Hi guys
I haven't posted in a really long time. I spent a little bit of time in Asia last November specifically 1 week in Japan to visit my brother and 2 weeks in Hong Kong for fun.
And of course when you're visiting the mecha of Transformers and robots and anime, you gotta do some you hunting. And I gotta tell you the market for Transformers and collectibles in general is completely different especially in Japan.
In Japan, they kinda don't care what the rest of the market is like outside of the country. They don't care that items are rare and overpriced on the secondary market. In fact there are some rare items that we might want here domestically that they will have tonnes of. Or the shelfwarmers that we have here are totally hard to find over there. So it is just really weird but definitely has its advantages to us domestic collectors.
The collector's market over in Japan, is very much like the country itself.....they like to keep themselves pure and free from too much foreign influences. So you can pretty much find almost ANYTHING there but things can be super cheap if you're lucky and things can be super expensive and it doesn't matter how much that same item would cost in the rest of the world especially in North America. They really only care about selling to their own locals and don't really consider even thinking about unloading their stuff to make fortunes by selling outside of the country. When I say "they", I'm referring to the collector shop owners or dealers.
Now Hong Kong on the other hand is totally different. The collectors and dealers in Hong Kong know exactly what the market is like in North America. They love using eBay so if I can find, for example, a MP-12 Lambor in Japan, there is no way in hell I would be able to find it in Hong Kong. Alot of that stuff would be found on eBay because if you are an avid eBay user, you will notice that alot of dealers who sell Transformers with a great selection are from Hong Kong.
Now the shops in Japan are crazy cool!! They are multi-level toy stores. One one floor, you'd have kid's toys, the next floor is all lego, the next floor is all model kits, and the next floor is all robots and then etc. etc. They categorize it so well and this is for several stores that I have seen. They also have collector malls. One store would sell nothing but Gundams. Another store would sell only Transformers. Another store would sell only Playmobile. And another store would only sell sword replicas from famous movies.
Hong Kong on the other doesn't have multi-level toy stores. Instead, they have tiny collector malls. Theses are mostly in the Mong Kok area. What it is is, imagine this.......a grungy looking old mall that is filled with stores that are half the size of your bedroom. We're talking about perhaps 100 square feet or less and then each store is filled to the ceiling with specific toys. There is no room to fit more than 3 people. It is very claustrophobic in the store but at least they are well lit. That's what shopping for collectibles in Hong Kong is like.
I filmed every single time I visited a toy store in both Japan and Hong Kong. I've uploaded all my Japan toy hunt videos but I'll include some highlights below. I'm currently on the way to uploading my Hong Kong toy hunt videos, but I'll include a new video every few days because I'm still editing them all.
Check them out as you please (please excuse the shakey camera work, I was filming discretely):
Transformers at Sunshine City Toys R Us, Tokyo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1jgkeLtRh0
Weaponizer Optimus Prime haul for an amazing deal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuwLuQ2xuF8
Masterpiece Sideswipe haul in Kiddyland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Eubi0PZZtc
Amazing price for Jetwing Revoltech Optimus Prime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW6CIESPjPQ
Tonnes and tonnes of Masterpiece Optimus Prime in Hong Kong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQxz6CQBrXQ
If you have any specific questions about what toy hunting is like in Japan or Hong Kong, please let me know. I intend to go back later this year, most likely in September.
