Black Friday is cancelled - Seido is closed - We say no to mass consumerism

No orders until Monday, November 27th, 5 p.m. JST

Dear Budoka,

As you know, Seido has for many years been against over-mercantilism in general, and against its paroxysmal form, the Black Friday in particular. In the past years, we have done our best to hijack this event by redistributing part of our sales to meaningful charities as we think business should also be about doing the right things.

We wanted to give Black Friday a more Humanitarian face, far from the purely mercantile side where only profits are sought. That's why we created different campaigns such as "Black Friday & Cyber Monday DOUBLE FAIR!", "Green Friday", with both humanitarian and environmental goals. We gave back to various charities such as Amnesty International, Doctors without Borders, Unicef, moreTrees, and 'Friends of the Earth Japan'. All these charities are important for us, as human beings and as budoka wanting to live close to the Budo Ethics depicted in the Philosophy of Budo.

Over time, this became the standard for us, and our support to charities became part of our weekly/monthly activities and therefore lost its meaning as a protest over the Black Friday mass consumerism. It's for the best of course, but we still believe it's our duty as a reasonable social entity to make a point against this event.

Today, mass consumerism has never been higher! No matter our efforts, we are consuming more and more, we draw on the earth's resources but they will soon dry up and the Climate crisis couldn't be more real.
We are now experiencing climatic and social disruptions, we know our ecological deadlines, but nothing helps, we're not on the right path.

That's why, this year, we decided to say it as clearly as humanely possible. We're cancelling all Black Friday and Cyber Monday events. We don't just refuse the ordinary discounts but take it a step further by closing the store for this entire period.
We try to be as socially and ecologically responsible as possible. Therefore, we make it a point to only sell products entirely made in Japan that cannot be purchased locally in your country.
But this time, we want to do even more! We would like to set an example by showing that another path is possible, a path where mass consumption is not a valid option.

So, for the duration of the 'Black Friday & Cyber Monday' event, we're closed.
Until Monday, November 27th, 5 p.m. JST, it won't be possible to order anything on the website, nothing will be bought, nothing will be sold.
We know that it's symbolic, but we hope it'll help make a difference.
You, Seido customers and fellow Budoka, have always been faithful to our events and your generosity has always exceeded our expectations, and we will never thank you enough for that.

This time, we're not asking you anything but to wait until Tuesday if you have a purchase to make. And we are inviting you to take the time to reflect on whether or not, what you will consider purchasing during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday events is something you really need. That also applies to your next purchase with us: is it something you need? If not, then we'll be the last to ecnourage you to make a purchase you don't need.

We would like to thank you for your continuous support and for being part of this project. Let's make a better world together.