New Designs: The Bell Pepper

We're proud to present, the BELL PEPPER!!



Okay, so the name actually came after the creation below:



It is still a simple layout, allowing just one train at a time, like our previous "Peanut" design in April. The track goes from the first level to the third and loops over and through itself. As you can see the amount of pieces that make up this set will easily create all different kinds of track. Throw in some splitters and you can have TWO trains running simultaneously :).

This setup consists of the following packs of rail:

• Two sets of elevating turn rails (R-18)
  
• Two sets of straight rails (R-01)
• Three sets of inner turn rails (R-03)
• Four sets of bridge legs (J-14)
• One C battery powered Narita Express train

You can find all these pieces and more at the Namikaze Toy Store. We promise to bring you more designs so stay tuned!

Read the rest of this entry>>

Plarail's role in bullet train engineer training

Lovingly ripped from the Tomica & Plarail Catalogue



Pictured above; Bullet train engineers use a Plarail setup to simulate possible real-life emergencies and accidents and to plan how they would return both their train and its passengers to the station safely.

We are happy that the same Plarail that everyone plays with is also has a role in promoting and encouraging railway safety.

Read the rest of this entry>>

New Releases for May and June

Osaka City Subway, Midosuji Line Model 23

Making its first appearance as a Plarail train, the Midosuji Subway line has run through the heart of Osaka City since 1933. This is another release in Takara Tomy's series of light-up trains. As usual, the front car houses the switch that turns the lights on. The rear car has holes on the roof and holes on the rear which allow light in and give it the appearance of rear facing lights.



Tokyo Metro, Fukutoshin Line Series 10000

The Fukutoshin is a further addition to Tomy's Plarail line of light-up trains. This line is a new line of the Tokyo Metro subway system scheduled to be opened in June of 2008 and will connect the three city centers of Shinjuku, Shibuya and Ikebukuro.


The 10000 series is also packaged with the Tokyo Metro 7000 series as a separate set of two trains. The Tokyo Metro 7000 series runs along the Yurakucho subway line pictured above.



Subway Grand Station

Seemingly designed to be mated to Tomy's Dome Station, the Grand Station comes with a laundry list of features and accessories:

Subway Station Platform
Real Subway Station Lights and Sounds
Above-ground Plaroad street and rail area
Pla-kids
Functioning Elevator for Pla-kids

Together with other the Dome Station and other rail sections, you can create a truly EPIC setup.

Are we excited yet?

Read the rest of this entry>>

Plarail Store near Narita Airport opens

Tomy announced on their website the grand opening of Toy Kingdom, beginning April 26. It is a large space in Chiba prefecture's Aeon Mall near Narita Airport. The space is divided into 4 themes: Tomica Shop satellite, Plarail Square, Licca Garden, and Pokemon Town (floorplan).


"Plarail Square" will be having their grand opening events between May 1 - 6 (just in time for Boys' Day)! Ahh, if we were anywhere near we'd go for a peek, guess we'll have to settle for it to be on the agenda the next time in Tokyo.

For those of you who won't be able to make it for Toy Kingdom's opening, come check out our Plarail selection at: namikazetoys.com

Read the rest of this entry>>

Yellow Girders in ITALY??

I've been meaning to post these pictures for some time now. A couple of months ago we went on vacation to Italy. As we came out of the airport to catch a train into Rome we saw something that made us laugh a little bit and made us realize exactly how much we had Plarail on the brain. These are pictures are from the platform at Fiumicino Station in Rome.

Are those Yellow Bridge Legs!? J-14?!? J-22!!!



Rows and rows of double-width yellow bridge legs at Rome's Fiumicino station.

Anyone else out there with Plarail on the brain? E-mail us pictures with a description! We'll post them up here!

Read the rest of this entry>>

The Chat Widget is BorkEN!

Some of you may notice the Digsby chat widget to the right stopped connecting. Some of you may scratch your heads and wonder what exactly I've been smoking. Well, the newest version of flash that was released about a week ago is the culprit here. If you've updated your Firefox, Internet Explorer, what have you to the newest version, the Widget will no longer connect. Sadly, it will remain this way until the fine folks at Digsby update their software.

If you need to contact us you have a couple options. The easiest option is to just email us at namikazetoys@gmail.com. Don't worry, we won't bite! The second way is to uninstall the latest version of flash and go back to the older version. For simplicity's sake it would probably be easier to just shoot us an email.

Until next time, keep on training!

Read the rest of this entry>>

And We're Open!

It's been less than three months since we first got the idea in our heads to start importing and selling Japanese toys. To us, it felt like an eternity. Creating the concept, applying for the business, deciding on our products and talking to importers-- sometimes it felt like we were never going to get off the ground. Yet, a few months and a few gray hairs later, here we are. I am proud to formally announce that Namikaze Toys is now open for business and actively taking orders!

Our passion and our beginnings lie in Takara Tomy's wonderful Plarail toy train line and that's where we've decided to start our business. Plarail appeals to both young and old, is easy to setup and has stood the test of time being first introduced in 1959. We hope that you enjoy these products as much as we do and that you continue to stop by and see what else we have in store. We're just getting started!


Namikaze Toys
namikazetoys@gmail.com
http://www.namikazetoys.com
http://namikazetoys.blogspot.com

*edit* For those of you on Oahu, don't forget to head down to the Iolani School Fair and stop by and see our setup at the silent auction. The fair starts today, and the silent auction is being held in Seto Hall, just past the parking structure and before the baseball field. See you there!

Read the rest of this entry>>

Design Examples

As I mentioned earlier today, we will be donating a number of rails to the 2008 Iolani Fair silent auction. The actual layout is shown below.

Behold, the PEANUT.














This setup consists of the following packs of rail:

• Two sets of elevating turn rails (R-18)
  
• Three sets of bridge legs (J-14)
• Four sets of inner turn rails (R-03)
• One battery powered train which just so happens to have Iolani colors.
  

All sets will be unopened, so while we are displaying this setup as an example, the winner of the bid is free to build any layout he or she pleases.

Read the rest of this entry>>

Drowning in Plarail

Hi Folks!

Our first of hopefully many shipments to come just arrived yesterday afternoon and we are ecstatic. The last time we've seen so much Plarail all at once was-- actually, I can't even remember! We're drowning in the stuff now, with TOMY boxes full of Plarail piled high!

Of course, we had to "sample" a few for ourselves to verify quality and I can safely say, the stuff is EXCELLENT. We can't wait to get this stuff moving and into your hands. The store web page is coming along nicely and we hope to have most functionality up within a couple weeks. In the meantime, we're also looking at the possibility of selling on EBAY to get our name out there and spread the fun around to everyone who loves Plarail as much as we do.

One more thing of note-- we will be donating a preconfigured set to the silent auction at the 2008 Iolani School Fair on April 18 and 19. We'll have pictures of the layout that we're donating and it will contain multiple unopened packs of rail as well as a single battery powered train. Stay Tuned!

Namikaze Toys Staff

Read the rest of this entry>>

Opening Soon!

Hey folks! Hopefully our store will be opening soon and we'll have some actual stock to show you. We'll be sticking to PLARAIL for now, but may add more popular items as time goes by. Until then we'll keep you posted on new releases from Tomy here at our blog. Not all the new releases you see posted will be kept in stock, but we will try to deliver as many high quality products as possible.

We'll also try to add more personal content-- showing layouts, possible modifications and some other tips and tricks to help you create the perfect PLARAIL layout.

Fans of PLARAIL and trains in general, feel free to leave a comment and stop by often!

Read the rest of this entry>>