Ekan

I must have misunderstood the dealer. My understanding was that EMS has stopped accepting swords for all international shipping, but looking into this a bit more closely it appears that they have stopped shipping swords to all countries I have access to (including one EU country).

I'm just reporting my experience and their behavior was unacceptable to me. I try to behave in a respectful manner and I expect the same back. If not, my money goes elsewhere.

I used their contact form to ask for a few extra photos of a sword. I know it’s pretty common for Japanese dealers to refuse additional pictures due to policy, so that wouldn’t have surprised me. But the reply I got was basically just “no additional info” and “I don’t ship to the UK.” I hadn’t even asked about shipping, though I assume they saw my country code. I get that sending swords to the UK has become more complicated in recent years, but it’s definitely still doable. I replied to say I’d recently had a sword shipped over from Japan without any problems using a UK-based forwarding service, and that I was happy to handle shipping myself. The response to that was pretty blunt, something along the lines of “then buy from that company” and “stop contacting me”. At that point it was pretty clear this isn’t a dealer I can work with. I wish their customers the best of luck, but I will buy from dealers where I don’t feel like I need it. BTW: I'm surprised EMS was even an option, I've been told that EMS do not accept swords for international shipping.

I had a very negative experience with this company. Although Japanese nihonto dealers can sometimes be direct and inflexible, I have never encountered this degree of disrespect or plain rudeness. I communicated in Japanese via email, so a language issue seems unlikely. Over the years, only two companies have earned a place on my personal blacklist, this company is now the third.

I've been in contact with Toushin and they say that OCS has stopped handling Japanese swords as of this year.