Many of us hear stories about certain places. 
I am talking about Hong Kong.  
There is a certtainity that You can find any piece of hardware or software on that island. 
I've been there on several occasions and had no success in finding staff that is extremely popular in other places. 
I could not find English version of WiiFitPlus in Early 2010.  DjHero for XBX 360 during same period. 5 months of game release and everybody is starring surprised. 
It is almost 2 months since RockBand 3 release. No software, no instruments. 
Or maybe I was looking in wrong spots?
You can find that staff on Play-asia.com.

I think it's more a case of the items your were looking for would have been localised versions. I'm sure if you wanted the latest laptops, digital cameras, mp3 players and pretty much anything consumer electronic related you would have had far less trouble. Also I think there is a specialised market place for some of things you were looking for, I've not been to Honk Kong, but in other places I've visited certain type of technology based products were only available from certain places.