def Posted June 17, 2009 Posted June 17, 2009 This won't be important to many, but it is for me. I can finally see what sets are available domestically, and not have to flip between the Japanese Amazon and Toys R Us website to try and figure it out. And maybe they'll eventually have a shop at home or a Lego store in Tokyo. Every new country TLG invades is a good thing. And considering Japan is the second biggest market in the world, with loads of adult collectors, and no Mega Blocks for sale, the market seems relatively untapped (though recently there's been a toy called NanoBlocks released, kind of 1/4 scale Lego). Anyway, it's another notch in Lego's belt. http://market.lego.com/ja-jp/Default.aspx <edit> RRR Already noticed that the Pirates 6253 available at Toys R Us in Japan isn't shown on the website, nor the Count Dooku thing. Damned exclusivity offers! Shop @ home can't come fast enough! Quote
Peppermint_M Posted June 18, 2009 Posted June 18, 2009 (edited) Good for you Also: That's odd, I thought there was Megablocks in Japan, I was enviouse of their Gundam and Pokemon lisences that seemed exclusive to Japan to the point that the boxes weren't in english, or even romanised text... EDIT: I found some.. in Japanese, with prices in Yen, with a sort of "double" import price, as they are bought from Japan and I have to buy them from America... Edited June 18, 2009 by Peppermint_M Quote
def Posted June 18, 2009 Author Posted June 18, 2009 Well, I've never seen Mega Blocks here. I've only been looking a lot in the last year or so though. Toys R Us doesn't have any on the shelves in my area, but a quick check of their Rakuten site shows a total of 12 for sale http://item.rakuten.co.jp/toysrus/c/0000002325/ compared to Lego's 100+. Not much competition here I guess. Toys R Us has K'nex displayed prominently though. Quote
def Posted June 18, 2009 Author Posted June 18, 2009 No idea. I rely on this site http://legojapan.seesaa.net/ for Lego Japan news. But, Amazon Japan regularly sells at 30-50% of Lego's MSP, with free shipping, so under that business model, it could only sell exclusives there. But, I'll post when the site expands. It's pretty slender right now. Quote
larry marak Posted June 18, 2009 Posted June 18, 2009 def, is DiaBlock still the primary brick company in Japan? Their company website is still up and they seem to be current with their sets from the Transformers movie. (For those Americans reading this, Diablock was sold in the U.S. for 2 decades in the 70's and 80's as Lok Bloks and Brix Blox (Sears label). Quote
def Posted June 18, 2009 Author Posted June 18, 2009 def, is DiaBlock still the primary brick company in Japan? Their company website is still up and they seem to be current with their sets from the Transformers movie. (For those Americans reading this, Diablock was sold in the U.S. for 2 decades in the 70's and 80's as Lok Bloks and Brix Blox (Sears label). They exist, but they aren't strong. It turns out that they are the makers of Nano Block, mentioned in my first post (and looks quite interesting, a less toy-looking Lego copy) But, the whole of the company only has a single page on the Toys R Us site rakuten . On Amazon, they have a lot more, but lots are a few years old amazon. There's a fair amount on Yahoo Auction Auction but it's a small percentage of Lego, which needs to be broken up into categories. I live in a small city (400,000 people) so there's no massive stores, but Toys R Us has a Lego aisle and few Diablocks. I've seen them in department stores too, but the toy selection is really low and there's 2-3 times as much Lego. I do most of my shopping on the internet (amazon or Yahoo auction), but I'll take a deeper look next time I'm in Tokyo Quote
def Posted June 22, 2009 Author Posted June 22, 2009 I went to Toys R Us today, and looked around a little harder for Mega Blocks and DiaBlocks, and did see some. They only had pre-school style Mega Blocks, and only 3-4 different sets. There were about 7-8 Diablocks sets, but they were a little weird looking, like, two came with a finished vehicle. They don't even let you build it Also strange was that there was a Thomas the Tank Diablocks set, but around the corner was a Duplo Thomas the Tank set. I don't quite understand, but I suppose the brand was in a transitional period, and one of them is a leftover. Anyway, I saw Agents on the shelf today. Didn't buy any, but they were reasonably priced. But, they aren't listed on Toys R Us website, nor on Lego's Japan website. This whole Lego Japan is in shambles right now! Let's give them some time to get things in order. Quote
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