April's Fool - Due to situation in northern Japan, Kato factories cease activity

[Tecchan]

KATO

鉄道模型ＫＡＴＯホームページ情報版：最新のＫＡＴＯ情報をお届けいたします.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was of course not true.  

 

We will still hope that everything will be fine for our Japanese friends from Tohoku!! ;-)

[Barobutt]

Yeah their stuff all comes from china no?

[David]

Yeah their stuff all comes from china no?

 

No.

 

Track and buildings, mostly, the trains however are made in Japan. Kato is a family owned company and answers to no but Mr Kato himself.

[traindork]

I had to get up and grab a towel to wipe the tears of sadness off of my cheeks before I scrolled down. 

 

[jdnewemail]

With everything that has happened in Japan. I find this post in bad taste, and not funny in the least.

[inobu]

I'm sure there was no bad intention from the OP. Sometimes we only look from one perspective and not the other. The intent should be considered more so than the content.

We all slip up from time to time.

 

Go to his web site and you will see who he is. He even has pictures of his visit from Japan.

 

No il will in my book

 

Inobu

 

 

[rankodd]

My birthday was on the 10th, and my family got together on the 12th. One of the gifts they'd given me was $50 to buy model railroad structures with. Because they knew I wanted Japanese structures, the money was given "wrapped" in a plastic tub, half full of water, toy cars and wooden toothpicks, with a little sign that said "Tokyo"

 

I was a little taken aback at their choice of topics.

 

I've since donated that money to the Japanese Red Cross, and the space on the layout that the money would have bought buildings for will instead be done up as a Hiroshima-style memorial park.

[Tecchan]

With everything that has happened in Japan. I find this post in bad taste, and not funny in the least.

 

I hesitated before doing it and thought of announcing a new long waited train (like Keisei Skyliner for example) but I found this more big...

I admit now it's not of the better taste.

 

If I did it in the end it's because I saw that even if someone here is deeply concerned about situation in Tohoku (including me, having traveled for a long time in Japan and having still lots of friends there), everyone keeps worrying about receiving his E5 from Kato, receiving his last order from Hobby Search, his preorder being canceled by Hobbyworld bancrupcy.

So life is still going on and even we worry about Japan, we still worry about our own lives. It's just normal, I'm not judging anyone as I would probably do the same if I had an order going on.

 

This said, I'm deeply sorry if I offended someone, this was of course not the intention.  :icon_sunny:

[KenS]

Humor is one way of dealing with painful or stressful situations. Not everyone deals with them that way, so the line between appropriate and inappropriate varies for different people. I didn't find this inappropriate, as it wasn't humor at the expense of people suffering because of the problems caused by the earthquake and tsunami, but humor directed at the rest of us. But that's just where I draw my line; yours may well be different.

 

It's also a nice bit of social commentary, because even as we're concerned with the situation of the people in Japan, our own lives go on and a part of that is worrying about how the events there affect us in ways that are trivial in comparison. I found this humorous, after I got over my initial "what, no more trains!?!" shock, precisely because of that.

 

A good April 1st joke.

[Nick_Burman]

This one made my hairs stand on end for a few moments...until it dawned on me what day it was.

 

Cheers NB

[inobu]

My birthday was on the 10th, and my family got together on the 12th. One of the gifts they'd given me was $50 to buy model railroad structures with. Because they knew I wanted Japanese structures, the money was given "wrapped" in a plastic tub, half full of water, toy cars and wooden toothpicks, with a little sign that said "Tokyo"

 

I was a little taken aback at their choice of topics.

 

I've since donated that money to the Japanese Red Cross, and the space on the layout that the money would have bought buildings for will instead be done up as a Hiroshima-style memorial park.

 

I find this humorous in that it confirms the intent verses content. We all are subject to our WWIT (What was I thinking).

 

Prayers to those in Japan and us for the things we do.

 

A good forum with good people.

 

Inobu

 

 

[jdnewemail]

Hello

 

First off, I never stated that the post was done with any intentional harm in mind just that I do not find it funny. Everyone has the right to have their own opinion.

 

Ever since the late 70's (Shogun Miniseries) I have been interested in Japan, it people and lifestyle. Even earlier with model trains. With the advent of the internet it is now possible to join my two interests. Not to mention I have the room and some money.

 

So with everything that has happened my thoughts are with the People of Japan.

 

But with this statement

 

"his preorder being canceled by Hobbyworld bankruptcy"

 

This could have been Kato as well. I have very limited funds and any delay or closing could make things either very expensive or force me to model a US Railroad (Now that scares ME :( ).

[Sir Madog]

I can´t find anything humorous in that statement. In fact, I find it rather sick, given the circumstances the people of Japan have to deal with. They need our support and help, not sickly jokes.

[Mudkip Orange]

Personally I thought it was well played.

[The_Ghan]

I'm not entering into whether or not one should make fun of the situation as I was in Thailand during the 2004 Tsunami and have strong feelings about the situation.  However, you had me fooled Kumo ... I went straight to the Kato website looking for further information.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[inobu]

I will explain the humor that the circumstances brings in Rankodd story which play into my very point of Intent verses Content. If one is not beyond making a mistake then be upset at the post but if one is also subject to making the mistake the one can sympathize with both the disaster and the miscue of the April fools post.

 

Every one involved in Rankodd party had good intent and tried to give him a gift based on their feelings for him. The intent in which the gift was given over shadows the content of the gift. The humor is the same basic scenario collaborates my point that anyone is subject to a miscue. 

 

Be careful of the important that one puts on situation because each has their own value. One can easily post that we play with our trains while people are dying in Libya.

 

It is all based on perspective. You can choose to take this post harshly, I choose to look at it from its intent. I went to Kumo website and saw the nature of the poster and saw no signs of ill will.

 

My family lives on Kyushu Saga prefecture and I live on So California and I too am subject to the potential.

 

Inobu 

[Bernard]

When the subject of humor or entertainment comes up, in any situation, I find that is up to individual tastes, what one person finds funny, another might not.

After reading the initial post....I found that the initial intention was not meant to be harmful...plus I there was an apology offer to anyone that did find it offensive.

 

Having said that, we really have a nice group of members here, ....I have witness many times on a daily basis members going out of their way to find information and/or solve problems for other members who seek it....there really is a lot of "looking out for the other guy" happening here.

[Nozomi]

We should ask the godfather of good taste about this question: Ricky Gervais!

 

Swiss Television thought about cancelling the Simpsons because of the careless work ethic shown around nuclear waste....

[Tecchan]

Whow, I never thought my little joke would launch such a debate.

 

Next year, I'll just go with something like "Micro Ace announces Keisei New Skyliner" or "Tomix to unveil E6 Shinkansen". ;-)

Of course I really hope, one year from now, we will all be able to make jokes about the nuclear power plant as a part from the past! :-)

 

 

Yes I love Japan. It wasn't a bad intention.

The joke was on trains and trainfans (us), of course not people suffering from what's happening.

 

As you may know, I spent 6 months in Japan in 2010 (here is my blog if you're interested, french only, sorry: http://japon.loriskumo.com/.)

I've been pretty much everywhere from Naha (Okinawa) to Cape Soya (Northern point on Hokkaido). So yes, I'm deeply affected by what's happening, my first reflex when hearing about the earthquake was sending emails to all my friends to check if they are OK. I stayed at a Japanese lady's house in Fukuoka for 10 weeks and I still refer to her as my mother (I call her Okaasan -mother- since I lived at her place). So yes, I feel directly concerned about the situation even if I'm far from Japan right now.

 

And today, I suffer to see mankind powerless against a nuclear power plant, like all of you I presume.

 

I love Japan and I hope we will soon be able to forget this earthquake/tsunami/nuclear breakdown nightmare!

[keitaro]

hw didn't go bankrupt

[cteno4]

i figured after last year's april fool prank i could not do another one for a decade on jns at least... but it was worth it, had a lot of fish on the line the whole day!

 

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,2801.msg27922.html#msg27922

 

i listened to the war of the worlds way too many times when i was a kid...

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[Guest ___]

While I did not see any harm or mean spirited intent on the joke, the old say, "Too soon" comes to mind.  :clock: