I am travelling to Japan next month and will have some free time in Tokyo. Does anyone have thoughts on buying model railroad items there? Are goods by Kato less expensive than in the US? American prototypes available? Any recommendations on good places to shop for model trains? Thanks for your input!
Bill
I can’t really specak for current times but I was there in the late 80’s and went to the Tenshodo office in Tokyo and several department stores. Nothing was cheaper than here. There were some offerings that weren’t available here but I wasn’t impressed. There was also a reluctance to deal with people from the USA. I was there for a business meeting with an Englishman and a Frenchman and we tried an experiment. We all approached a disply of CD players one at a time. In both cases the guys I was with bargained regarding price. I was given a take it or leave it price. If you are looking for the latest in elctronics visit the Sony display in Tokyo and shop the Akiabara. The elctronics being offered when I was there were two to three years ahead of what was being offered in the USA. Be careful when buying a radio however. Japan uses different frequencies and you might not be able to pick up our range of stations. both guys I was with had come by way of Hong Kong and said the bargains there were much better than Tokyo.
I visited Tokyo last year. The Tenshodo display is still at their offices and while I really enjoyed being able to view the great models, the prices were astronomical.
I found three really great hobby shops that were well stocked and interesting to visit, especially with each of them having models that I have not seen for sale here in the states. You can get much, much better pricing by buying here in the U.S., especially when you use a high volume internet or mail order site. I found no bargains and nothing of enough interest to spend any money. The experience of visiting these stores was a lot of fun and I’m glad I did, but just like in Hong Kong or Singapore there are no true bargains in the hobby or electronics stores any longer. Our American dollar has lost value in the exchange which doesn’t help.
ndbprr,
Akiabara! I haven’t heard (or read) that name in years. I was in the USAF and stationed just outside of Tokyo in the 60’s. We used to go there and have a ball looking at all the many goodies and the dirt cheap prices was so tempting, even with military pay. Of course there was 360 Yen to the dollar then[:D] I don’t think anything is cheap in Japan now.[:(]
REX
Hi, Bill
I live about an hour from downtown Tokyo by train. I don’t shop in Tokyo much, but there are a couple excellent hobby shops in my neighborhood that I frequent. KATO stuff is probably not much cheaper here, if at all, than it is from the internet wholesale houses, and there are very few US or European prototypes available. N scale is much more popular here than HO, but the places I visit most often have a decent selection of HO locomotives, too. The bad news is that HO is much more expensive than N over here. There is very little available in any of the other scales, although there may be specialty shops that I’m unaware of. If you are interested in buying some Japanese prototype steamers or coaches or more modern rolling stock, you’ll have a ball. Most modern Japanese trains are electric, but diesels still run in rural areas. There is a wide selection of models of most Japanese prototypes available. You can get an “N” scale steam locomotive for $60-80 and a full consist for $100-150, generally speaking.
I’ve got some pictures of Japanese “N” scale rolling stock on my web page below, if you’re interested in looking.
If you want, I could give you a little tour of the shops in my area when you are over here. And, if you’re interested, you could come visit my layout. You would be the first person of other than Japanese descent to see it in person!
You can contact me at my email: skinnyv2@m2.pbc.ne.jp if you’ve got any questions.
I doubt the Kato stuff is any cheaper in Japan and in the US. I found the same thing with the Marklin and LGB stuff in Germany. I wasn’t worth carrying the stuff back. If you mail it back, postage will erase any savings in price even if you don’t have to pay anything to customs.
BC