Buying Guide

I would like nothing more than to drive around in a white van selling Domos door-to-door. Judging from the number of inquiries I get about where to find Domo products, I could probably look forward to a life of leisure within a few months of such work.

Alas, I don't have a white van, and Domos in such quantity are hard to come by these days -- so I'm not in the Domo business.

I have put together this page, though, to point you to people who are in the Domo business. This way, I can just update this page when I get new information.

First, know what you want. There are all sorts of Domo products out there, some of them are quite bad. In my opinion, what you ideally want as the basis of your Domo collection is the standard Bandai Domo plush, pictured at left. The tags on mine say "Bandai 1999/Made in China/73402" on one side, and "(Japanese text)/(C) NHK-TYO 0363102900" on the other.

By all means, try to find this one. The shape is not exactly faithful to the genuine Domo you see on television, but the texture is. The Bandai Domo is more like a Domo who's retired from the sport and who has grown a little paunchy; the real Domo is leaner (but not meaner).

Speaking of the real Domo: if you have not seen the Domo video clips yet, you're missing out. Domo is, as near as I can figure, something akin to the NBC peacock or that orange balloon that BBC is using these days; he's a television mascot for NHK's direct-to-home satellite service. There is a collection of his TV appearances floating around on the web. I promise it's worth the trouble.

And now to the meat of the page. Domo sources, in no particular order (last updated 17 August 2004):

0. J-List. In October of 2003, when inquiring about Domo availablility through J-List, we were told that Domo was 'gone like disco'. This gave us pause, partly because we couldn't figure out what the hell it meant. Disco -- classic, 1970s disco -- is currently enjoying some retro popularity in the United States; and in most of the world, disco never really died out but just evolved into today's euro-bubblegum-dance music.

Anyway, for quite some time J-List was out of what I consider to be the canonical Domo, but he's made a triumphant return -- or he's boogied on back onto the scene, as it were. J-List must have recently bought out someone's Domo warehouse, because as I write this (August '04), they have the 8-inch Bandai Domo plush (DM006 -- licensed to severely injure you, but not quite to kill), all three sizes of Domo cubic pillows, T-shirts, notepads, stamps, business-card cases, the tiny PVC pocket Domos for convenience when you're travelling, and even the big 18" Domo plush. This last item they call 'the largest, coolest Domo-kun plush ever sold in Japan'. While he's certainly cool (he's Domo, after all), he's definitely not the biggest. Some time back, I found this image on the web:

Note the people in the frame for scale. Also note the price tag, 120,000 yen or about US$1100 as of this morning. I have not seen anyone offering these gargantua-Domos anywhere.

1. Domomode. Warning: Flash. Warning: Japanese. Appears to be the most comprehensive collection of Domo products anywhere. Does not appear to ship products outside of Japan.

2. NHK Character-Workshop. Warning: Japanese. This is a retail store in Tokyo.

3. Giant Robot Store. They have a retail store at 2015 Sawtelle Blvd. in Los Angeles, and they also sell things on the web at the link above. In the past, they've had a good selection, but there appears to be no Domo-age here at the moment. If they don't have any Domo stuff the next time I update this page, they're coming off the list.

4. Wizzywig. Retail store at 529 E. Liberty in Ann Arbor, MI, or online. Their website promises that they'll have the 40cm sleepy/awake plushes in stock in November, 2004.

5. UFO Catcher. Sometimes have Domo products; at the moment they only seem to have the eight-inch sleepy Domo.

6. Neotoys. In Singapore. They list a very wide assortment of Domo products on their website, but I'm not sure whether this means they have a lot of Domo swag, or whether it means that they don't update their website very often. The shipping times and costs are bound to nail you, unless you're in Asia or Australia. UFO Catcher, above, actually seems to be a US distributor for these people.