Yeah, as far as I know, Takara-Tomy has the exclusive license to produce Thomas engines for the Japanese market. Alternately, there doesn't seem to be a big retail market for US/ Western market goods to go to Japan (like the way we have places like Hobby Link Japan, Hobby Search, et al.). There isn't a dedicated Japanese version of eBay either and it isn't real easy for sellers in North America and Europe to sell through Yahoo Japan auctions.
I saw a similar thing happen some years ago when I was an avid GI Joe collector. In the late '90s- early 2000s, figures that were easy to find at retail for say $25 here in the US would go for ¥6000-8000 or more on the Japanese secondary market. Even with the advent of online retail, it never really evened out. Many of the Asian collectors I knew really entered the hobby when Hong Kong based companies got in to the market and their products were more accessible throughout Eastern Asia.
I saw a similar thing happen some years ago when I was an avid GI Joe collector. In the late '90s- early 2000s, figures that were easy to find at retail for say $25 here in the US would go for ¥6000-8000 or more on the Japanese secondary market. Even with the advent of online retail, it never really evened out. Many of the Asian collectors I knew really entered the hobby when Hong Kong based companies got in to the market and their products were more accessible throughout Eastern Asia.
![[-]](https://www.blueplastictracks.org/images/collapse.png)