I'm in Japan and could use some price advice on Popy 8" figures

[samurainoir]

japan is one country i'd love to visit with an empty suitcase!

I did something like that (even to the point of throwing away my ratty wool winter jacket to make more room... not my best decision since also had to shovel a foot of snow off my car in the park and fly when we got back ).

Although my lovely spouse still reminds me to this day of the embarassing "Hello Kitty Vibrator Incident". Inevitably, in moments like this you will always get the most attractive female customs agent going through your bag once you land back home, unearthing such treasures as a teapot shaped like Astro Boys head, all the exotic flavours of kitkats and pringles you can only find in Asia, a bottle of something called "Pocari Sweat", and the incriminating item in question that you will swear up and down that you are buying for a friend who requested you bring one back for them after hearing about it on the internet.

It was a very Austin Powers like moment.

[cjefferys]

Although my lovely spouse still reminds me to this day of the embarassing "Hello Kitty Vibrator Incident". Inevitably, in moments like this you will always get the most attractive female customs agent going through your bag once you land back home, unearthing such treasures as a teapot shaped like Astro Boys head, all the exotic flavours of kitkats and pringles you can only find in Asia, a bottle of something called "Pocari Sweat", and the incriminating item in question that you will swear up and down that you are buying for a friend who requested you bring one back for them after hearing about it on the internet.

It was a very Austin Powers like moment.

I guess I've lucked out. Maybe because visiting Japan doesn't raise suspicions, I have never had my luggage checked when I came back home. This trip, the Canada Customs officer just asked me what I was bringing back, I just said a one litre bottle of sake (very good expensive sake, a gift from a friend ), some packaged food, and "some toys". She just said OK, stamped my passport and I was done. And you are so right about the Kitkats and Pringles. I always bring home some interesting exotic flavours of both for family and friends.

Is it true that all the cosplay pop star wannabes hang out on the corners of Akihabara now and clog up the sidewalks like girls in Slave Leia outfits at comicon?

The street corners in Akiba are now mostly filled with cute Japanese girls in French maid costumes trying to hand out flyers or advertising tissue packages (an "only in Japan" phenomenon, if you visit the right places regularly, you will never need to purchase tissues!) for cosplay cafes to the passersby. At first it's a novelty, but after you go up and down the same sidewalk a few times, it gets a bit annoying.

I'm now back home and started back to work today (boo!). I'll post some pics of some of the stuff I bought but I'll have to wait to borrow my parents' digital camera, my wife still has ours (she and the kids are still in Japan for another month). Great trip but it went waaaay too fast, didn't get as much "toy store time" as I usually get. Next trip, I'll try venturing to Akihabara alone and spend the whole day (or two) searching for and combing through toy stores there. There are tons of back streets filled with stores that I didn't get a chance to explore. Also, everytime I visit, I like to try eating something I never had before, this time it was whale meat (yeah, I know some people wouldn't think too kindly of that, but to be honest, I didn't think it was anything special, and have no real desire to try it again). Next trip: horse sashimi (raw horse meat! )

[rche]

welcome home cj, Can't wait to see some loot!

[cjefferys]

Thanks rche. Not as much loot as I was hoping, but I did luck into some good deals (MIB Neo Henshin Cyborg for $7.00, MIB Medicom RAH 220 (9" scale) Kamen Rider for $8.00). I saw great prices on 10 year old Japanese toys, but for the most part, the 70's stuff I found were overpriced for the condition they were in.

[GUYx1]

For the stuff you want and the condition you want, you really need to look at YAHOO JAPAN on a daily basis. EVERY DAY. I did that for years. Found every limited and prototype Japanese item I could think of that way. Many I never imagined existed. I know daily online auctions lack the fantasy appeal of walking into an antique store and finding the motherlode, but due to the internet those finds are few and far between wherever you go.

[cjefferys]

Yeah, I'm sure you're right about that. I'm trying to get my wife to sign up for a Yahoo Japan account, and then anything I win I can get sent to my father-in-law's house (this would be cheaper and easier than having a bidding service handle things for me). Gotta brush up on my limited Japanese reading skills anyway.

[GUYx1]

Yahoo Japan is 90% the same listings rolled over - and over and over for years.
Sellers raise & lower the prices at random. But before a toyshow.
OMG the stuff that gets listed buy it now will blow your mind. But you need to know the right kange, katakana & hiragana. As boring as it is, just keep fishing every morning and it will be worth it. Remember you need cash IMMEDIATELY for any bid you throw down.
THat is the big hinderance (unless you use a bidding service)

[cjefferys]

Remember you need cash IMMEDIATELY for any bid you throw down.
THat is the big hinderance (unless you use a bidding service)

How does that work? My wife has a Japanese credit card, so do we just register that card with Yahoo Japan, and if I bid on something, YJ puts a hold for the bid amount on the card and the transaction goes through on the card if I win the auction?

[samurainoir]

Also, everytime I visit, I like to try eating something I never had before, this time it was whale meat (yeah, I know some people wouldn't think too kindly of that, but to be honest, I didn't think it was anything special, and have no real desire to try it again). Next trip: horse sashimi (raw horse meat! )

Did you have that at the Tokyo fish market? I still have dreams of the fatty tuna there. We usually stay in Shinjuku and luckily there is a hole in the wall next to the ginourmous train station that gets their Tuna directly from the fish market. Just so I could have it one last time, I bought a raw Tuna rice bowl (using the vending machine ticket of course) and tossed it into a plastic grocery bag so I could eat it on the shuttle bus to the airport. I got some stares, but it was totally worth it.

It totally ruined me for the Sushi we get here in Canada.

I'd love to hear what horse sashimi tastes like! I had beef sashimi at a place in Shiboya. There was also a skewer grill place in the back streets behind the Shinjiku train station where I tried blowfish.

The other thing I miss is those Curry Stands. I just love the sweet taste of Japanese Curry. And the oddity of Parisian style Crepe stands as well!

I'm currently reading a manga series about Japanese cultural cuisine, and it has me itching to try out some of these delicacies!

[cjefferys]

Actually my sister-in-law brought it home to cook for us, I'm not sure where she bought it. In Japan, it's normal to serve a little bit of sashimi every night as a part of dinner, so since freshness is so important, most Japanese go grocery shopping every day, as my sister-in-law did, bringing home goodies to eat every night after work. And it's normal in Japan to have many dishes with little servings. I love that style, it was common for us to have 10 or more different dishes every night at suppertime. I just felt bad for my sister-in-law, there was so much preparation involved that she was often too busy to relax and eat with the rest of us, she had to keep on getting up to prepare and bring in the next dish, while us guys were sitting around eating and drinking beer.

Oh yeah, fatty tuna (toro) is the best, just melts in your mouth. You're right, there is no comparison as far as sashimi and sushi goes, after you've had it in Japan, what you can get in North America just isn't the same. I've had beef and fugu sashimi too, great stuff. The only kinds I still have an itch to try are horse and chicken sashimi (chicken is only served at places that specialize in it, as extreme freshness and very careful preparation is very important in order to be able to serve it raw).

Japanese curry is great too. I brought a few packs of instant curry back home with me (in foil bags that you just heat up). Not as good as fresh, but still tasty. Japanese love curry, when I was walking around Tokyo Disneyland, there were even stands that served curry flavoured popcorn. I didn't try any, but it smelled good!

[cjefferys]

I took a couple quick pics of some of the stuff I got:

The coolest thing was this remote control R2-D2 released by Takara in 1978. It's supposed to move, make noises and shoot discs out of it's head, but the motor must have seized up or something. It looks like it's never even been used, very minty, so that makes up for the fact that it doesn't work, at least it's great for display.




Here's the boxed Neo Henshin Cyborgs I picked up, plus a Mechagodzilla and Gigan chogokin (not vintage). The chogos are pretty cool, partially diecast metal, so they're nice and heavy. The best part is that all these look brand new but cost much less than the original retail price (20-40% their original prices).



And I got into a Kamen Rider kick, and decided to start collecting some of it. The three on the left (Kamen Rider V3, Skyrider and Kamen Rider 1) are recent vinyl figures that you can pick up in any Japanese toy stores for five or six bucks each. The one on the right is a Medicom RAH 220 "Shocker Rider". The RAH figures are very nice, very poseable with cloth outfits, and stand around 9" (little bigger than a Mego). I'll have to get some more of these.



Anyway, this is what I've unpacked and set up so far.


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[rche]

oh; that Takara R2 is awesome! so fresh and so clean clean!!! yes

[Klytus]

Wowsers! Those are some wonderful finds (and I agree with rche on the delicious mintyness of that nippon R2 --sweeeeeet!)

Thanks for sharing your swag! Can’t wait to see more...

[samurainoir]

Love the pics! Thanks for sharing.

That R2 is really cool. Dig that box as well.

There is so much cool stuff I wish I could collect when I go to Japan. I always drool over that Kaiju stuff and Mircoman/Henshin Cyborg, not to mention all the big honkin' Shogun Warriors we never got here!

[Meule]

You may not have found everything you were looking for, but you got yourself some cool stuff right there