Vendor Spotlight: RHDJapan

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RHDJapan was founded and is run by two individuals, Patrick Antell and Russell Hobbs. Patrick Antell and Russell Hobbs were raised in Okinawa Japan and went to school there during the same time (same school) as Ross Petty. Being American in Japan we had the pleasure of coming up during the drift and race boom in Japan as it happened. While attending university in the US Pat and Russell often talked about the lack of parts, engines and overall Japanese FR race scene in the USA. During that time Pat was in Orlando and became friends with Ken Harrison who was very enthusiastic about the Japanese scene and was working very hard to get parts from Japan. Russell on the other hand had already moved back to Japan and was in Tokyo laying the ground work for what was later to become the system foundation of the company RHDJapan. Once Pat finished up at school he moved to Tokyo and shared a cramped apartment with Russell where they cleaned used engine harnesses, polished used intercoolers and sold actively on Ebay. During this time RHDJapan was still being run after work in to the wee hours of the morning. Engine harnesses, turbos, injectors, tons of rare JDM goodies coming and going all while working day jobs to pay the bills. Pat and Russell slowly grew a dedicated customer base that grew and grew as the drift and engine swap boom took hold in the states.

The cramped apartment was now full of boxes and parts and living conditions were getting tight so the two moved to a 2 story house with a back yard and stock room and took up operations there. Soon enough the customer base doubled and the back yard looked like a JDM bone yard and store room was packed. By this time Pat had already quit his day job to pick up more hours for RHDJapan in order to ensure the best customer support possible. Russell was struggling between RHDJapan and his full time job (which provided his visa). After 2 years of almost non stop work the two managed to get an interview with the local bank manager to pitch their business model (in Japanese) and have a go at incorporation. The bank granted the papers for incorporation and RHDJapan was cleared for the process of incorporation (no easy task).

3 years of full time ebay selling and customer support, RHDJapan in December of 2004 incorporated, changing its status from a private export enterprise to an official business recognized by the Japanese Legal Affairs Bureau as a Limited Liability Corporation (YK). The two rented a two story office in Tokyo and started developing a website that would fully allow the best customer experience, the RHDJapan experience.

The first 3 years were difficult and used parts had to be put on hold till a future date (hint hint). Pat and Russell continued doing what they did from the beginning which was getting the parts the customers wanted while providing the best support and customer service possible. 3 years of website revisions, inventory revamps and system changes brought them to 2007 and it was time for some new blood in the system. Still having deep connections to Okinawa Pat and Russell had the privilege of meeting a young tall and lanky drifter by the name of Shawn who just happened to be from the same school but years down the line. Right off they knew that this guy was perfect for RHDJapan so in comes Shawn to help get parts up and take care of orders. Now with a team of 2 packers, 1 camera man/packer, 1 inventory controller with Pat and Russell at the helm, RHDJapan starts picking up the pace and offering more rare JDM and a more individualized customer experience.

By March Pat and Russell decided Shawn needed a wing man to get his back on the JDM front. Once again calling from Okinawa comes a new face by the name of Takeru (same school again!!). Pat and Russell quickly pulled Takeru on board knowing this guy was big. Takeru is well versed in the arts having read just about every option magazine ever published. He is the insane human encyclopedia on JDM and the go to guy when in doubt on JDM fact or fiction. Now here they are in May 2008 with a service dream team of 4 Americans who all grew up in Japan in the JDM scene backed by 4 Japanese employees Kazuki, Maru-chan, Maa-kun and Nori (aka Cherry) who are all ready to take care of all your deepest darkest JDM desires.

RHDJapan has moved from used parts on ebay to new JDM, OEM parts, full brand new engines and missions, body kits and other rare hard to find JDM. These changes are evident when looking on the website. But one thing that has not changed is the fundamental principles that RHDJapan was started on, they cater to your needs and go out of their way to get you the parts you need when the others cant or wont. Stay tuned in 2008 for more rare JDM and a new website that will deal with uhhh, lets say getting back to more basics.