Tomica & Toy Car Hunting in Taiwan

It's another exciting Go! Go! Tomica adventure of toy car hunting trip round the world! Maybe I should be a little more precise. This is actually a guided tour in Taiwan rather than the usual free and easy traveling I usually had. I promised my parents last year that I will bring them to visit Taiwan and so, I did it again after 2.5 years since Hong Kong 2009. I would say it's an excellent trip as we had a very good tour guide. We travel in a VW passenger van rather than a coach because there are only 6 of us and eventually become friends with the other family of 3.

Not many people know that there is a Tomica Shop (or maybe 2 or 3 branches already, not sure) outside Japan. Taiwan should be the only Tomica Shop franchise out of Japan and they are known as Tomica Square rather. Ok, I think you might be asking if Tomica Square is a tourist spot in Taiwan since we are joining a guided tour. We reach Taiwan around 1630hrs on Mother's Day, the guided tour started on day 2 so I have the time to go to Tomica Square which is just 2.2km away from our hotel.

Sorry, I couldn't get the right lighting on the above photo especially for those who really enlarge my photo to the fullest scrutinizing all cars in my photo. You might like to know the main difference in Tomica Square of Taipei and Tomica Shop in Tokyo since I been to both. No "Factory Tomica", no "Tomica Shop Tomica", no "Event Tomica" but that is not a loss. There isn't Toy Project series as well, maybe there's a similar Pooh Pig in Taipei vacuum all of them befoe my arrival. I certainly do hope they have those special edition when I visit Taiwan again. I say again because my parents do like Taiwan a lot so we might be thinking to do a revisit. I suggested Bangkok and Korea but they say no. I don't think I will suggest China with the exception of Guangzhou. All toys in the world are made there, that's why.

A rejoice for TLV collectors, they do sell Tomica Limited Vintage in Tomica Square. I bought a few only as they are not low price like the regular ones. It's relieve that TLV did not release any Lamborghini yet as I cannot imagine Tomica stockist or buyers pre-ordering 5 cartons of those, not to mention 50 pieces. I really need to consider even to buy 5 pieces of the same model and colour variant on any TLV. I know some are that crazy to spend his entire monthly wage on the same model variant here in Singapore. It's also a relieve that there isn't a distributor of TLV in Singapore.  

Who says that Honda Showroom is a total sold out? They filled up a portion of the shelve in Tomica Square. The reason why it is rare in our shops due to Tomica stockist bought them as soon as new stocks arrived in our stores. Note that I say "rare in our shop" not that this is a rare item. It's seems that our Singaporean stockist got a very deep pocket. 

This is something I wanted very much but I couldn't afford it. I couldn't afford the space as I am likely to fill up my luggage if I buy one box of each. I started grabbing the largest one but had to give it up after 1 minute. It's a huge item considering it is day 1 and my mum will definitely fill up every possible space with local treats for relatives and friends. I hold on to set in the middle the longest. I unwillingly give it up after 10 minutes. I really wanted 2 sets of the same but did not buy even one eventually. I do not want the smallest set as I didn't even pick it up to check the price. I will snap at my friends if they were to ask me buying similar size objects on their behalf. I couldn't understand why there are still people preparing a shopping list before their friends' trip regardless of business or leisure. One should be more considerate towards others than to put his own convenience as priority.

After paying for the Tomica, I browsed around the toy department in the same complex to check out what they offer. If you think the Siku range is pathetic, wait till you check the Hot Wheels offerings. I took the photo but I forgotten to add it after the Siku photo. There was only 6 or 7 Hot Wheels on the pegs, wow.

The presentation of Real Toy is the best I have seen by far. I was nearly tricked into buying a few but I controlled myself well enough.

We went to Taipei 101 on day 5. I found a huge toy shop there and went in filling with hopes.

 There's Tomica but hardly restock by the shop and I have already bought what I should in Tomica Square on day 1.

There is Hot Wheels but there isn't any Treasure Hunt so I exit the shop immediately.

There are also many small toy shops like the one above in Taiwan. I found a number of these shops mainly at tourist spots. Worth mentioning are a few shops sell candies and toys we had during childhood. I really like these kind of shops and some of them do sell toy cars as well. Most of my Welly are bought there. We went to a total of 3 night markets, there are toy shops and some of them are selling Tomica. I asked if I could buy the Tomica counter display from a lady but she gave me a lead instead. Thank her and left her shop.



MY SMALL HAUL IN TAIWAN

These are some of my purchases as I couldn't put in all the spares in my photo. We usually have a gathering once I am back from my trip. I will bring all spares to check which ones they need and balance will be sold at our flea market. It's always fun to share with friends rather than to keep the hobby to yourself.

 Some of the TLs and TLVs.

This is one interesting buy. I bought these for being able to do custom easily and they are not expensive too. 12 cars in the whole series but I have opt out some cars.

I am really glad with these Welly as we can hardly get them here. A little disappointed that they are not updated. I actually hope to find a i30, Corolla and a Octavia but hell no.

I am surprise to find some Korea cars in Taiwan night market. These are made by Mica rather than Kingstar or Clover. Cheap but crude, oh well, at least I do not have to bid for it in eBay.

This is for my friend's 4 year old son. I gave him an Indian Ambassador taxi 2 years ago. As his ambition is to become a taxi driver, naturally a toy taxi has some place in his heart. I found this Taiwanese Xiao Huang (common name for taxi in Taiwan) in a toy shop with my Korean cars. I also found other Taiwanese taxi in other shops but a Mitsubishi Grandis instead. I couldn't make out what the make of the car in the photo. It looks like a Ford Ka sedan but it could be a Kia Pride sedan as well. I will post more of my trip in the next few days when I am much available. I've been missing in action in office so definitely have stuff to keep me busy.