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| | | Author: | i_r_on  | | Posted: | Mar 9, 2022 18:32 | | Subject: | Low presence from Japan | | Viewed: | 238 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| 3rd greatest economy in the world, over 100 million population, only 2793 members
on Bricklink because
- Lego not popular enough in Japan?
- There is (are) alternative platform(s) that Japanese use?
- There is a cultural barrier of entry? (Language used and other stuff pertaining
to Japan)
- Other reasons you name...
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| | | | | Author: | Hurt | | Posted: | Mar 9, 2022 18:49 | | Subject: | Re: Low presence from Japan | | Viewed: | 66 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| maybe they are just going for the bigger scale, google "japanese robot gundam"
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| | | | | Author: | wildchicken13 | | Posted: | Mar 9, 2022 18:58 | | Subject: | Re: Low presence from Japan | | Viewed: | 67 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, i_r_on writes:
| | 3rd greatest economy in the world, over 100 million population, only 2793 members
on Bricklink because
- Lego not popular enough in Japan?
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Possibly. LEGO is just not as popular in East Asia as it is in Europe and North
America. China has 11 times the population of Japan but only three times as many
registered BrickLink members. However, there are a lot of knock-offs in China…
| | - There is (are) alternative platform(s) that Japanese use?
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I wouldn't be surprised. Some e-commerce websites are more popular in some
countries than others (Amazon vs. Alibaba, eBay vs. Rakuten, etc.)
| | - There is a cultural barrier of entry? (Language used and other stuff pertaining
to Japan)
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A lot of Japanese people speak English, but then again, so do a lot of Nigerians…
| | - Other reasons you name...
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Geography? I've placed a couple of BrickLink orders from South Korea before
and it can take a while for the package to be delivered. I imagine that Japanese
BrickLink sellers may have a hard time expanding their customer base beyond East
Asia for this very reason and as you pointed out there just aren't that many
customers in the region to begin with. However, perhaps some day LEGOs will be
more popular in East Asia and we will see more BrickLink members from Japan.
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| | | | | | | Author: | i_r_on | | Posted: | Mar 9, 2022 19:34 | | Subject: | Re: Low presence from Japan | | Viewed: | 51 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| | | | | - There is a cultural barrier of entry? (Language used and other stuff pertaining
to Japan)
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A lot of Japanese people speak English, but then again, so do a lot of Nigerians…
| | - Other reasons you name...
|
Geography? I've placed a couple of BrickLink orders from South Korea before
and it can take a while for the package to be delivered. I imagine that Japanese
BrickLink sellers may have a hard time expanding their customer base beyond East
Asia for this very reason and as you pointed out there just aren't that many
customers in the region to begin with. However, perhaps some day LEGOs will be
more popular in East Asia and we will see more BrickLink members from Japan.
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Maybe it's popular in Japan as a kids toy but not become as much AFOL thing
as rest of the world because it doesn't match as retro stuff regarding the
themes Lego produced in the past. The closest thing is the Ninjago theme and
even if it does look Japanese it just fails in the first detail that it uses
Japanese like writing but not actual Japanese.
Also about that AFOL thing, Japan have high literacy and their own diverse and
wealthy fiction/manga/anime/game archive mostly untouched by Lego (Not a fact
but a guess) And maybe huge IPs for rest of the world like Marvel, DC Comics,
Star Wars have less following because of the aforementioned original Japanese
content. (That's just a guess too)
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | wildchicken13 | | Posted: | Mar 9, 2022 20:18 | | Subject: | Re: Low presence from Japan | | Viewed: | 41 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, i_r_on writes:
| | | | | | - There is a cultural barrier of entry? (Language used and other stuff pertaining
to Japan)
|
A lot of Japanese people speak English, but then again, so do a lot of Nigerians…
| | - Other reasons you name...
|
Geography? I've placed a couple of BrickLink orders from South Korea before
and it can take a while for the package to be delivered. I imagine that Japanese
BrickLink sellers may have a hard time expanding their customer base beyond East
Asia for this very reason and as you pointed out there just aren't that many
customers in the region to begin with. However, perhaps some day LEGOs will be
more popular in East Asia and we will see more BrickLink members from Japan.
|
Maybe it's popular in Japan as a kids toy but not become as much AFOL thing
as rest of the world because it doesn't match as retro stuff regarding the
themes Lego produced in the past. The closest thing is the Ninjago theme and
even if it does look Japanese it just fails in the first detail that it uses
Japanese like writing but not actual Japanese.
Also about that AFOL thing, Japan have high literacy and their own diverse and
wealthy fiction/manga/anime/game archive mostly untouched by Lego (Not a fact
but a guess) And maybe huge IPs for rest of the world like Marvel, DC Comics,
Star Wars have less following because of the aforementioned original Japanese
content. (That's just a guess too)
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Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I don't know about Japan, but I know that
video games are very popular in Korea, so that may contribute to a lack of popularity
of LEGOs there. Even in places where video games are not as popular, LEGO is
competing with video games for market share in the entertainment industry.
That being said, it's not like LEGOs are unheard of in Japan. There is a
famous Japanese engineer that builds with LEGOs and some of his stuff is quite
impressive. He even has a YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/akiyuky
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | i_r_on | | Posted: | Mar 9, 2022 20:26 | | Subject: | Re: Low presence from Japan | | Viewed: | 28 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| | | That being said, it's not like LEGOs are unheard of in Japan. There is a
famous Japanese engineer that builds with LEGOs and some of his stuff is quite
impressive. He even has a YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/akiyuky
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Yes I know this guy being attracted much into technic side of things. He was,
while building his inventory, worth 100 technic buyers possibly 
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| | | | | Author: | i_r_on | | Posted: | Mar 9, 2022 20:20 | | Subject: | Re: Low presence from Japan | | Viewed: | 53 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, i_r_on writes:
| | 3rd greatest economy in the world, over 100 million population, only 2793 members
on Bricklink because
- Lego not popular enough in Japan?
- There is (are) alternative platform(s) that Japanese use?
- There is a cultural barrier of entry? (Language used and other stuff pertaining
to Japan)
- Other reasons you name...
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Interesting, I've learned something new... the meaning and origin of CUUSOO...
It seems Lego Idea was first a local thing in Japan with name CUUSOO created
by the licensed Lego seller company in Japan then made global by Lego with cooperation...
A giant step in the wrong direction I think... It should have been better to
disperse the thing into more regions/countries rather than making it global...
See the evolution of the sets,
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| | | | | Author: | Elkenwood | | Posted: | Mar 9, 2022 20:30 | | Subject: | Re: Low presence from Japan | | Viewed: | 34 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, i_r_on writes:
| | 3rd greatest economy in the world, over 100 million population, only 2793 members
on Bricklink because
- Lego not popular enough in Japan?
- There is (are) alternative platform(s) that Japanese use?
- There is a cultural barrier of entry? (Language used and other stuff pertaining
to Japan)
- Other reasons you name...
|
I think it has to do with the fact that Lego is made in North America and Europe.
That's where all of the factories, customer service and warehousing infrastructure
was constructed first. Logistics and freight through Asia wasn't a key goal
for Lego in the beginning, especially since it is an expensive toy, and economies
with less purchasing power weren't likely to be big consumer bases.
The internet has helped a lot with global presence and ordering as well. I remember
a time when if you wanted a Lego set, you had to call a phone number or rip out
a order page in a catalogue, hand write your order, calculate taxes and mail
in a cheque. Hitting foreign markets use to be a lot more difficult.
Interest does seem to be constantly growing in that region of the world though.
I know the Taiwanese collector base has exploded in popularity these past few
years.
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| | | | | | | Author: | wildchicken13 | | Posted: | Mar 9, 2022 20:36 | | Subject: | Re: Low presence from Japan | | Viewed: | 39 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, Elkenwood writes:
| | In General, i_r_on writes:
| | 3rd greatest economy in the world, over 100 million population, only 2793 members
on Bricklink because
- Lego not popular enough in Japan?
- There is (are) alternative platform(s) that Japanese use?
- There is a cultural barrier of entry? (Language used and other stuff pertaining
to Japan)
- Other reasons you name...
|
I think it has to do with the fact that Lego is made in North America and Europe.
That's where all of the factories, customer service and warehousing infrastructure
was constructed first. Logistics and freight through Asia wasn't a key goal
for Lego in the beginning, especially since it is an expensive toy, and economies
with less purchasing power weren't likely to be big consumer bases.
The internet has helped a lot with global presence and ordering as well. I remember
a time when if you wanted a Lego set, you had to call a phone number or rip out
a order page in a catalogue, hand write your order, calculate taxes and mail
in a cheque. Hitting foreign markets use to be a lot more difficult.
Interest does seem to be constantly growing in that region of the world though.
I know the Taiwanese collector base has exploded in popularity these past few
years.
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LEGO does have a factory in China, and there is a LEGOLAND theme park under construction
in China, expected to open in 2024.
So yeah, as you said, they're getting there.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | Elkenwood | | Posted: | Mar 9, 2022 20:50 | | Subject: | Re: Low presence from Japan | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, wildchicken13 writes:
| | In General, Elkenwood writes:
| | In General, i_r_on writes:
| | 3rd greatest economy in the world, over 100 million population, only 2793 members
on Bricklink because
- Lego not popular enough in Japan?
- There is (are) alternative platform(s) that Japanese use?
- There is a cultural barrier of entry? (Language used and other stuff pertaining
to Japan)
- Other reasons you name...
|
I think it has to do with the fact that Lego is made in North America and Europe.
That's where all of the factories, customer service and warehousing infrastructure
was constructed first. Logistics and freight through Asia wasn't a key goal
for Lego in the beginning, especially since it is an expensive toy, and economies
with less purchasing power weren't likely to be big consumer bases.
The internet has helped a lot with global presence and ordering as well. I remember
a time when if you wanted a Lego set, you had to call a phone number or rip out
a order page in a catalogue, hand write your order, calculate taxes and mail
in a cheque. Hitting foreign markets use to be a lot more difficult.
Interest does seem to be constantly growing in that region of the world though.
I know the Taiwanese collector base has exploded in popularity these past few
years.
|
LEGO does have a factory in China, and there is a LEGOLAND theme park under construction
in China, expected to open in 2024.
So yeah, as you said, they're getting there.
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Yes, Lego does have their Jiaxing plant, I think most complex molded parts started
from there. But lots of that is relatively new developments given the companies
long history. It's huge success now is largely based off of being a heritage
brand for many generations in the US and EU.
China's middle class has also been growing a lot and gaining purchasing power,
so it wouldn't surprise me if in the future, Lego is more popular in the
east than it is the west.
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| | | | | Author: | wildchicken13 | | Posted: | Mar 9, 2022 20:32 | | Subject: | Re: Low presence from Japan | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, i_r_on writes:
| | 3rd greatest economy in the world, over 100 million population, only 2793 members
on Bricklink because
- Lego not popular enough in Japan?
- There is (are) alternative platform(s) that Japanese use?
- There is a cultural barrier of entry? (Language used and other stuff pertaining
to Japan)
- Other reasons you name...
|
Now you've go me curious: Why isn't LEGO more popular in Turkey? Turkey
is similar in population to Germany, yet Germany has 40 times as many registered
BrickLink users…
Please excuse my American ignorance; I wasn't taught geography or world politics
in school, and it doesn't help that the popular news stations rarely cover
anything outside of the U.S. (not that I would watch them even if they did…)
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| | | | | | | Author: | i_r_on | | Posted: | Mar 9, 2022 20:58 | | Subject: | Re: Low presence from Japan | | Viewed: | 36 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, wildchicken13 writes:
| | In General, i_r_on writes:
| | 3rd greatest economy in the world, over 100 million population, only 2793 members
on Bricklink because
- Lego not popular enough in Japan?
- There is (are) alternative platform(s) that Japanese use?
- There is a cultural barrier of entry? (Language used and other stuff pertaining
to Japan)
- Other reasons you name...
|
Now you've go me curious: Why isn't LEGO more popular in Turkey? Turkey
is similar in population to Germany, yet Germany has 40 times as many registered
BrickLink users…
Please excuse my American ignorance; I wasn't taught geography or world politics
in school, and it doesn't help that the popular news stations rarely cover
anything outside of the U.S. (not that I would watch them even if they did…)
|
It's simple, late entry into the market. Lego is now popular as a child's
toy in Turkey. There is only a tiny base of *lucky* AFOLs who were brought Lego
from Europe and other countries and played with the toy as a kid. This minority
of people (AFOLs) have the brand affinity.
For me, for example... these were the sets presented to me/my contemporaries
(as promotion given with a daily newspaper)
I didn't even bother to give even tiny bit of interest into Lego as the year
was 1997 and I was studying Computer Engineering And from the looks of the
sets it's evident that it would be hard for me to attach to Lego at that
time My contemporaries were much more indulged into Arcades & Computers (C64
being the most popular I think)
Why now I'm into Lego? Because of my son actually, He (at age 10) is the
brand adopter and has the title of everything Lego related at home
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | maxx3001 | | Posted: | Mar 10, 2022 01:36 | | Subject: | Re: Low presence from Japan | | Viewed: | 47 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, i_r_on writes:
| | In General, wildchicken13 writes:
| | In General, i_r_on writes:
| | 3rd greatest economy in the world, over 100 million population, only 2793 members
on Bricklink because
- Lego not popular enough in Japan?
- There is (are) alternative platform(s) that Japanese use?
- There is a cultural barrier of entry? (Language used and other stuff pertaining
to Japan)
- Other reasons you name...
|
Now you've go me curious: Why isn't LEGO more popular in Turkey? Turkey
is similar in population to Germany, yet Germany has 40 times as many registered
BrickLink users…
Please excuse my American ignorance; I wasn't taught geography or world politics
in school, and it doesn't help that the popular news stations rarely cover
anything outside of the U.S. (not that I would watch them even if they did…)
|
It's simple, late entry into the market. Lego is now popular as a child's
toy in Turkey. There is only a tiny base of *lucky* AFOLs who were brought Lego
from Europe and other countries and played with the toy as a kid. This minority
of people (AFOLs) have the brand affinity.
For me, for example... these were the sets presented to me/my contemporaries
(as promotion given with a daily newspaper)
I didn't even bother to give even tiny bit of interest into Lego as the year
was 1997 and I was studying Computer Engineering And from the looks of the
sets it's evident that it would be hard for me to attach to Lego at that
time My contemporaries were much more indulged into Arcades & Computers (C64
being the most popular I think)
Why now I'm into Lego? Because of my son actually, He (at age 10) is the
brand adopter and has the title of everything Lego related at home
|
Awesome 
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| | | | | Author: | Play_It_Again | | Posted: | Mar 9, 2022 20:37 | | Subject: | Re: Low presence from Japan | | Viewed: | 41 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| I've had 5 total orders going to Japan, with only 1 in the past 6 months
to see what was purchased. Surprisingly it was for 2 Belville figures. If
I remember correctly the other orders were from 1 or 2 buyers buying large lots
of early NXT Mindstorm motors and sensors. I don't think I've shipped
any figures or parts.
In General, i_r_on writes:
| | 3rd greatest economy in the world, over 100 million population, only 2793 members
on Bricklink because
- Lego not popular enough in Japan?
- There is (are) alternative platform(s) that Japanese use?
- There is a cultural barrier of entry? (Language used and other stuff pertaining
to Japan)
- Other reasons you name...
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| | | | | Author: | popsicle | | Posted: | Mar 9, 2022 22:13 | | Subject: | Re: Low presence from Japan | | Viewed: | 71 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, i_r_on writes:
| | 3rd greatest economy in the world, over 100 million population, only 2793 members
on Bricklink because
- Lego not popular enough in Japan?
- There is (are) alternative platform(s) that Japanese use?
- There is a cultural barrier of entry? (Language used and other stuff pertaining
to Japan)
- Other reasons you name...
|
I've got no input as to reasons, but...
Though Japan only makes up 0.244 percent of BrickLink’s overall membership, they
are active and liberal with their money. Anyway, they’re circa one quarter of
one percent of BL’s membership, yet represent 4 x times that in orders placed
with us.
It’s fertile grounds for sellers, Japan is. I’ve had some pricy orders go to
that tiny BL demographic, an order for 16 x 10144s comes to mind. I recall Foster
and others having sizable dealings with Japanese Lego folks too.
Chris: https://www.bricklink.com/feedback.asp?u=ichiban Knows the Lego culture
in Japan, having moved his Lego business there from Oregon, for a time. He's
now back in Oregon.
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| | | | | | | Author: | popsicle | | Posted: | Mar 9, 2022 22:14 | | Subject: | (Cancelled) | | Viewed: | 36 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| | (Cancelled) |
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| | | | | | | Author: | popsicle | | Posted: | Mar 9, 2022 22:16 | | Subject: | Re: Low presence from Japan | | Viewed: | 48 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, popsicle writes:
| | In General, i_r_on writes:
| | 3rd greatest economy in the world, over 100 million population, only 2793 members
on Bricklink because
- Lego not popular enough in Japan?
- There is (are) alternative platform(s) that Japanese use?
- There is a cultural barrier of entry? (Language used and other stuff pertaining
to Japan)
- Other reasons you name...
|
I've got no input as to reasons, but...
Though Japan only makes up 0.244 percent of BrickLink’s overall membership, they
are active and liberal with their money. Anyway, they’re circa one quarter of
one percent of BL’s membership, yet represent 4 x times that in orders placed with us.
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That's 5 x that
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Turkey
Austria, Wien
USA, Illinois
Canada, Saskatchewan
Netherlands, Utrecht
