All Engines Go NEWS

And Plarail will probably die.

What on earth...? 

We must never forget Japan. Thomas has quite the following in Japan, too! So much so, in fact, that the country is home to two Thomas theme parks! 

Thomas the Tank Engine made his way to Japan in 1990, six years after the series debuted in the United Kingdom. Sony dubbed the program into Japanese before giving Fuji TV the rights to air the show. "Kikansha Thomas" got a prime time slot right before one of the country’s most popular children’s programs: Hirake! Pokkiki. From there, Thomas and his friends embarked on a rapid journey to stardom as they began to appear in magazine articles, and Sony released VHS copies of the series. The theme parks followed a few years after, with Thomas Land opening in 1998.

"Thomas & The Magic Railroad" was released as a manga, and city transportation systems have even had Thomas appear as part of themed liveries on their trains (Keihan!) and trams.

There are so many train enthusiasts in Japan because there are many kinds of trains here, and all of Japanese trains have attractive visual and excellent technology. ... Thus, railways and trains are really popular and vitally important part in Japan.

Takara Tomy's Plarail is so popular toy series in Japan (and not just in Japan!) and recognition rate of Plarail of the children aged 6 or under 6 is over 90 percent in Japan (of course, many older people love Plarail too) and Plarail's Thomas series is also really popular. Thomas is so popular in Japan that the makers of the original series added a Japanese train, Hiro, especially with the Japanese market in mind.

Plarail is most certainly not going to die. 

Products based on the hugely popular Thomas and Friends series are added to the Plarail family in 1992. They are enormously popular ever since. Takara Tomy still has the licence to make Thomas themed products. I don't know what will happen. Maybe a giant asteroid will hit Earth, and we will extinct like dinosaurs. But considering all the above facts (popularity, trains, theme parks, shows; it's a huge business!), they are probably not going to die or vanish now. And no one will take our Plarail models from us either. We have Rev. Awdry's books, we have so many beautiful Plarail Thomas trains and many good seasons of Thomas TV show.