Shopping Guide
HELP / FAQs
By onemall 
TL;DR
As of September 2026, the Japanese toy industry is dominated by two giants — Bandai (with BANDAI SPIRITS) and Takara Tomy — surrounded by a ring of specialists: EPOCH for Sylvanian Families, Kaiyodo, Good Smile Company, Kotobukiya and Medicom Toy for figures, Tamiya for models, Re-Ment for miniatures, Beverly for puzzles and Sega Fave, FuRyu and Banpresto for arcade prizes.
- The prize and capsule brands are the ones you cannot buy abroad. Arcade prizes and Ichiban Kuji items are never sold at retail in Japan, so there is no export channel at all — only the Japanese secondary market.
- Look for the ST mark. Japan’s toy safety mark is run by the Japan Toy Association, which was founded on 1 August 1967 and started the ST mark scheme in October 1971[6]. The current standard is ST2025[7].
- A new rule landed in December 2025. Infant toys manufactured or imported from 25 December 2025 must additionally carry the “children’s PSC mark” under the revised Consumer Product Safety Act[7].
- The industry calendar is one show. TOKYO TOY SHOW 2026 ran 27–30 August 2026 at Tokyo Big Sight — two trade days, two public days — and the Japan Toy Awards 2026 winners were announced on 19 August 2026[8].
- Prices inside Japan are low. A standard Tomica is a few hundred yen; the cost of owning one abroad is shipping, not the toy.
Every major Japanese toy brand, in one table
Each brand name links to live Japanese listings, because for a lot of these there is no overseas retail channel at all.
| Toy brand | Based | Founded | What they make | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bandai | Taito-ku, Tokyo | Established 5 July 1950[1] | Character toys, Gashapon capsule toys, carddass, candy toys, Tamagotchi | The biggest character-toy company in Japan. Bandai runs separate divisions for toys, capsule toys, cards, candy toys and lifestyle goods[1]. |
| BANDAI SPIRITS | Minato-ku, Tokyo | Established 15 February 2018[1] | Gunpla and plastic models, collector figures, Ichiban Kuji, arcade prize figures | The half of Bandai that adults buy from. It runs the Bandai Hobby Center in Shizuoka and the Premium Bandai online shop[1]. |
| Takara Tomy | Katsushika-ku, Tokyo | Founded 1924; company established 17 January 1953[2] | Tomica, Plarail, Licca-chan, Transformers, Beyblade, Duel Masters, Zoids | 2,496 consolidated employees as of 31 March 2025[2]. Formed by the 2006 merger of Takara and Tomy. |
| EPOCH | Taito-ku, Tokyo | 1958 | Sylvanian Families, Aquabeads, tabletop sports games (Pokapon, soccer boards) | Sylvanian Families is Japan’s biggest doll-house export; the tabletop party games are the Japan-only half. |
| Kaiyodo | Kadoma, Osaka | Founded 1 April 1964[3] | Revoltech, Capsule Q Museum, museum-grade figures, garage kits | Started as a 1.5-tsubo model shop near Doi station[3]. Its 1998 Fist of the North Star line was the first mass-market all-Japanese-made action figure[3], and it runs Wonder Festival, Japan’s biggest figure event[3]. |
| Medicom Toy | Shibuya-ku, Tokyo | Founded 1996[4] | BE@RBRICK, KUBRICK, MAFEX, retro sofubi | KUBRICK arrived in 2000 and BE@RBRICK in 2001; Medicom says BE@RBRICK has passed 10,000 different items[4]. |
| Good Smile Company | Tokyo | 2001 | Nendoroid, figma, scale figures, Racing | The brand that made chibi collecting global. Japan-only lottery and event exclusives are the reason people import. |
| Kotobukiya | Tokyo | 1947 | ARTFX, Frame Arms Girl, Megami Device, model kits | Straddles the model-kit and figure worlds; heavy on licensed Western characters for the Japanese market. |
| Tamiya | Shizuoka | Founded May 1946[5] | Scale models, RC cars, Mini 4WD | Sold its first all-plastic kit, a 1/800 battleship Yamato, in May 1960 and its first motorised plastic model car, the 1/35 Panther tank, in January 1962[5]. Mini 4WD began in July 1982 with the Ford Ranger 4×4[5]. |
| Re-Ment | Tokyo | 1998 | Petit Sample miniature food, blind-box interiors, Sanrio and Disney miniatures | The miniature-food company. Almost the entire catalogue is a Japan-market blind box. |
| Takara Tomy A.R.T.S | Tokyo | Group company of Takara Tomy | Capsule toys, candy toys, character gacha | The gacha arm; if a capsule toy is not Bandai, it is often this. |
| Beverly (Be-en) | Tokyo | Puzzle and game maker | Jigsaw puzzles, crystal 3D puzzles, brain-teaser games | Japan’s main jigsaw house — including the world’s smallest-piece puzzles and the clear crystal puzzles. |
| Ensky | Tokyo | Character goods and puzzles | Puzzles, stickers, paper theatre, character stationery | Where a lot of anime paper goods actually come from. |
| Sega Fave (Sega Toys) | Tokyo | Toy arm of the Sega group | Homestar planetariums, Anpanman toys, arcade prize plush, Oshibaka | Also the biggest supplier of Japanese crane-game prizes. |
| FuRyu | Tokyo | Prize figures and games | Noodle Stopper figures, Trio-Try-iT, arcade prizes | Prize-only lines — not sold at retail in Japan, which is exactly why they are hard to buy abroad. |
| Banpresto | Part of the Bandai Namco group | Arcade prize figures | Ichiban Kuji and crane-game prize figures | The volume king of prize figures. |
| MegaHouse | Bandai Namco group | Collector figures and puzzles | Portrait.Of.Pirates, Lookup, Desktop Army | The One Piece collector line P.O.P is its flagship. |
| Nintendo | Kyoto | Founded 1889 as a hanafuda maker | Hanafuda and playing cards, amiibo, plush licensing | Yes, it is a toy company. Its Japanese hanafuda decks are still produced and still Japan-only. |
| Aoshima / Hasegawa / Fujimi | Shizuoka | Scale-model makers | Car, aircraft and ship kits | Shizuoka is the plastic-model capital of Japan, and these three plus Tamiya and Bandai are why. |
| Iwako | Yamagata | Novelty erasers | Puzzle erasers shaped like sushi, animals, tools | The cheap Japanese toy every foreign visitor brings home by the handful. |
The two giants
Bandai and BANDAI SPIRITS
Bandai was established on 5 July 1950 and sits in Komagata, Taito-ku, Tokyo, with ¥10 billion in capital and 886 employees as of 1 March 2026[1]. What matters for a buyer is how it is organised: separate divisions for toys, vendor (capsule toys), cards, candy toys and lifestyle goods[1]. That is why “Bandai” can mean a Gashapon capsule, a Carddass pack, a chocolate with a figure inside, and a Kamen Rider belt all at once.
BANDAI SPIRITS was split off on 15 February 2018 to handle plastic models, collector figures, Ichiban Kuji and arcade prizes[1]. It operates the Bandai Hobby Center in Nagafuchi, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka — the Gunpla factory — and the Premium Bandai online shop, which is domestic-only and is the single most common reason people end up needing a proxy[1]. If you build kits, our Gunpla and Gundam model kit guide is the companion piece.
Takara Tomy
Takara Tomy traces its founding to 1924 and its incorporation to 17 January 1953, and it is headquartered in Tateishi, Katsushika-ku, Tokyo with 2,496 consolidated employees as of 31 March 2025[2]. Its brand list is the one non-Japanese people recognise without knowing the company: Tomica, Plarail, Licca-chan, Transformers (in Japan), Beyblade, Duel Masters, Zoids and Ania[2].
Tomica is the entry drug for most collectors: a regular model costs a few hundred yen, and the Tomica Premium and Tomica Limited Vintage lines are where it gets serious — we cover those separately in the Tomica and Tomica Limited Vintage guide.
Japanese figure brands
Figures are a separate industry from toys in Japan, with its own brands, its own event (Wonder Festival) and its own distribution. Kaiyodo was founded on 1 April 1964 as a one-and-a-half-tsubo model shop near Doi station on the Keihan line[3]; it began producing resin garage kits in 1980, switched to being a figure maker in 1984, and in 1998 released the Fist of the North Star action-figure line described in its own history as the first all-Japanese-made action figure and a major hit[3]. It has run Wonder Festival since taking it over in 1992[3].
Medicom Toy was founded in 1996 in Shibuya; KUBRICK followed in 2000 as a deliberate reaction against detail-maximalism, and BE@RBRICK in 2001, which the company says has now run to more than 10,000 different items[4]. If that is your entry point, see what the most expensive BE@RBRICK figures actually sell for.
The rest of the figure world: Good Smile Company (Nendoroid and figma — see the Nendoroid guide), Kotobukiya, MegaHouse, Alter, Max Factory, Bellfine, Union Creative and the prize-only houses Banpresto, FuRyu and Taito. Where to actually buy them is covered in our Japan figure store guide.
Japanese capsule toy and prize brands
“What is that Japanese toy machine called?” is one of the most common searches in this whole cluster. The machine is a gashapon or gachapon — both spellings are used, and Bandai owns the Gashapon trademark. The main capsule brands are Bandai, Takara Tomy A.R.T.S, Kitan Club, Qualia, Yell, SO-TA, Epoch and Kenelephant. We have a full explainer on how gashapon machines work and how to buy complete sets, plus one on Ichiban Kuji, the shop-counter lottery and one on Sonny Angel and SMISKI blind boxes.
You can also just buy the machine: Bandai sells an official home Gashapon Machine Try, and a boxed unit lists at ¥6,179 on Japanese marketplaces right now.
Japanese soft toy (plush) brands
Soft toys are a different roster: San-X, Sanrio, Sekiguchi (Monchhichi), Nakajima Corporation, Amuse, Furyu (prize plush), Shinada Global (Mochi-puni), Yell, TOREBA prize plush. Sanrio and San-X are character licensors rather than toy manufacturers — the plush is made under licence by companies like Nakajima and Sekiguchi. Prize plush from crane games (Sega Fave, FuRyu, Banpresto, Taito) is again never sold at retail. Our guides to San-X characters like Sumikko Gurashi and Rilakkuma and Duffy and Friends park exclusives go into that trap in detail.
Japanese model kit and hobby brands
Shizuoka is the plastic-model capital of the world, and the reason is Tamiya. Tamiya was established in Shizuoka in May 1946 to sell timber, moved into wooden models in April 1948, released its first all-plastic kit — a 1/800 battleship Yamato — in May 1960, and its first motorised plastic model, the 1/35 Panther tank, in January 1962[5]. It exhibited at the Nuremberg toy fair for the first time in January 1968 with a 1/12 Honda F-1, which is where its reputation for scale accuracy was made[5], and it launched Mini 4WD in July 1982 with a Ford Ranger 4×4[5]. The other Shizuoka houses are Aoshima, Hasegawa, Fujimi and Bandai’s own Hobby Center.
Vintage and tin toy makers
Searches for “Japanese tin toy makers” are looking at a post-war industry that has almost entirely disappeared: Masudaya, Nomura Toy (T.N), Yonezawa, Horikawa (SH), Bandai (tin era), ATC, Ichiko, Alps. Their robots, space ships and friction cars from the 1950s and 60s are now collector items traded almost exclusively inside Japan, at Yahoo Auctions and specialist shops. The Japan Toy Museum in Himeji, Hyogo keeps the definitive public collection of Japanese folk toys, modern toys and traditional dolls; in September 2026 it is open only on weekends and public holidays because of in-house work[9].
Toy safety: the ST mark, and the new PSC rule
If you buy Japanese toys for children, learn one mark. The ST mark (Safety Toy) is administered by the Japan Toy Association, which was established on 1 August 1967, set up its toy safety committee in May 1968 and launched the ST mark scheme in October 1971[6]. A liability compensation scheme was added in October 1974[6], and it is compulsory for ST licensees — the association requires every ST contract holder to join it[7].
| Point | What the rule actually says |
|---|---|
| Current standard | ST2025 — toys passing an ST2025 conformity test may display the mark[7] |
| Who tests | Testing bodies designated by the association, not the maker itself[7] |
| How long a pass lasts | Two years from the date the test is passed[7] |
| New for infant toys | Infant toys manufactured or imported on or after 25 December 2025 must also carry the children’s PSC mark under the revised Consumer Product Safety Act; stock made or imported before that date may still be sold without it[7] |
| Discretion | The association can refuse the ST mark even for a conforming toy if it judges the item to carry a risk the standard cannot prevent[7] |
Practically: an ST mark on the box is a strong quality signal on a Japanese toy, and its absence on a Japan-market collector figure is normal — collector figures are usually labelled for ages 15+, which is outside the scheme’s target.
Where Japanese toys are actually sold — and why you cannot just order them
| Channel | What it is | Ships abroad? |
|---|---|---|
| Premium Bandai | Bandai group’s official online shop, run by BANDAI SPIRITS[1] | Domestic only for most items |
| Takara Tomy Mall | Takara Tomy’s own shop, home of Tomica Mall exclusives | Domestic only |
| Yodobashi / Bic Camera / Joshin | Big-box retail with deep toy floors | Limited, usually not |
| Yahoo! Auctions and Mercari | The used and prize-item market | Domestic only |
| Suruga-ya, Mandarake, Lashinbang | Used specialists for figures and vintage toys | Some ship abroad, at export pricing |
| Gashapon machines in shops | Physical capsule machines | No — the secondary market is the only route |
That gap is what a proxy is for: our comparison of the best Japan proxy services and the fee-by-fee cheapest-proxy breakdown are the two pieces to read before your first order.
How to buy Japan-only toys: the 6-step SOP
- Search the Japanese product name, not the English one. Tomica is トミカ, Plarail is プラレール, Sylvanian Families is シルバニアファミリー, capsule toy is カプセルトイ. English searches miss most of the market.
- Decide new or used before you search. New retail stock is on Rakuten and Amazon Japan; prize figures, discontinued Tomica and vintage tin toys only exist on Yahoo Auctions, Mercari and Suruga-ya.
- Check whether it is a full box or a single. Blind-box lines (Re-Ment, capsule toys) are sold both as a sealed BOX and as single sealed bags; the per-item price differs several-fold.
- Buy through a proxy. Paste the listing into OneMall, we purchase it to our Japanese warehouse and photograph it on arrival.
- Consolidate, then think about volume. Toys are light and bulky — the classic case where volumetric weight, not actual weight, sets the shipping price. Removing outer cartons (where the box is not part of the collectible) can drop you a whole rate band.
- Keep boxes if the toy is a collectible. For Tomica, figures and Sylvanian, the box is part of the value. This is the one case where you should pay the volumetric penalty on purpose.
Traditional and classic Japanese toys, and what they are called
A large share of “Japanese toy” searches are actually asking for a name. Here are the ones people look for:
| Toy | Japanese name | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| The ball-and-stick toy / toy with a string and ball | けん玄 (kendama) | A wooden cup-and-ball skill toy with a certification system and competitions — see our kendama guide |
| Spinning top | こま (koma) | Regional wooden tops; Beyblade is its modern descendant |
| Roly-poly doll | 達磨 (daruma) | A wish doll, not strictly a toy, sold at temples and toy shops alike |
| Bean bags | お手玄 (otedama) | The traditional juggling toy |
| Paper balloon | 紙風船 (kamifusen) | The cheap paper “toy ball” every Japanese festival stall sells |
| Digital pet / egg toy | たまごっち (Tamagotchi) | Bandai’s egg-shaped virtual pet, still in production and still with Japan-only colourways |
| Capsule vending machine / dispenser | ガシャポン / ガチャガチャ | The coin-operated capsule toy machine — the answer to “what is that Japanese toy machine name” |
| Toy train sets | プラレール (Plarail) | Takara Tomy’s battery train system; the Shinkansen, Yamanote line and JR liveries are the Japan-only appeal |
| Tin toys | ブリキ玄具 | Post-war tinplate robots, cars and airplanes; makers’ marks (TN, SH, ATC, Y) are how collectors identify them |
Other things that show up constantly in this cluster and are real product categories in Japan: toy drums and toy instruments (Kawai and Sega Toys both make them), toy phones, toy ambulances, trucks, airplanes and bullet trains (Tomica and Plarail cover all four), squishy jelly and fidget toys, learning or educational toys (知育玩具, a huge domestic category led by Kumon, People and Ed Inter), plush dogs, bunnies, bears and monkeys, and the seasonal toy advent calendar.
More Japanese toys people search for by description
A marble is a bidama (ビー玄) and marble runs are a staple pre-school toy; LaQ is Japan’s own construction-block system, made in Nara and genuinely different from Lego; Yo-kai Watch toys and their Medals were the mid-2010s craze; the toy “you have to keep alive” is the Tamagotchi; the toy camera aisle is a Don Quijote fixture and a Japanese sub-genre of its own; and the Zero fighter plane is the most-modelled Japanese aircraft in the hobby kit catalogues. Add plush rabbits, fish and owls, electronic toy laptops for language learning, hand-eye coordination toys for toddlers, and the domestic obsession with toy packaging — which is why box condition drives resale value and why Japanese toy commercials are a collectible in their own right.
Japanese toy stores: where to buy in person, and what the online equivalents are
| Store | What it is best for | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Hakuhinkan Toy Park | Japan’s largest and most famous toy store | Ginza, Tokyo |
| Kiddy Land | Character goods, Sanrio and San-X floors | Harajuku and nationwide |
| Yodobashi Camera / Bic Camera / Joshin | Deep toy and hobby floors, point-card pricing | Nationwide |
| Yamashiroya | Six floors of character toys opposite Ueno station | Ueno, Tokyo |
| Don Quijote | Cheap toys, capsule machines, the toy camera and novelty aisle | Nationwide, mostly 24h |
| Akihabara and Nakano Broadway | The figure and vintage toy district | Tokyo |
| Suruga-ya, Mandarake, Hard Off, Book Off, Jalan Jalan Japan | Second-hand and thrift toys, including vintage tin and discontinued lines | Nationwide + online |
| Premium Bandai, Takara Tomy Mall | Maker-exclusive online releases | Online, domestic-only |
Nearly every one of those is domestic-facing, whether it is a physical shop or a website — which is the whole point of buying through a proxy rather than hunting for an exporter or a wholesale distributor.
Rules, tariffs and the toy gun question
- Toy guns. Japan regulates airsoft and model guns tightly: toy guns sold in Japan must stay under the legal muzzle-energy limit, and the Japanese-market brands (Tokyo Marui, KSC, Marushin) build to it. Importing them is governed by your country’s rules, which in several countries prohibit realistic replicas outright. Check before you buy, not after.
- Import duty and tariffs. Toys are usually a low-duty category, but the threshold that matters is your own country’s de minimis. Battery-powered toys and toys containing lithium cells add a shipping restriction, not a tariff one.
- Recalls and safety notices are published by the Japan Toy Association, which also maintains a public ST mark search site[7].
- The association’s own name is the Japan Toy Association (JTA), established 1 August 1967[6]; the Tokyo trade fair it runs was renamed from the Tokyo International Toy Fair to the Tokyo Toy Show in 1982[6].
Which Japanese toys are worth buying, by age
For babies and toddlers, the domestic strength is wooden and educational toys — People, Ed Inter, Kumon and the Sylvanian baby lines — and this is exactly the segment where the ST mark and the new children’s PSC mark matter[7]. For kids, the best-selling Japanese toys are Tomica, Plarail, Beyblade, Duel Masters, Sylvanian Families and whatever anime is currently airing. For adults — the “kidult” segment the Japanese industry now openly targets[8] — it is figures, Gunpla, Tomica Limited Vintage, capsule toys and Re-Ment miniatures. The popular Japanese toy that keeps recurring on foreign wish lists, incidentally, is the one nobody can name: the Iwako puzzle eraser.
Niches inside the Japanese toy market
A few corners worth knowing because they have no real equivalent abroad. Dinosaur and natural-history figures are a serious Japanese category, led by Kaiyodo’s museum work and its Capsule Q Museum line[3]. Music boxes (オルゴール) from Sankyo are sold as toys and as souvenirs. Convenience store and supermarket toy aisles carry candy toys and blind bags that never reach a toy shop. Regional capsule toys exist — Okinawa, Hokkaido and airport-only gacha are a collecting sub-genre. Trains with sound, working traffic-light play sets and pull-back cars fill the pre-school shelves. And Japan has a distinct designer toy artist scene — the sofubi makers who sell at Wonder Festival and Design Festa, often as one-person studios, whose work is sold at a Japanese toy convention and nowhere else.
On the trade side: a Japanese toy wholesaler or distributor sells to shops, not to you, and toy regulation in Japan means the ST scheme plus the Consumer Product Safety Act rules described above[7] — and, for anything gun-shaped, the Firearms and Swords Control Law.
Japanese toy crazes, then and now
Japan produces a toy craze roughly every three years, and each one leaves a collectible market behind: menko cards in the 1950s, tinplate robots in the 1960s, Choro-Q pullback cars and Gundam plastic models in the 1980s, Tamagotchi and Pokémon in the 1990s, Beyblade and Bakugan in the 2000s, Ichiban Kuji and capsule toys through the 2010s, and blind-box designer toys now. A few recurring shapes: the toy watch and egg-shaped digital pet (Tamagotchi and its imitators), the pico-pico hammer (ピコピコハンマー, the squeaky toy hammer from Japanese variety shows), character plush like Yoshi and Kirby from the Nintendo licensees, and the current blind-box wave — which in Japan means Sonny Angel and SMISKI domestically, and imported Pop Mart lines like Labubu alongside them.
Two practical notes for buyers. Japanese toy company logos are trademarked and widely faked on resale sites, so a crisp printed logo and an intact ST or maker seal on the box are part of authentication. And toy news — new releases, lottery dates, Premium Bandai order windows — is published on the maker sites in Japanese first and often nowhere else, which is exactly why overseas collectors miss the order window rather than the product.
FAQ
What is the biggest Japanese toy company?
Bandai, taken together with BANDAI SPIRITS and the wider Bandai Namco group, followed by Takara Tomy. Bandai alone reports ¥10 billion in capital and 886 employees[1]; Takara Tomy reports 2,496 consolidated employees[2].
What are the most famous Japanese toy brands?
By recognition outside Japan: Tomica, Plarail, Sylvanian Families, Transformers, Beyblade, Tamagotchi, Nendoroid, figma, BE@RBRICK, Gunpla and Tamiya Mini 4WD. Nine of those eleven belong to Bandai, Takara Tomy, EPOCH, Good Smile or Tamiya.
What is that Japanese capsule toy machine called?
A gashapon (or gachapon) machine. The word is onomatopoeia for the crank and the drop. Bandai holds the Gashapon trademark; the generic Japanese term is カプセルトイ.
Is the ST mark the same as CE or ASTM?
No. ST is Japan’s own toy safety standard, run by the Japan Toy Association since October 1971[6], currently ST2025[7]. It is not a substitute for CE (Europe) or ASTM F963 (US) — a Japan-market toy is certified for Japan.
When is the Tokyo toy show?
TOKYO TOY SHOW 2026 was held 27–30 August 2026 at Tokyo Big Sight: two business days followed by two public days, alongside the Korokoro Damashii Festival[8]. It is organised by the Japan Toy Association, which also runs the Japan Toy Awards — the 2026 winners were published on 19 August 2026[8].
Related reading
- Japanese guitar brands and Japanese skincare brands — the other two brand maps in this series
- the most expensive anime figures — what the top of the figure market looks like
- Japan-only amiibo — a Nintendo-side example of the same domestic-exclusive problem
Last updated: 10 September 2026. Company facts checked against manufacturer and association pages on 10 September 2026; prices from live Japanese listings the same day.
References
- Bandai Co., Ltd. — Company profile, including BANDAI SPIRITS. bandai.co.jp
- Takara Tomy — Company outline (会社概要). takaratomy.co.jp
- Kaiyodo Co., Ltd. — Company information and history. kaiyodo.co.jp
- Medicom Toy Corporation — Company information and history. medicomtoy.co.jp
- Tamiya Inc. — Company history (沿革). tamiya.com
- Japan Toy Association — association outline and chronology. toys.or.jp
- Japan Toy Association — Toy Safety Mark scheme rules (ST2025, PSC mark, two-year test validity). toys.or.jp
- TOKYO TOY SHOW 2026 — official site, dates and Japan Toy Awards. tokyotoyshow.com
- Japan Toy Museum, Himeji — opening information and exhibitions. japan-toy-museum.org