TOM Staff Interview:The TOM Shop’s Master Architect

Our new series interviewing TOM Staff continues with Sarah, our Head of Global E-Commerce. Sarah has been at Tokyo Otaku Mode almost since the beginning of the company, she’s worn multiple hats in different departments, and chances are you’ve interacted with somethings she’s had her hand in at one point or another. In my opinion, she’s one of the pillars here at TOM, and I was thrilled for the chance to share more about her personality and the work she does with TOM ZINE readers. So, let’s jump in and check out some of the intricacies of the TOM Shop!

The Journey Thus Far

What influenced you to move to Japan?

I studied Japanese in high school and continued in college. As part of that, I spent a year abroad. I really enjoyed everyday life in Japan. (Being an otaku made it extra fun!)

My favorite part was the fact that I didn’t need a car to get around. In most Japanese cities, even outside Tokyo, you can get around just fine with public transportation and your own two feet. That environment was a big part of why I wanted to come back and live in Japan again after graduation.

Being able to freely travel without needing a car is also why I love living in Japan. Plus, I like the free time to read, watch an anime, or listen to a podcast on the train.

I initially came to Japan as an English teacher in an exchange program, and after a stressful job at my previous employer, a friend told me about a job at TOM. What did you do before TOM, how did you find out about TOM, and what factors made you decide to work here?

Before joining TOM, I worked at an English teaching company. I happened to win a prize in a manga translation contest that TOM had helped sponsor, and I met one of TOM’s founders at the award ceremony. I got invited for a tour of the office, and eventually that led to me getting recruited.

I had never heard of Tokyo Otaku Mode before, but I jumped at the chance to do something related to my hobbies. Everyone was really friendly, and the office seemed way more relaxed than the stereotypical Japanese corporate setting. (Casual clothes, informal language, figures & plushies displayed on desks, anime art on the walls, etc.)

I’ve always felt that doing work related to what you love can be very rewarding. While most at TOM come from different backgrounds and cultures both within Japan and abroad, we all share a common interest that we love different facets of otaku life and getting to work with the intellectual property (IP) that we do on a daily basis.

By the way, how long have you been working at TOM? Could you briefly explain about your roles and responsibilities within the company up until now?

I’ve been working at TOM for about 12 years. I started in Customer Support, then spent some time with our Merchandise team and our Marketing team. Now, I oversee the TOM Shop as a whole. It’s a fairly streamlined operation, and the company doesn’t have a hierarchical atmosphere, which is one of the things I’ve always liked about working here. So, I still get a good amount of insight into the day-to-day practicalities of customer support and product management.

You’ve had quite the career so far. What’s a typical day like for you now?

I usually work from 8 to 5. There are some things I do almost every day like check out sales data and upcoming products, and there are some things I do once or twice a week like confirm/approve order quantities, write the Shop’s weekly round-up newsletter, and other tasks that come in at certain times of the month such as approving invoices.

On a typical day, I might do some or all of the above. The rest of the day might also involve some unplanned troubleshooting. These are two random examples: reporting a minor glitch to our dev team or doing research/calculations to figure out what happened in cases where shipping fees or US tariffs were billed to us at a higher rate than we’d expected.

If everything is going smoothly, and there aren’t any major ongoing projects, I’ll plan and prepare future promotions or work on relatively flexible tasks like requesting new TOM Shop banners from our creative team. Plus, there are always emails awaiting replies, questions to be asked and answered in the company chat, and catch-up meetings to attend every now and then.

You have quite a busy schedule, and thanks again for making time for this interview.

All Eyes on The TOM Shop

I’m actually a bit curious as to which features or categories of the TOM Shop you feel are underrated and could use a spotlight. Could you enlighten us a bit more on them?

A feature I’d like to highlight:

If you click/tap the Release Month text shown on pre-order product pages, you’ll be taken to a list of all products with the same expected release month. You can also activate this release month filter when looking at a product category or label page, or when viewing regular search results.

TOM Shop shipping discounts & free shipping are triggered on a per-shipment basis. The minimum bar for free shipping (per shipment) is US $150. When you place an order containing multiple items with the same release month, they’ll automatically be grouped in the same shipment. In short, using the release month search filter makes it easier to strategically group your purchases and unlock free or discount shipping at checkout.

Note: if you live in the US or Canada, you have access to products shipping from our US warehouse as well as from our main Japan warehouse. Items coming from different warehouses can’t be shipped together, but there’s a Warehouse Location filter you can use in tandem with the Release Month filter when you’re deciding which items to buy together.

For example, here is a link to everything expected to ship from our Japan warehouse in October 2026.

I remember when we introduced those filters, and it helped fans to better arrange their shipments with items releasing within the same month and coming from the same warehouse. It’s a great way to plan your shipments and maximize savings on shipping fees.

A category I’d like to highlight:

We carry some interesting digital content, including a bunch of official Japanese-language light novel audiobooks. These would have made for awesome listening practice back when I was studying Japanese in school… All of the audiobook product pages have brief samples available, in case you’re curious about how they sound.

The more fun you can make learning Japanese, the better. Plus, there’s more of a chance that what you learned will stick with you because you’re enjoying the learning process. All the manga, light novels, and magazines on the TOM Shop are also in Japanese.

Switching gears for a moment, what are some of the biggest challenges that go into running the TOM Shop?

Forecasting orders for specific products and ultimately deciding how many pieces of a product to pre-order doesn’t really fit the definition of a big or special challenge. It’s a standard part of doing business. But it’s also something we’ve put a lot of thought into. Our approach to deciding pre-order quantities has changed a lot over the years, and I expect it to keep changing as needed in the future, too.

Obviously, we always order a quantity equal to or greater than the number of customer purchases we receive before the supplier’s pre-order deadline. The real question is how many extra unsold pieces (if any) we want to order on top of that. Order too few, and the item might sell out long before it physically arrives at our warehouse—meaning that more people would have happily bought it if only we’d had a bigger buffer. Order too many, and there might be a lot of expensive unsold stocks taking up space in our warehouse for a long time after the product is officially released.

In the earlier days of the Shop, when TOM was much smaller, deciding on order quantities was difficult because we had so little past data to inform us. Plus, in the initial stages of a brand new business, going from 0 to 10 orders a day can seem like massive growth. But no business keeps growing exponentially forever. Similarly, most pre-order items sell fastest in the first few days after they go up for sale. So if you make a forecast based solely on that initial momentum, you’ll overestimate how many are likely to sell over the lifetime of the product.

This is complicated by some additional factors:

• The popularity of a series or character may vary drastically over time. Sometimes the first-ever figure(s) produced for a character sell extra well, maybe because there aren’t any other options available yet or because excitement about that title is currently at its peak.
• The length of time before we need to lock in our order quantity with suppliers can vary drastically from product to product. It can be as short as a couple days, or as long as half a year.
• In most cases, it isn’t possible to place additional supplier orders after their internal deadline passes. When items sell out ahead of schedule, we might ask if we can increase our total order quantity, but the answer is usually no.
• Re-runs may sell either less or more than the original run of the product. An example of a case where the re-run might sell more: say that the original run came out before the series/title had a popular new anime adaptation. So by the time the re-run goes up for pre-order, the series is much better known outside Japan, and there’s a lot more demand for merchandise.

Because of all this, it doesn’t really make sense to use a single fixed-in-stone formula for deciding how much of an extra-stock buffer to build in for pre-orders. Sometimes we make adjustments based on personal judgment calls. If it seems like a particular figure will continue to be a strong seller, I might choose to take on more risk by ordering more additional stocks than we would under ordinary circumstances.

That’s a hard balance to maintain. It feels like you really need to have a deep understanding of the TOM Shop’s user base, along with past, present, and future knowledge of the anime and manga markets.

Another aspect that you’ve had to pay close attention to over the past year and more have been shipping rates, US tariffs, and the worldwide economy. How do you stay so alert and in tune with it?

I try to keep an eye on general world news, official announcements from shipping companies like Japan Post, and public updates from other Japan-based shops and forwarders. Also, I don’t actively participate in fan-oriented spaces like My Figure Collection and Reddit… but I sure do a lot of lurking! I’m continually impressed by how quickly fans pick up on and share the latest news.

Some of us here at TOM believe you have eyes in every facet of TOM and around the internet, so this will go on record as proof (haha). On that note, are there any memorable moments that you’d like to share?

Although I’ve never had much direct personal involvement with product development, that’s a different department, I remember being extremely excited and proud to help promote our first few original products. Some readers might remember TOM-produced scale figures like Kizuna Ai, released 2019, and Hatsune Miku, released 2023,… but did you know about our Ninja-kun Plush in 2018, or TOMpacasso in 2015?

From Otaku to Otaku, What’s Up?

What manga/game/anime are you currently into, and do you have any recommendations for readers?

I recently finished the Trails in the Sky remake, and I just started replaying Final Fantasy IX for the first time since high school. I’m super excited for Kyoto Xanadu in July!

If you’ve never played any Nihon Falcom games, Trails in the Sky is a great place to start. It’s a must if you like JRPGs, turn-based combat, or even just story-heavy games in general.

From the current anime season, I’ve been following Witch Hat Atelier and Yomi no Tsugai. I tend to go through older anime in big batches once or twice a year; I recently finished The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity, Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table, Frieren season 2, Gnosia, and Shoshimin.

I’d happily recommend any of those, depending on your taste. I was most pleasantly surprised by Gnosia. I had no idea how they would keep “anime” Among Us exciting for 20+ episodes. And Shoshimin, if I’d realized it was from the author of Hyouka, I would’ve tried it much sooner! Both have amazing characters that get more and more interesting over time.

Those are some great recommendations to check out, if you’re already not. I’ve been meaning to get around to Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy IX for years now. I should start IX, and we can talk about it over break.

As you know, here at TOM we have the motto, “Let’s Enjoy Otaku Life!” What does “Otaku Life” mean to you?

I think it should be something that brings you joy. If a game is driving you crazy with rage and you don’t even like it anymore, maybe go play something else for a while. It’s only natural for interests to change over time, and that’s totally okay. Leaving one fandom might open up a path to discovering another one that you love even more.

People at different stages of their lives have different amounts of free time, and free cash, to use on their hobbies. There’s no right or wrong way to be an otaku, so focus on the parts of it that make you happy, and try not to get caught in the trap of feeling like you have to do something or buy something out of sheer obligation or just out of habit.

I understand what you mean. Over the years my habits for watching anime changed so much, I felt a bit ashamed that I didn’t watch some series or newer shows like I used to. However, I still watch one or two anime from each season that I think I’ll enjoy or are original stories. I ended up watching so much more Japanese drama, which really helped with my Japanese proficiency, but I enjoy it as well. Like you said, focus on the parts of being an otaku you enjoy!

Continuing on the topic of otaku life, what has been the peak of your otaku life so far?

Aria the Animation is one of my favorite series. Not too long after I first watched it, I went on a trip that included a few days in Venice. Aria takes place in a sci-fi setting, but many locations are based directly on real-life parts of Venice. It was an incredible experience to see all that in person.

On a rather different note, I used to own some classic older figures by Alter, Kotobukiya, and Good Smile Company, released from around 2006 to 2008. I parted ways with them when I moved to Japan… I should’ve taken better pictures of them first!

Is there any message you’d like to leave with our readers?

Our writers work really hard (and sometimes do quite a lot of legwork!) to come up with cool topics for the TOM ZINE. I definitely encourage you to read the back issues if you haven’t seen them yet.

Lastly, thank you so much for your interest in and kind support of Tokyo Otaku Mode and the TOM Shop. None of us would be here without you, and we will never forget that.

Wrap Up

Thank you again Sarah for sharing so much information with myself and the readers about your origin story here at TOM, your job, and sharing what otaku life means to you. TOM ZINE allows us to share with you a bit of ourselves and we hope you as readers will continue to enjoy your otaku life with flair, fanfare, and fun! Thank you readers and TOM Shop fans for being a guiding star to light our course here at Tokyo Otaku Mode.