression of you or your company. This means all publically accessible information in store or online must be written and detailed in simple terms, and easy to locate.
9. Never ask open ended questions that request a Yes or NO response. These are a real turn off for anyone browsing in a store. If a salesperson has already tried to connect with a customer, then no other salesperson should try to connect with the same customer until the customer makes an attempt on their own to get some assistance. Getting a simple “How may I help you” more than once is a real annoyance for most.
10. Always work as a team and avoid duplicating what another salesperson has done already for a given customer. This also adds to the customers frustrations and leads to reduced sales in the end.
11. Treat the customer as KING and as being more knowledgeable then you.
12. Always acknowledge the customer with eye contact and smile when passing by.
13. Apologize for any delays and pay attention to the customer until the customer has left the building.
14. Do everything possible within reason to get what the customer requires regardless of the cost.
15. Never talk to coworkers in direct view of any customer unless it is directly related to your customer. All internal business should be done behind closed doors and away from the customers view.
16. Never discuss a customers problem with a manager in front of the customer unless the customers direct input is required. This just adds to the problem when the customer over hears the wrong response or sees a negative expression on the managers face.
17. Salesperson should always look busy even if they are not. Cleaning shelves or organizing inventory is something all salespersons should engage in if nothing else is available to keep them busy.
18. Avoid personal calls in direct view of a customer.
19. Do not run or walk fast regardless of how busy you might be.
20. Always say thank you and please come again after finishing with a customer regardless of the outcome.

If all companies and salespersons engage in a positive team effort, customers will certainly return and make the purchases that pay for the wages and generate the needed revenue for the companies.

Customer service should always be first and foremost. The product or service is always secondary. Unless the customer is happy when they first engage you, you have reduced your chances of securing that sale immediately. Positive attitudes that puts customer service and customer satisfaction number 1 will win out over the quality of the product or service in the end. You can never tell if the customer is a CEO, VP, Excutive or an unemployed individual with no money currently when they first walk in. All customers are potential buyers of your product and service and should be given all the respect and graces that a KING deserves. Never under estimate the potential of every customer. Just one disappointed customer can ruin your whole business through the word of mouth and the Internet.

Salespersons should always be focused on pleasing the customer today. Tomorrow is another day and the same individual may return with friends and family on another day that generates numerous sales for you and your company.

Many of you in Internet land probably have never heard of me or know anything about who I am. Sure, you can do a Google search or any other search using “Bob Katayama” as the search terms and find thousands of entries created by Bob Katayama. Does this mean the postings you see in front of you in the search results are created by Bob Katayama? Most will be but the key point is this…  Are the posts from the same Bob Katayama that wrote this tumblr entry?

How do you know or how do you even equate a particular post to the same person you are familiar with? First off, I have been a mobile device enthusiast for over 10 years and have had the same email address for this period too. If you are one of the priviledged few that know this email address can email me anytime to verify an Internet post as coming from me or not. I try to respond to all my emails ASAP.

Another email address I have had for 9 years now is located at www.technobrains.com. This email address is easy to figure out and most of you probably have seen it posted around the Internet. What I am saying here is I have been easy to get a hold of via email at the same email address for over 10 years.

The cost of ownership for my very first Internet email address has been anywhere from about $9.95 per month to $34.95 per month. Compared to the home phone service or mobile phone service the cost is much lower. With the availability of free Internet hotspots in most major cities and towns now, anyone can have a permanent email address via Yahoo Mail, Google Mail and numerous other free email address services.

This blog post I have just written is done through this free service which you know as www.tumblr.com. Anyone that has a Wi-Fi enabled laptop or mobile device can get a free email account, a free blogging acount and setup a page to draw readers to very easily. There is no upfront cost associated for anyone now to get recognized world wide. Sure you need at least a computer. A used laptop that is a few years old can be had for under $100.00. No need for a very fast processor or a large hard drive. Just the ability to connect wirelessly to a free hotspot and start writing.

If the money is truly unavailable for a purchase of a used laptop, your local library and various other public centres will have free Internet and the use of the computer for free. Most will have like a 30 minute usage time limit but that is still plenty of time to get your word across using a service like Tumblr.

Those people that do not currently have their own computer plus Internet access will most likely not be familiar with Bob Katayama and therefore not read this. This is where social media and the word of mouth comes along. Advertisers have relied on print and TV media for their advertising in the past. Nowadays, word of mouth carries a larger weight over anything that is written or shown in a paid environment.

Most people will buy or use something based on a friends or family members recommendation long before being convinced by an ad seen somewhere. If you have read this post to this point, I commend you and recommend that you create your own webpage and get the word out about anything you are passionate about. Eventually, that passion can lead you towards a very happy future.

You might say why would anyone be interested in what I have to say or write about? Even then, how would that make me happier down the road and successful? One example I can give you is in early 2000 before I started www.technobrains.com, I was helping other mobility and software users by answering questions in various forums. In 2003, Microsoft of Canada recognized that I was passionate about their Windows CE product, knowledgeable and have devoted countless hours helping others that they awarded me what is called a MVP Award. What is a Microsoft MVP Award?

Well, a Microsoft MVP Award is an award handed out to those individuals that have given their time and expert advice over the past 12 months and is a status that lasts for 12 months afterwards. You can go to this link for more details. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ Basically I was awarded this “Most Valuable Professional” status for 4 years running in the mobile devices category which was renewed every year based on the previous 12 months of comtributions. I had received countless benefits during the 4 year period from being a Microsoft MVP.

So you say why would anyone care about what I have to say if all I talk about are beer bottle caps and the various bottle openers I have collected over the years? Well, you might be surprised that there are others around the world that also have an extensive beer cap and bottle opener collection. By allowing your voice to be heard, you can connect with others that share the same passion as you in any topic that is discussed online. There are social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Flickr and countless others that allow you to get your own message across and be heard by the masses. There is no cost but only your time and effort to talk about what makes you happy everyday. You might be surprised down the road when a PR firm or a trade show representation contacts you for a paid gig or provide some form of incentive for your thoughts relating to your topic of interest.

If you have 30 minutes to share once a week to blog about what you are passionate about, you owe it to yourself to let others know how you feel about the topic.

Stay tuned for more…