Kato does make some beautiful toy trains. I actually own a few because I like Passenger trains and I live in Manhattan,NYC so not enough room to run them in O. One thing I like about the passenger trains Kato makes is that they bother accurately modeling the window placement in the passenger cars unlike most O scale makers. There also are quite a few model magazines in Japan and the quality of the magazines and modeling is quite high unfortunately after importing so are the prices.
Here are my Kato Virginia Railway Express commuter train 4 pack I got new for $100. No body in O scale is making a MP36PH anytime soon no doubt. Sorry Metra, GO transit, Mass Transit (T), Coaster and Metrolink fans.
Kato track is the gold standard of exactness in the hobby in general as I see it. The street trackage they are making for trollys is great stuff. Recently both Tomy and Kato have made some great very small trollys and even articulated LRVs that are just amazing.
As far as Japanese model railway layout themes there are many more modelers who chose to model railroads of the U.S. in Japan than modelers here who chose to model Japanese subjects. I feel like when I occasionally purchase model railroad mags from around the world this seems to be true all over. Modelers outside the states model the U.S. far more than Americans look elsewhere in their subject matter.
My sub hobby.
Kato makes some high quality models. I like how their products are made in Japan still and they have not exported their production to a cheaper labour country. It almost makes me want to get into N-scale. Yeah it seems like people like US prototype stuff globally. There is alot history and lore about US railroads which probably helps their popularity. Unfortunately in the US it is tough to get none US prototype equipment which may be a factor of why it is niche here.
