No, I was sourcing them straight from Japan. What amazes me though, is that Araya's Japanese made rims are some of the best in the world. If they didn't have their head up their butts, they hang with the quality of Mavic and DT easy. But like many Japanese companies, they dropped the ball and couldn't be bothered picking it back up. Or something. My contact just said that theiy're just producing rims for Shimano, and producing lower end stuff offshore somewhere now. He then politely in his very Japanese way told me to stop asking questions.