Issues of Import – Tat

Although the title of this could easily be “merchandise,” let’s not beat around the bush. Look around you. You see that shelf with a selection of figures atop it? Yes, when they arrived in the post they were oh-so exciting, but now that they’re underneath a year-thick layer of dust it would seem they aren’t your pride and joy anymore. Open up a drawer. You know which one. See the discarded, dismembered trading figures and gashapon toys? The novelty DS stylus that you’ve never taken out of its wrapping? If you do, you’re guilty of it too: buying too much videogame-related tat.

A drawer full of sealed goodies. Fun to look at? Yes. A waste of money? Hmm.

I’m sure you have a favourite game character, series or whatnot for which you’d snap up any novelty goods without a second thought. That’s fair enough. But once you start looking for such goods online or visit Japan, the descent into madness can become uncontrollable.

Collections of tat can build up easily enough – for me it started in middle school, collecting Sonic and Pokémon Burger King toys. I’d grab the occasional oddity too… Sonic eau de toilette comes to mind. Then, in secondary school, I discovered the wonders of the Internet and, before long, Play-Asia. At university it was already too late. I was buying complete sets of Metal Gear Solid 2 trading arts figures off eBay with my Bank of Scotland overdraft.

“Maybe I should get another.”

Nowadays, however, I’m almost (almost) fatigued by the amount of tat around me. Tat is an industry of its own over here in Japan. Shenmue-esque gashapon (capsule toy) machines and lucky dips in convenience stores are ten a penny, and usually just as video game-related. If I open up my kitchen cupboard I can see sets of sealed Dragon Quest tumbler glasses, Monster Hunter shot glasses, Final Fantasy pint glasses and out-of-date cans of Final Fantasy potions. Freebies from the tops of bottled drinks litter every surface of every room in my 2LDK flat.

Every time I visit a roadside recycle shop in Japan I can’t help but run to the showcase cabinet and fall to my knees. Then, as my eyes water up, I start throwing thousand-yen notes at the shop attendant. It’s a disease. Even though I’ve managed to cut figures out altogether, it’s hard to turn down anything relating to Nintendo, Sega or Capcom. Don’t even get me started on T-shirts. I am never going to wear that pink Puyo Puyo ¾ sleeve tee out. Thanks to my UFO-catcher addiction I’ve amassed quite the plush collection, but I do my best to win these for other people. The Sonic x Hello Kitty promotional plush will be mine this month alongside anything and everything from the Street Fighter x Hello Kitty range out later this year. This contract has been sealed.

Ooh… a PlayStation watch that doesn’t work…

Like any collecting, if you’re going to do any, I suggest you focus on collecting one theme or character in particular. Do try to avoid figurines and trading arts – all they do is collect dust or lose some combination of their arms, legs and/or head in drawers. That said, looking through drawers of tat and coming across a gem in the rough can give you the warm, fuzzy feeling only mindless capitalism can provide.

How am I going to get all this tat back to the UK?

Keep on importing!


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