You're very welcome and it was an EYEOPENER when I got to Japan. Here in the US, the "industry is dying!" but over there, holy crap! Complete opposite! You have no idea how many new products are introduced weekly by the two heavyweights, Kato and Tomix and there are a ton of supporting smaller companies that contribute so much to the hobby. So in a way, Kato will never go away in the US unless there was some serious mismanagement in the US office. I think one contributing reason is that 1:1 railroading is very alive and well and people like to model what they see day in and day out. We see a lot of freight and very little passenger so art imitates life. Too bad Amtrak (and the government is to blame too!) can't get it's act together and be run like the Shinkansens in Japan.
Now that I've finally found some train "souvenirs" )) to take home and went back a second day to get more, I decided to slow it down a little and see what else does Super Kids Land have. On the way up to the 5th floor where the trains were located I did go past an ENTIRE floor labeled Tamiya. Many of you, growing up, will know what that meant. I decided to go to that floor and the first thing I saw getting off the escalator was this. Just like the train floor, it was a sign of what's to come. Round the corner, O-M-G, another IN-YOUR-FACE-TEMPTATION that only the Japanese can pull off. Plastic model kits that took over the entire floor! Here are ship models: Airplanes to the left and land vehicles to the right: There were brands and models that I've never seen before or even know they existed. Boy, if I was into this as I was when I was a kid, definitely a spare suitcase would have been bought! BTW, once again, how clean is that floor (and how organized the merchandise are)???? Further down, on the 2nd Floor was "Model Tools and Supplies". I kick myself for not taking any pictures. Imagine the same floor space as the train section on the 5th Floor but covered with tools, paints, raw materials, supplies, airbrushes, etc. There was one rack where I estimated 30 different types of tweezers alone! All were Made In Japan so you know the quality will be excellent. I don't think they export these as I've never seen them in the US, not even mail order. I was tempting to get some but they are probably a no no for carry on luggage. Finally, though the trip isn't over yet, it's kind of obvious that I'm more of a photographer than a videographer. But since my camera has video capabilities I decided to shoot a two and a half minute video of the train section. Everything in the video has been posted in the form of pictures above but seeing it "live" gives you another perspective of the monstrosity of the place. Remember, this is only about TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT of the entire train department! I apologize for panning so fast and that you couldn't make out some of the models. Amateur! View this in full screen to get the full effect. There should be a 1080 resolution available as I recorded this in HD.
WOW! Just WOW!!! I could spend a whole vacation just wandering around in that store. What an experience that had to be!!!
That aisle with all the Tamiya models is freaking insane! That diorama of the German WW2 soldiers brought back some memories. I used to build a ton of those miniature kits back in the day. Thanks for sharing.
I had to do a follow-up to seeing that aisle of models. I remember back in the early nineties I was stationed at MCAS Iwakuni. We had a friendship day where the locals were invited onto base. I remember watching a group of photographers going step by step taking very detailed photos of our military equipment. As a young Lance Corporal I voiced concerns to my Gunny that these photographers were "spies". He laughed at me and informed they were all model builders, and they took their model making very seriously in Japan.
Wow, that's a cool story. Yeah, I would think they would be spies too! It's similar to us when we are let loose in a train yard or facility.
After dealing with my good friend Mike's passing (Secret Weapon) and preparing, participating and winding down from Amherst/Springfield train show (a great weekend!), it's time to get back to this to close things out. Since we ended our trip in Osaka, we had to fly back to Tokyo for our connecting flight back to the US. We flew out of Itami Airport in Osaka which is their domestic airport so things were not as crazy as their international airport. We flew on ANA, Air Nippon Airways, Japan's domestic carrier. The experience, even in Economy, was like First Class. The crew was fantastic. Call them a sexist society but all the flight attendants were female, young, thin, and look like models! Security was so fast and refreshing! Imagine, smiling employees greeting you, helping you get through and get this, no need to remove your shoes! I think the no removal of shoes really sped up the line. If it works there, why do we have to remove our shoes in the US?????? After security you were greeted with this lounge (for the gate we were flying out of). Orderly, quiet, polite people and CLEAN! Did I mention CLEAN???!!!! Things had to go precisely at Tokyo since the connect time was very short. ANY delays at Osaka would have made us miss the connecting flight. Though now that I think about it, it would not have been bad to spend an extra night in Tokyo. More trains? I knew there was a thunderstorm coming. As I nervously sit and wait for the flight I see this out of the windows! Doesn't look good at all! I text that picture to a friend of mine in the US who grew up in Japan. He laughed at my concerns. He text back "Don't worry! This is Japan. They will take off on time and you will make your connection in Tokyo unless Godzilla shows up." Sure enough boarding was precisely on time! Once in the plane and all strapped in I looked out the window and see the aircraft handler, or whatever you call that person. Interesting note that it was a woman. Not that I care but I don't remember a woman doing that job in the US - I probably haven't flown enough in the US. Anyway, the surprising thing was when she released the plane from the gate area, she bowed to all the passengers from the tarmac and then waved to everyone. She continued to wave until she was out of our sight. Wow, amazing dedication to her job! But, as the plane taxied to the runway line up for take off, I was greeted with this sight out my window. Damn! Really? It's going to be a rough take off! However, like my friend said, we took off on time. I was AMAZED that it was a smooth take off as the pilot steered away from the storm. In minutes we were in sunny blue skies with a great view of Japan. With this post, I close out my trip with all of you. Thank you for having the patient to follow along. I appreciate all the Likes. It was fun doing this, allowing me to re-live my trip with all of you. Hopefully you have gotten a sense of what the train scene, both 1:1 and N-Scale, is like in Japan. Although I have no horse in the race, hopefully one day, all of you can visit that amazing country. If I happen to come across more interesting pictures from my trip, I'll post them here. I'm still going over the thousands of photos that we took! Should you have any questions, whether they are about Japanese trains, the experience, the food, how to get there, etc., please post it here. I will try to answer them. But this concludes the thread. THANK YOU ALL!
Thanks for this great thread. I thoroughly enjoyed following your Japanese adventures and learned a lot as well.
Thank you MK, now I know what I missed, I have to up my hobby shop game during my next visit By the way, All Nippon Airways is also an international airline, we prefer them to Japan Airlines or any of the US airlines, plus they fly the only nonstop San Francisco to Kansai International. Adding a bit more to the Osaka 1:1 train scene, Osaka has a monorail which runs across the north side of the city out to Itami Airport: And, what I think is the most anime-cool train in all of Japan, the Nankai Railway Rapi:t Airport Express that runs from Osaka Namba to Kansai International: Thanks again!
I have this model in N scale, a 6 car train, powered, that will run on my layout as an express train.
My only personal memory of Japan is a lot shorter, and didn't involve any trains. Back about 20 years or so now-- this would be between 2001 and 2005-- I was on my way to Singapore for business, and needed to change planes, and airlines, at Narita Airport in Tokyo. I was met at the gate by someone who was assigned to help me navigate from one gate... and, I believe, one terminal, to another to make my connection. I am convinced I would still be blundering my way around the airport trying to figure it out if it were not for this assistant. It may have been an attribute of the business class ticket I had... not first class, business class... but can I even imagine that kind of help on a domestic airline at any level of service?
My personal memories of Japan are even less. Get off plane and go to a special lounge. Get back on a plane and continue to destination. 6 months later reverse the process until we arrive at Ft. Campbell, Tennessee. Lots more fun than Anchorage and Cold Bay, Alaska.
We flew Business to and from Narita on United. Can't say much as it's your typical US airline. Yes, some of the privileges of Business were afforded like early board, more space for luggage, lie flat seats and all the dining accoutrements of flying Business. But in the end it's a US airline. I have been told to try foreign airline Business and it will blow your socks away; JAL, Singapore, Qaatar, etc. Anyway, we ended our trip in a different city, Osaka, so we had to fly back to Narita. (It would have been great if we could do the Shinkansen again but we just didn't have the time.) We flew ANA, a Japanese carrier. Class of service was Economy. All I can say is that customer service was much better on ANA than United even though United was Business! All the ANA employees that we had encountered treated us like we were the CEO of ANA! Overall, the entire time we were in Japan, we felt like we were honored guests. The hotels, the restaurants, the mass transit employees, the shops, even McDonald's! It says something about their culture.
New member here. I found this thread to be very interesting and informative. Trains in all forms is part of Japanese society and history. NHK, Japan's national public broadcasting network has a weekly show called "Japan Railway Journal". They cover every little operation and aspect of Japan's railway system. NHK is broadcast on many over the air station here and online like Roku for free. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFEzXnIQVwV8iYnDUHSuw3stzaF8rleM1&si=pMnMmFxuiNvE63DK
