What is Elsewhere?
Elsewhere is for people who get a little too excited when someone asks,
“Wait… where did you get that?”
We find things from places worth exploring and bring them closer to home. Some are things you’ve been searching for forever. Some are things you didn’t even know existed. And some will probably become your next personality trait.
We’re starting with Japan, mostly because that’s where this whole obsession began.
What is Elsewhere?
Elsewhere is for people who get a little too excited when someone asks,
“Wait… where did you get that?”
We find things from places worth exploring and bring them closer to home. Some are things you’ve been searching for forever. Some are things you didn’t even know existed. And some will probably become your next personality trait.
We’re starting with Japan, mostly because that’s where this whole obsession began.
I first went to Japan about 15 years ago on a family holiday, and came back completely obsessed.
Yes, the food was incredible, and the service was almost perfect, but what stayed with me was how incredibly considered everything felt. The way something was made, wrapped, served or handed to you, there was thought in places you wouldn’t normally expect it.
Somehow, all those little details made everyday experiences feel a bit more special. Like someone had thought about you before you even got there.
Japan kept giving me this feeling:
How does this exist, and why does nobody back home know about it?
It Actually Started 40+ Years Ago
My family has been working with Japan for 40+ years.
Over the years, we built relationships with suppliers, manufacturers, shopkeepers and people who simply know where to look. Which meant that whenever I travelled, I rarely came home with the obvious stuff. It would be a pen from a tiny stationery store or a strange little kitchen tool. Or a piece of craft. And every single time, someone back home would ask:
“Where did you find that?”
After hearing that enough times, we started thinking: …okay, maybe there’s something here.
And that became Elsewhere.
The idea is actually really simple.
There are entire worlds you can fall in love with without living there. Maybe it’s Japanese stationery. Maybe it’s anime, coffee, craft, cooking, design, tools, or just extremely well-made things you had no idea existed five minutes ago.
You shouldn’t need a cousin coming back from Tokyo, a friend with spare luggage allowance, six Reddit tabs and a forwarding service you’re only 62% sure is legitimate just to get something you really want.
And you definitely shouldn’t have to stare at a marketplace listing saying “100% ORIGINAL AUTHENTIC JAPAN” and simply hope for the best. That’s the gap Elsewhere is trying to close.
We go looking. We find the good stuff. We figure out how to get it here. You get to enjoy it.
One last thing: how does any of this actually get to India?
Finding the product is the fun part. Getting it into India is where things get… interesting.
You can know the maker, trust the supplier, agree on the price and think, great, we’re done. Except, we are not done.
Every product needs the right classification, invoices, shipping documents, customs paperwork, duties and labelling. And depending on the product, an entirely different set of permissions.
Look for the 563
Sourcing Label
You’ll actually see a little piece of that process on all of the products we bring in through a 563 label. That label carries details such as the importer, product information, country of origin and other declarations required for sale in India. And yes, there is one on every applicable product we import.
You can think of it as a little traceability badge, an authenticity certificate of sorts: a visible sign that this product came through our sourcing and import process rather than appearing from some mysterious corner of the internet.
