* Akihabara station flashing 'station card' key chains
* Those kits in a box from the book store - might have to provide some simple translation into English
* The shop next to Akizuki has Ipod docking port plugs (Open shell, all pins included) for cheap
* Design Wave and Interface selected back issues (those with developers boards)
* Parts kits to complete Design Wave and Interface boards
* We should consider making our own base board for DW/Interface boards, as they all use the same pinouts. The baseboard that they sell includes some buttons, some LEDs, and a couple of figure 8 LED displays. I think we can come up with something a bit more interesting.

* on the 'once in a while/surplus side, Japanese game systems and parts. I know of a place that sells the cabinet boards for old arcades such as NEOGEO and the cartridges as well.

* Id like to find a semi-professional sumi-e/Kanji painter to do custom work. I think a LOT of foreigners would be willing to pay to have some chosen word/slogan painted on a nice scroll.

* Additional Japanese crafts and gifts, such as lacquer boxes, book markers, hand made kindama, etc

I think... it would be nice to actually split off a few private shops hosted by the THS shop. Simply because I think it might feel 'fractured' if we have electronics kits next to hand painted post cards. I really like the idea Akiba had proposed on doing something like this.
In fact, a person could have more than one shop, such that it feeds more than one of their interests. I personally would like to have an Electronics shop as well as a crafts shop.

I am even willing to handle all of the my personal shop storage, shipping etc. I simply like the idea that the front end is dealt with, and I simply need to register a domain and point to it.

Can payments be directed to my account if I set up my own shop? Hmm.. things we need to consider down the road.

Like the Akihabara station key chains. The kits in the box you mentioned are the Gakken kits and their carried in the US by the Make store (MakerShed):

http://www.makershed.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=65

However we do have an advantage that we don't need to stock any and we can offer the newest releases from Gakken.

Not sure about the Design Wave boards. If they come out with a good one, probably best to make our own based on it, rather than sell the whole magazine. Might be something we can test out.

For the private shops, the payments would need to be processed by THS and they'd go into the designated THS merchant account. We'd need to log the sales and reimburse you instead. If you want your own shop sales to go to your own account, then prob best to set up your own shop. It's a hassle, but eventually, you'll want to go this route.

"MAKE is pleased to be the only retailer in North America selling these educational and collectible kits."

Good thing our store is in Japan! ;)

Yeah you are right, I think I should just go the route of my own store. In fact, I need about 3 :/
1: for a CDs and band merch for my site and radio station
2: for my future planned commercial product/s we talked about
3: for random goofy stuff and cool gifts that you cant even get on J-list

Might be right about our own boards for the devboards. I think I can do a few of them...
The trick is playing around long enough to get the boards up and working, and getting the various compiler packages to work (I hate crippleware).

To be honest, this is the best route, as most people wont be able to read the Magazine anyway.. When getting an ARM target up and working for the first time, good understandable documnetation is pretty critical (I have learned).

Heh. Lemme know if you set up your own store. I'll help you get the main site up. The rest is operations and that's where the pain really starts. Also, I'd start off with just one at first. You'll find that even though its supposed to be cheaper, you'll end up spending a bit of money on inventory and buying samples, even just for photography.

Yeah Im likely to start with the CD shop first.. and only buying two or three of each disk.. since I dont expect a whole lot of sales anyway.