4 minute read
Brother From Another Mother By Rex A.C. Silver
BROTHER FROM ANOTHER MOTHER
BY REX A.C. SILVER
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I have been trying to reach out to the fine Barbers from Mr Brothers Cut Club (MBCC) for some time, but being based in Japan, the language barrier proved too much. The shop fit outs are incredible, and their quality of work and marketing on socials is that to match and some! I really wanted to share that with our readers so I kept trying, I even rang all 8 locations and couldn’t get an English-speaking member on the line….my lead was a dead end.
Recently MBCC launched their Brosh Products into Australia, distributed by our good friends at AAB, so I hit them up for some help in connecting with them, I gave a draft for our piece, and this is what we received back it’s such a great read!
Mr Brothers Cut Club deliver Old School precision grooming with ultra-modern techniques in several cities in Japan by some of the most stylishly presented men in the trade, their story starts like this:
Before MR. BROTHERS CUT CLUB began, the Japanese haircut scene for men was not great. It was far from anything manly; it was feminine, and just an extension of women’s hair cut techniques.
Tomoya Nishimori (MBCC president) hated it so much. As recently as just 7 years ago, Japan was far from accepting tattoo culture and the concept of an American old-school style barbershop. Stereotypically Japan is very conservative and the belief that having fun and working could coexist was not on the radar.
Tomoya Nishimori
A former client, and now CEO of MBCC, Daisuke Komatsu, started talking to Tomoya a year before opening the first shop, despite many people telling him it was impossible to create the barbershop he was dreamt of. After the shop was launched Tomoya occupied himself fully into the business but after 3 years, he knew that the brand was well known, and he had succeeded in penetrating into the mass market. Japanese society approved of what they were doing and had embraced this new culture.
MBCC is now based in 8 locations, is regularly featured cross various media channels and manages over 60 seminars/workshops a year.
AMERICAN INFLUENCE
Back in the day, Tomoya was always a huge fan of good old America. He even has a Ford tattoo and loves the culture of the 1930s, That idea of having a lot of tattoos and riding a hot rod made him feel mischievous as a kid and as he grew up, he gradually became surrounded by people with same tastes and passion; people from different industries…. fashion, art, cars, music they all love the same genre of things. The way for Tomoya to get connected more with these people was to cut their hair and being a barber, his dream was becoming a reality.
He had once cut the world’s no.1 Barista’s hair and had realised that the more he rose and gained better skills, the more people he could meet. “Barbering connects us with like-minded people with similar passion and enthusiasm,” he says. “Unique talents resonate and mutually grow, and we look up on each other with mutual respect”
He was once shocked that he saw a barber with a hair dryer tattoo! In Japan, no body tattooed so casually. He was fascinated!
Admiring what Schorem were doing overseas, Tomoya and Daisuke did a Japan tour with Leen and Rob, meeting Donnie, the founder of Layrite at a Mizutani Scissors event. Tomoya was so inspired by the way Donnie was straight up for his passion and his products it wasn’t long before he met Masa Kawakami, the legendary barber Apache in Hokkaido, which resulted in a collaboration between Masa, Tomoya and Daisuke and the birth of the brand BROSH. “The barbershop side of things was established, and it was a natural progression to launch a brand, after all we needed our own pomade!”
TRAINING AND EDUCATION
At Mr Brothers Cut Club, all employees practice morning and night. Every team member competes to be the best and is strictly trained, skill by skill with an emphasis on customer satisfaction, communication skills, presentation, and of course cutting skills. “Vidal Sassoon invented the current blueprint, which people nowadays still use,” says Tomoya. “In the UK and US this blueprint existed in the 90’s, while in Japan there was nothing. All the barbers did here was to invite co-workers after work and teach each other. We were so far behind. MBCC is changing that through its training and international courses”
Tomoya has already released a textbook “MEN’S CUT BIBLE” and the second book is coming soon
FUTURE GOALS AND DREAMS
So, what’s next for this passionate group? “Opening a shop in the US, of course!”, says Tomoya, “and then launch an academy to the whole world.” Tomoya believes there is always time for a new dream, but these 2 are the most recent ones!
