The Mitchang Journey

From Selling Dried Leaves to Building a Luxury Business in Japan

Many people know Mitchang today as a pre-owned luxury business in Japan, offering carefully selected designer bags, fine jewelry, luxury watches, diamonds, and other beautiful pieces.

But many of you might wonder:

When did I actually start selling?

The answer is… probably much earlier than you think. 😂

I Think I Was Born to Sell

When I was young, I used to sell dried leaves to my grandmother’s friends while pretending they were fresh fish. They would play along and pay me ₱0.50.

At that time, ₱0.50 felt like a lot of money to me!

When I was still studying, I found another little business. I would offer to do my classmates’ assignments and reports—for a fee, of course. 😂

Later, I started traveling to Bangkok, Thailand, where I bought apparel and ready-to-wear clothing to resell. I would travel to Thailand about every three months, bring new items home, sell them, and then go back again.

The pieces sold fast.

Looking back now, selling was already a part of me long before luxury ever entered the picture.

My Luxury Journey Started in 2009

My real journey into the luxury industry began in 2009.

The first luxury watch I ever sold was a Rolex to one of my dad’s friends.

I didn’t own the watch. My dad’s friend simply gave me a commission for making the sale.

But it was a good commission—and more importantly, it opened a completely new world for me.

Starting Again in Japan

In 2010, I moved to Japan and began taking selling much more seriously.

During my first few years, I worked mainly as a personal shopper in Japan because I didn’t have enough capital to purchase my own inventory yet.

I was also fortunate to meet someone who helped me tremendously during those early years.

Eventually, I saved enough to start buying my own inventory.

Nothing huge.

Sometimes just three to five pieces.

I would buy them and sell them to whoever was interested. Little by little, I was learning how to choose products, understand customers, manage money, and build relationships.

I wasn’t building Mitchang yet.

I was building experience.

The Turning Point

For several years, I couldn’t fully focus on selling.

Then, in 2017, I met a woman from Italy who owned a store. She started buying branded jewelry from me, and that became another important step in my journey.

In 2019, I joined a company in the same industry.

That chapter completely changed me professionally.

I decided that if I was going to work in the luxury resale industry, I wanted to learn as much as I possibly could.

And I worked.

A lot.

For around one or two years, I barely took holidays or even a full day off.

There were days when I arrived at the office at 7:00 AM. I was usually the first person there, and I would often leave around 11:30 PM.

Sometimes, I worked until the next morning.

I took care of my clients as much as I could. I learned their preferences. I attended to their requests. Sometimes I waited for clients in different time zones to wake up so we could close a deal.

If someone called me at 2:00 AM, I answered.

Was that lifestyle sustainable? Probably not. 😂

But that period taught me lessons that I still carry with me today.

Learning Luxury From Every Direction

I attended different luxury auction markets in Japan and studied everything I could.

Designer bags.

Fine jewelry.

Luxury watches.

Diamonds and gemstones.

I didn’t want to limit my knowledge to only one category.

On the side, I studied stones and gemstones. I learned more about checking bags and jewelry, understanding quality, identifying details, studying market value, and selecting pieces that were actually worth offering to clients.

It was exhausting.

But it was worth it.

Those years became part of the foundation of Mitchang today.

And Then There Was Live Selling

Live selling has always been one of my favorite parts of this business.

I genuinely love talking to people for hours. 😂

For me, selling luxury isn’t only about showing an expensive bag, watch, or piece of jewelry.

It’s about people.

Through live selling and this business, I met so many beautiful and wonderful people. Some became clients for years. Some became friends. Some became an important part of my life.

I lost some people along the way, too.

That’s also part of the journey.

“You Should Start Your Own Company.”

In 2021, my former boss started encouraging me to create my own company.

I didn’t want to.

My plan was to save more money first. I wanted more capital, more security, and more time before taking such a huge risk.

But he didn’t stop encouraging me.

He believed I could do it before I completely believed it myself.

And eventually, I listened.

In 2022, while I was still working under my former company, I started building Mitchang.

At the same time, I was also building another company—but that’s another story for another day. 😉

Building Mitchang Wasn’t Pretty

I struggled.

A lot.

I was working full-time while trying to build something of my own on the side.

I was assisting clients.

Going to auction markets.

Attending events.

Going to meetings and appointments.

Building a new company.

Trying to make time for my family.

Trying to take care of myself.

Trying to take care of my mental health.

And dealing with many things that people watching from the outside never saw.

It was terrible at times.

But strangely, it was also one of the best periods of my life.

I won’t pretend that building a business was always inspiring or beautiful.

It was hard.

There were breakdowns.

There were mistakes.

There were moments when I questioned myself.

I lost people along the way—clients, staff, and people I thought would stay.

Some losses were painful.

But as I look back now, I understand that not everything we lose is meant to be recovered.

Sometimes losing something makes room for what comes next.

Mitchang Wasn’t Built Overnight

When people see a business today, they often see the finished photos, the beautiful jewelry, the designer bags, the luxury watches, the live selling, the showroom, and the inventory.

They don’t always see everything that happened before that.

Mitchang didn’t begin with a huge inventory.

It didn’t begin with millions of yen worth of luxury pieces.

It began with a person who simply loved selling.

From ₱0.50 dried leaves…

to clothes from Bangkok…

to my first Rolex sale…

to becoming a personal shopper in Japan…

to buying three to five pieces at a time…

to learning inside auction markets…

to studying designer bags, luxury watches, jewelry, diamonds, and gemstones…

and eventually, to building Mitchang in Yokohama, Japan.

There is still so much more to this story.

Mitchang continues to grow, change, make mistakes, learn, rebuild, and dream bigger.

And so do I.

This is the Mitchang Journey.

And we’re still writing it. 💙