We received a toy monkey from a friend when my son was 11 months old. Soon, it turned into his favorite companion.
Being cautious, I tried to buy another one but it was out of stock everywhere in the Western Hemisphere. I finally found it in Tokyo at an importer of specialty American toys who would not ship internationally. They were extremely polite but refused to budge.
Thankfully, via a similar and very cheaply priced proxy service we soon got it. To this day it is still sitting in it’s packaging, as the original is still safe and sound.
I’ve always wanted men in various countries who could buy things for me in obscure offline marketplaces. Rice cookers from Japan, gold from India, amber fragments from Cambodia, antique ivory from Africa, meteorites from Siberia, rugs from Morocco.
Unfortunately the biggest obstacle to setting up such a network is finding people you can trust.
They're even worse because there is a penaltt cost of calling them out if they cheat you that business doesn't have. If they're going to cheat you they don't care about it but you do. There are all of the other grey area actions like "was stolen".
Eg think of anything a shady or just incompetent relative might do, same thing here.
I actually have a Zojirushi, but while I was in Japan I came across some rare rice cookers and even some modded ones that I would have loved to have brought back. I have been unable to find similar ones online, doesn’t help that I don’t know much Japanese.
How so? I modded my espresso machine. Basic wiring changes, new temp probes and controller unit. put it on par with machines 1.5x-2x more expensive. Rice cooker mods likely similar.
Blockchain could only help with certain transactional aspects. Having a man in a foreign country who buys things for you requires they have autonomy over some funds you allocate for them, otherwise you get stuck micromanaging purchases at odd hours and inconvenient times.
Being cautious, I tried to buy another one but it was out of stock everywhere in the Western Hemisphere. I finally found it in Tokyo at an importer of specialty American toys who would not ship internationally. They were extremely polite but refused to budge.
Thankfully, via a similar and very cheaply priced proxy service we soon got it. To this day it is still sitting in it’s packaging, as the original is still safe and sound.