Japanese trading card maker Bushi Road president Kidani-san & VP Kurokawa-san are in town this week.
Guests are visiting LA left and right!
But it’s all good, since it’s fun to get out of the office every once in a while. I just wish it wasn’t two weeks in a row.
Anyway, I picked them up at the airport & after a brief meeting at our office, we went to different retail stores for information gathering.
We first went to Toys R Us to see what kind of card games they sell in a major retail chain. Of course it’s the typical stuff like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Star Wars. Kidani-san’s assistant was wondering why they don’t sell plastic models in the US Toys R Us… I gave him my analysis, but if you guys have your own thoughts, let me know.
Then we visited three different types of hobby stores that carry trading cards.
One was a sports card shop that also sold trading cards. The second one was a tabletop gaming store, which was interesting since it’s a world I’m not that familiar with. The third was a comic book store that also carried Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh & Pokemon cards.
We also stopped by Best Buy, where Kidani-san bought a bunch of wrestling DVDs. I was happy to present my point card at Best Buy to accumulate points for a free gift card. Best Buy hasn’t sent one to me yet… but I have a good amount of points, since I earn all the points from my guests. Hmmm… I should look it up online.
Oh, we ate ToGo’s for lunch (we ate salad wraps, which they said were too big). And we ate at Torafuku for dinner.
We stopped by Power Anime after dinner & talked to store owner Reggie for a long time. Kidani-san’s assistant will be stopping by tomorrow to ask Reggie a bunch of questions about the anime market. So if you’re in the LA area, go to the Power Anime store between 12pm - 4pm to give your input on the anime market. It’ll be included in his master’s dissertation (I have no idea what he’s getting a master’s degree for).
We also plan on going to Anime Jungle tomorrow for The Girl Who Leapt Through Time release party. See you all there!
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“Kidani-san’s assistant was wondering why they don’t sell plastic models in the US Toys R Us… I gave him my analysis, but if you guys have your own thoughts, let me know.”
They used to sell Gundam kits back when Wing was popular. If they don’t anymore, I imagine it’s either because the target audience is more likely to be into Lego, or video games have pretty much killed the toy market here.
“One was a sports card shop that also sold trading cards.”
Glad it could be helpful-assuming it’s the one I recommended. I’m actually surprised you found more than one store, because it was a pain for me to Google.
“We also stopped by Best Buy, where Kidani-san bought a bunch of wrestling DVDs.
Is he into the hardcore stuff or the “fake” stuff? Next time he shows up, maybe you can take him to that Aronofsky flick. ^_-
I never recall seeing plastic models in Toys’r'us outside the Gundam Wing period when they were marketing them seriously, but it isn’t like I go there often. I guess in America they’re considered more as hobby stuff than as toys.