Let's just return to the subject of the re-issued Kintetsu Urban Liner Next and E233 Series Keiyo Line, both of which were released yesterday. These are not railway operating company limited releases, they are shown in TakaraTomy's general release schedule for March 2025.
But the way these are sold is a bit different to anything that has happened previously. They are described by TakaraTomy as 'Local Plarail' (ご当地プラレール - Gotoji Plarail), that " can be purchased at stores in the areas where they run ".
So the Urban Liner is only available at a long list of stores in nine prefectures in the Kansai and Tokai regions, and the E233 Keiyo Line is similarly only available in six prefectures in the Kanto region, all of which are in central Honshu (Japan's main island) - except that in theory they are also available nationally by mail order from the TakaraTomy Mall, where they are currently both showing as 'sold out'.
There is no special description on either box to reflect their local distribution. It is anticipated that further 'Local Plarail' releases of items from the back-catalogue may appear in Hokkaido, Tohoku, Chugoku, Shikoku, Kyushu and so on in the future.
(The 'My Home Town's Train Set' series of six sets was of course released at the very end of 2002, but although the emphasis of the marketing and subjects was on the local aspect of each one, their sales were not restricted by region and you were encouraged to buy all six to make a combined set in the shape of Japan).
