[Toy collector and VP reader Mike M recently had the good fortune of visiting toy mecca One Up in Tokyo. Here’s his report of what’s going on with plenty of sweet pictures as well.]
I dropped by Nakano and said hi to Mr. Ashikawa who runs OneUp. When I asked what was hot, he grabbed two things; the Musyubel (by Kaijin x OneUp) & the new T-boy (by Shin Tanaka x OneUp) figures. T-boy is the second version of a toy first produced by Singapore based PI. Notable is the new sculpt, the separately cast T-shirt, and the fact that they are now made in Japan by OneUp.
Another one of OneUp’s featured designers; “Juki” just happened to be in the shop and showed me a few of his current releases the Kamakozo & Umikozo. Also hard to miss were the OneUp limited editions of Hariken Mad Panda with custom paint by TTToy. Speaking of Hariken, his original Mad Panda Colorway previously sold out, has just been restocked with the same sculpt and color but with a harder vinyl. On display was the color schedule for the limited ‘one color a month’ run of Itokin’s Mikazukin. Not satisfied to let the fun stop there Mr. Ashikawa pulled us aside and tore open a huge box and gave us a glimpse of the very green Itokin future.
[Be sure to check out Mike’s blog for more of his thoughts on toys].
