Our Story

My name is Taro Ogata, founder of Taro’s Kei Motors and Taro’s TRADE JAPAN.

I grew up in a family that operated a local eyeglasses store in Japan. Since our shop was connected to our home, I had many opportunities from a young age to speak with customers and observe how my parents treated people in business. Looking back, those early experiences became the foundation of my customer service philosophy today.

After graduating from high school, I worked for one year at a local sports equipment store. After that, I joined Toyota’s Kyushu factory and worked on the production line for approximately five years.

During my time at Toyota, I learned many important lessons through the Toyota Production System and the philosophy of “Kaizen” (continuous improvement). Even now, I often think about the questions we asked every day at Toyota:

“Why do people make mistakes even when doing the same work repeatedly?”
“How can we prevent the same problem from happening again in the future?”

The mindset I learned at Toyota still strongly influences the way I approach business, problem solving, and customer support today.

At the age of 24, I left Toyota and eventually discovered a completely different path. Around 2007, while searching for a digital keyboard on eBay for my own use, I noticed a very large price difference between musical instruments sold in Japan and the prices overseas. Out of curiosity, I listed a keyboard on eBay — and it sold almost immediately.

Soon, people around the world began asking if I could help them find other Japanese products as well. Then one day, I received a life-changing message from the United Kingdom: “Can you ship a Yamaha Electone to the UK?” After several days of searching for shipping companies and suppliers, I was finally able to reply: “Yes, I can.” That single message became the beginning of Taro’s TRADE JAPAN.

For nearly 20 years since then, our specialty has been delivering high-value Japanese products — including flagship instruments worth over 2 million yen — safely into the hands of customers all over the world. Because our customers purchase expensive items from a store located overseas, we have always focused on one thing above all: transparency. We share photos of the items we ship, keep customers informed at every step from payment to delivery, and answer every question, one by one, as carefully as possible.

Today, it is not unusual for customers to make large purchases after only a few emails. I believe this trust has only been possible because of the support from our customers around the world, and we are deeply grateful for it.

From Musical Instruments to Kei Cars

Taro’s Kei Motors is the next chapter of that journey — and in some ways, it brings my story full circle. The five years I spent on Toyota’s production line taught me first-hand how much care and precision goes into every vehicle made in Japan.

We export brand-new Japanese kei cars (660cc light vehicles) directly from Japan. Kei cars are compact, remarkably fuel-efficient, and built with the quality Japan is famous for. And just as we have always done with musical instruments, we apply the same principles of transparency and careful communication to every single order.

If you have any questions about buying a new kei car from Japan, please feel free to contact us. We will answer every question — just as we always have.

Our Team