Does anyone know what happened to our beloved www.katomodels.com site in Japan? It seems the official site has become a generic site after Friday the 13th! Creation date: 13 Jul 1999 16:13:34 Expiration date: 13 Jul 2007 00:00:00 I do hope Kato Japan does not decide to put down its site. The site was just becoming more Internet friendly with a faster server. In the meantime, the Kato Japan site is still online for all to enjoy browsing or purchasing items directly from the manufacturer. http://www.e-katomodels.com/scripts/eKato/user/vb_bridge3.dll?VBPROG=Us_LoadIndex
Looks like they forgot to pay their bill and this is what quickly happens within hours. Alternate Website: http://www.katousa.com/
Looks like the site's been hijacked. Some of the links at http://www.e-katomodels.com/scripts/...G=Us_LoadIndex send you to the same modeling agency!
Looks like someone was asleep at the Sushi bar mg: Wouldn't ya know it, post a smart comment and they fix it!
I don't see Parts sales on any of these websites. At least not on those that have English translations. Has anyone bought parts? I need traction tires for Japanese style steam locos. Ben
The site is now back online. According to the TTS Forum (an overseas site), someone in Kato had forgot expiration of the site. As a result, a generic site took over and had demanded a non-descript amount for Kato to get it back. I guess it is a good lesson to learn on Friday the 13th and a good lesson to learn for all of us. Speaking about clumsiness, Kato Japan has been acting un-Japanese lately for its Japan models. It seems like many of its products that are made for its domestic market have been delayed time and time again (ie: E4 Shinkansen model to name a few). Either this is the sacrifies of expanding Overseas product lines or a new manager on board, I hope Kato Japan will get its act together soon. Having that said I also wonder whether Kato Model USA INC. foresees this and had decided to announce new models in two weeks notice? Just my 2 cents.
If you go to the N section, the US models begin to appear at Page 19. On Page 27, it appears Kato may have more heavy Mikes in line. I can't read the Japanese but it would appear KatoUSA could have some more models to import & release???
There is at LEAST a 30 day grace period after the expiration of a domain name. So the story about Kato being "blackmailed" is total B.S. Lou