Noriyoshi is an honest, refined man, with a great deal of sensitivity. I’m talking to you about our importer and distributor in Japan.

He was the one who found us. He fell in love with a photo of La Cultivada and contacted  us through a Japanese friend of his — who had a surprising Argentinian accent — who was living in the Netherlands.

I still remember that day for how extraordinary it was. Then his perseverance and our shared enthusiasm did the rest.

Noriyoshi positioned us in the very finest places, such as the famous Isetan department store in Tokyo as well as in multi-starred Michelin restaurants. He even placed our oils in the best ice-cream shops in Tokyo where they create wonders using all of our Cultivated varieties.

He is the importer who most closely aligns with our values, and he defends, perhaps better than anyone, the concept of a “signature brand.”

Japan plays in a completely different cultural league when it comes to respect for work done well.

When I told him about the issues and problems we encounter with La Cultivada’s domestic shipments in Spain, the look Noriyoshi’s face was priceless — he simply couldn’t believe it. In Japan, even a single scratch on a parcel is unheard of.

Let me share two stories from my trip to Japan that I associate with the prosperous mindset of their culture:

One day, on the underground trains, the ticket machine gave us too much change. Even though everyone was in a hurry, not a single person continued their  journey until the extra money had been returned to the person in charge.

And then the most unbelievable moment occurred when I offered Noriyoshi a discount for orders of greater volume. He quite simply replied: “I don’t want a discount. How are you going to make a living? For me, La Cultivada is family and I want us to grow together.” I had to ask him to repeat his answer to make sure the interpreter hadn’t made a mistake.

Another anecdotal memory belongs to the temples in Kyoto, which I associate with that same sense of commitment. At what point did I tell Noriyoshi that I wanted to visit all of them? You can imagine the rest.

His children have grown up with La Cultivada. In this post, you can see some of the photos he sends me every year on my birthday.

For all these reasons and many more, my faith and trust in Noriyoshi is absolute.

Elena Vecino (fundadora de La Cultivada). Read all my CULTIVATED STORIES. here.