Father seeks trustworthy person to help buy Tomica trains for son

[wdbroun]

Hello! My 5-year-old son is a huge fan of Tomy-Takara-Tomica Plarail Hypercity trains, rail sets, and action figures. The problem is, only one store in the US is licensed to carry Tomica products, and the item selection is extremely limited.
There are a few internet sellers who offer a small selection of Tomica Plarail trains, but again, the selection is very limited.
I am seeking a trustworthy person in Japan who might be able to assist me in buying a small amount of Tomica products from a Japan-based store. Ideally, I'm looking for someone who has a long history of posting on this forum. I could send money to cover purchases and shipping to the USA through Paypal.
I'm not sure how I could repay such a person, but I am willing to consider any suggestions! Perhaps I could send some small product from the USA that's hard to find in Japan?
Let me be clear about one thing: I am not talking about a large amount of Tomica toys (probably less than $150 USD). There are just a few things that are impossible to get here in the USA, and we're not sure how to obtain them.
Thanks for reading this!

 

[undrentide]

Have you tried Rakuten, one of the biggest online shopping mall in Japan?
Here's the list of "plarail" items which can be shipped to the US.
http://search.borderless.rakuten.co...=0&vm=2&sm=0&sp.st=&t=new&tl=101164&k=plarail

Most shops accept credit carts (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, Diners, etc.) and some shops PayPal.
http://event.rakuten.co.jp/borderless/infoservice/en/shoppingsteps/

 

[wdbroun]

Have you tried Rakuten, one of the biggest online shopping mall in Japan?
Here's the list of "plarail" items which can be shipped to the US.

Hey, that's a very helpful and tantalizing site. Unfortunately, many of the things we would be interested in are marked "sold out," but still, this is great info, and I thank you! It is certainly better than Ebay.

 

[Glenski]

Perhaps if you listed what you want, people might be more willing to help.

 

[wdbroun]

Perhaps if you listed what you want, people might be more willing to help.

Thanks, good idea. I can't post links because I'm too new -- already tried -- but here are some Plarail items, some with numbers:

Shinkansen Mega Trailer * (especially)
HGV-01 Blue Chaser
HGV-02 Yellow Mover
HGV-03 Red Search
HGV-04 White Saver
Hyper Guardian Large Rotating Station (Daikaiten Station)
J-24 Train Base
E2 Hayate & E3 Komachi Coupled Shinkansen Set

We would love to get any of these things, but there are literally hundreds of other possibilities.

Plarail was introduced to the USA on a limited basis by Toys R Us last year, but the product line has failed miserably here for reasons I can't understand.

 

[Rube]

Damn wished I read this a while back, just gave my kid's set to the local kindergarden. They had about 2 of everything from the entire line.

 

[Yaka11]

I am desperately searching too!

I am searching for the exact same thing, however, my boys are looking for more of the Tomica "sets" for various city things, like:
The mountain set, the highway set, the big highway set, and others, I have exact names and pictures...we don't care if they are used, if you have the box it would be the best because my sons seem to like the boxes as much as the toys too!
I do not know why toys r us had a rough time, as the commercials were a hit..maybe it's because they did not carry any of the really COOL, more traditional Tomica/TOMY stuff, so when kids like my sons and others go online, they want the GOOD stuff, not the sets from toys r us which are pretty generic and not much choice!
Anyway, it's been a battle for months around my house, as our two boys and girl all love tomica, and our boys both have Autism which means they tend to not forget, so we are almost daily searching!
I DID purchase a few things online from eBay, and even contacted a few of the larger to mica/TOMY sellers (may I ask why most are selling from hong kong and not japan?)...and even though we are trying to buy all from one person, and what we want is probably at least a few hundred dollars, you would think I would get some sort of deal? Ha! OUTRAGEOUS prices..and I know shipping will be expensive, but with such wildly differing prices and wildly different shipping costs I know I am being way over priced!
My boys have been saving every Christmas and holiday and birthday and other money for almost 1 and a half YEARS for these sets, which is super hard for a 6 and 7 yr old to do, to keep focus and determination to save that long, especially when they have issues waiting a day for anything! Lol!
So,
Please let me know asap! Thanks!
Angie
mom to Ethan, Alex, and Megan

 

[Rube]

If you want new toys at a cheap price I would go yahoo shopping sites in Japan and check. They aren't supposed to sell off the net but they all do if you ask. I get stuff shipped to me constantely and the prices are cheaper.

This place has loads of sets and cars
おもちゃのトキワ屋 - 定番プラレール用レール・情景（プラレール 電車）｜Yahoo!ショッピング

I found their number on the net easily enough by googling their name, should be pretty easy to call them and place an order (if you know Japanese)