Not 2001 but 2003 I started following this and the Yahoo Yanmar forums. Aside from you two, Soundguy was also a frequent poster, and there were a few dealers of legitimate used Yanmars from Japan: Wayne, Buck, TractorErnie, more.
At that time Ebay was flooded with gray Yanmars and I discovered the local source, a subsidiary of a VN refurb factory that was a major West Coast importer and claimed 200 units per month. They were close enough to go see what they had in stock. When I found a beat-up US YM240 I bought a lot of refurb parts taken off their many warranty returns, and a box blade, tiller, mower there.
Then I eventually joined TBN so I could ask questions. I had been reluctant to join any internet forums after a bad experience - summer 2003 I got 10,000 bounce messages where my name had been harvested somewhere - maybe the Yahoo group or alt.folklore.urban etc - and used as 'Reply To' for Viagra spam. I've used a screen name ever since.
Thanks to you guys for getting this going!