Japan always gets the good stuff regardless of whether it's Pokemon merchandise or not, and everyone else gets lame stuff. I mean, In Japan, there are Pokemon stores, and there's even a Pokemon theme park. Pokemon is HUGE in Japan, and still is even now, to the point where the announcement of a new Pokemon game is essentially a national event there.
Here in America, and I'll bet every other country, Pokemon is barely even seen anymore from what it was in the 90's, you barely see any good merchandise in the stores except the games and the cards (I was LUCKY to even find an Oshawott plush at my local Walmart), and even then, it's in bare amounts compared to merchandise from big American franchises like Transformers and My Little Pony (not that I hate either of those, though I'm having a growing dislike of the latter's fandom), only place you'll really find Pokemon merchandise is at Toys R' Us, and even then they're only based in large cities, and I live in a rural area, so that screws me over big time. Even then, it's not really that much Pokemon merchandise, but at least it's more
There used to be an online Pokemon store on Pokemon.com and a Pokemon store called the "Pokemon Center" in New York, but the online store closed in 2006 (and shortly before D/P was released at that), and the Pokemon Center in NY closed and NoA revamped it into a general Nintendo store, with Pokemon being reduced to a bare corner on the first floor while Mario and Zelda dominate the remaining 90% of the store.
Face it, Pokemon has gone downhill over here in the states, it's gone to the point where it's nonexistent anymore, heck ANY franchise from Japan that isn't one of those overrated as hell JRPGs is barely existent outside Japan, and instead, American franchises like Transformers and MLP are essentially at the top of the food chain.