new collector here, really into collecting the exclusive japan promos. is there any way to know if a card is an exclusive japan or not? there are times when i can’t find the card in english but apparently there’s a version of the cards that i bought in english ;;; sad
Hey there, welcome! The best way I can think of is to go to the specific card on bulbapedia and check in the releases if the card was released in English. You will see the list of card on the right hand side. If you check those releases to see if the art is the same as well you will have your answer, the list might contain some cards with different arts, but the same card (like same hp and attacks).
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The world of Japanese promos is eclectic and at times will feel downright archaeological.
The first place to start is going to be Bulbapedia. The picture on the article may or may not match because Bulbapedia identifies cards based on their text and not their art, which is very frustrating for this specific category of collecting.
You will have to begin by reading the release information from the card and seeing how many versions of it are known to exist, then check the gallery to confirm the promo is part of that assortment and was not released elsewhere.
In my experience, modern is a little easier just because it’s easier for people to document more contemporary cards more quickly. But with vintage you’re going to need a spreadsheet. Especially if you’re going for some sort of complete catalog.
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thank you for the information !!! Bulbapedia added to bookmark
thank you for the information ! will def pay attention to Bulbapedia before i buy stuffs!
What kind of promos are you collecting? Mostly vintage, mostly modern, a mix?
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for modern i’m just speculating cards that might have better value in the future… for vintage usually just pikachu promos. i literally just put my ego aside from collecting Articuno PSA 10s to Pikachu PSA 10s just bcs it has more value over time and have broader market. hbu?? what do u collect? maybe u can recommend me something to buy in japan market
I recently decided to collect vintage Japanese promos from Generations I+II. It’s a huge list with tons of variety and the greatest ratio of exclusivity.
There’s some challenges:
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Print quality is universally bad, especially when it comes to borders. This means you have to buy each card carefully and individually, even if they usually come on bundles or subsets, because you need control over every card.
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Categorization is difficult. Most cards from the era were released as “unnumbered promos” which were intended to be addendums to sets. Deciding how to organize and categorize the cards is an effort all its own. I’ve changed my mind numerous times because it’s all semantics. For example. There’s a group of ~7 cards all released through a specific Japanese airline, so it makes sense to categorize them as a little set. But they don’t have any specific unifying set symbol that identifies them as having a shared distribution, like the way the Game Boy promos do. So if I decide to identify the airline cards as a subset, this means I need to also consider other small groups of cards with similar release methods. But how many is enough to constitute a “set”? If there’s only 4 cards, is that enough to break out into their own section of the binder or should I just keep them sequential with the unnumbered cards based on release date? I’ve gone back and forth on questions like this a lot.
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Identification is very difficult. Many cards in this era were released more than once. Sometimes there is a variation to distinguish the releases, like one will be glossy and one will not. But other times there is no discernible difference at all. Recognizing if the card you’re looking for is the correct one and the language barrier between myself and Japanese speakers makes additional clarification often impossible.
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Defining what a promo even is can be challenging. For example, there are three cards distributed on a sheet at World Hobby Fair 1998 that feature a unique set symbol of a Poké Ball. This set symbol was then used on the expansive vending series of cards, which is a special set distributed on similar peel sheets. Subsequently, Communication Event cards (called “Masaki promos” around here) were obtained by sending in cards from the vending series and receiving the Communication Event cards back. These cards all have the same set symbol. So how do we define these cards? Are they all just part of one special set and not promos? Is “vending” the set, but the WHF and Communication Event cards are promos for that set? Is there no connection at all? More complex questions with debatable answers.
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Completion may be impossible. Going for the complete catalog of promos during a period of time requires acceptance that certain cards will need to be disqualified. Obtaining trophy or prize cards is financially impossible and this may leave gaps in your collection where those cards should canonically be placed. Sometimes this is more frustrating than others, like how Tropical Wind 2001 is a numbered promo that’s part of the “P Series” of releases.
Overall I’d say this is the most difficult category if cards to collect if your plan is to get “all of them” — which is what I’m doing.
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for me… if i’m collecting vintage stuffs ( for grade ) i’d prefer buy the PSA 9 or 10 instead of grading by myself eventho it’s more expensive. cus getting a mint condition for vintage cards is very hard right now ( tried it myself ) so i’m sticking to buying PSA 10s. and some alternate art PSA 10 is also good ! sold some for good cash when i sell them to buy new stuffs
Going off of this, is there a site similar to https://pkmncards.com/ but with Japanese cards?
Surely there must be somewhere? Bulbapedia works alright, but as mentioned above it has its issues
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Im not sure there is a site like that, but I know ive seen a site on here a few times called pokumon that has a lot of valuable information about specific, obscure, old japanese releases. It may even be run by an efour member. Idk if thats helpful, but i find its a great resource for info on like universiry magikarp, the timeline of the beginning of the pokemon tcg, etc.
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I thought so! Thanks for letting me know! Big shoutout to @HumanForScale that website is a goldmine!!!
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Yep that’s run by me! If you have any specific requests drop me a message, though I work on the site entirely by myself so updates are a little slow to juggle 
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I just want to say your website is critically, crucially valuable to me and has been the most important resource for my increasingly niche interests. Thank you so much for your work.
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Most of the things have already been said, but since I saw you mentioned this:
Here is a list of all Pikachu artworks that were never released in English (although some were released in Korean/Thai/Indonesian):
- WB Pikachu with Jungle background (Toyota Campaign promo / Bulbasaur Intro Pack)
- Birthday Pikachu (Natta Wake)
- Flying Pikachu (Nippon Airlines “Get in a Jet! Double Chance Campaign”
- Flying Pikachu (Nippon Airlines “Everyone’s Happy Campaign”
- Surfing Pikachu (JR Trainer Rally)
- Pikachu World Collection 2010 Blue background
- Pikachu World Collection 2010 Green background
- XY-P Art Academy gogotake (Farmer)
- XY-P Art Academy pikamania (Business)
- XY-P Art Academy Mame Akimaru (Space)
- XY-P Art Academy Y. Fujishima (Red Raincoat)
- XY-P Art Academy Sayaka Maruyama (Orange Raincoat)
- XY-P Art Academy Ginga (Pikachu Emotions)
- Ooyama’s Pikachu (Vending Machine Series 3 Green)
- 010/018 McDonald’s Pokémon-e Minimum Pack
- 004/009 PokéPark Premium Files - PokéPart Forest
- 003/009 11th Movie Commemoration Random Pack
- 0167/047 Everyone’s Exciting Battle
- 005/026 Ash vs Team Rocket Deck Kit - Ash Half Deck (also released in Korean)
- 019/053 Sword & Shield Family Pokémon Card Game (released as both non-holo and holo)
- SNAP Photo Contest 1999
- 004/P promo
- 021/P promo
- 038/P promo
- 044/P promo
- 043/PCG-P promo
- 098/DP-P promo
- 099/DP-P promo
- 100/DP-P promo
- 101/DP-P promo
- 102/DP-P promo
- 043/DPt-P promo
- 079/L-P promo
- 120/BW-P promo
- 151/BW-P promo (also released in Korean)
- 229/BW-P promo
- 050/XY-P promo
- 056/XY-P promo
- 068/XY-P promo
- 069/XY-P promo
- 070/XY-P promo
- 090/XY-P promo
- 094/XY-P promo
- 095/XY-P promo
- 096/XY-P promo
- 097/XY-P promo
- 098/XY-P promo
- 099/XY-P promo
- 150/XY-P promo
- 151/XY-P promo
- 175/XY-P promo (available both with and without Event Organizer stamp)
- 203/XY-P promo
- 204/XY-P promo
- 207/XY-P promo
- 208/XY-P promo
- 221/XY-P promo
- 230/XY-P promo
- 231/XY-P promo
- 274/XY-P promo
- 275/XY-P promo
- 279/XY-P promo
- 293/XY-P promo
- 294/XY-P promo
- 295/XY-P promo
- 296/XY-P promo
- XY-P Soccer promo 1
- XY-P Soccer promo 2
- XY-P Pokémon With YOU (Wagon) promo
- XY-P Fujita Nikoru promo
- XY-P 20th Anniversary Festa Tournament promo
- 005/SM-P promo
- 013/SM-P promo
- 014/SM-P promo
- 037/SM-P promo
- 038/SM-P promo
- 055/SM-P promo
- 061/SM-P promo
- 061/SM-P + 068/SM-P promos (same artwork, one with and one without stamp and different promo numbers)
- 088/SM-P promo
- 191/SM-P promo (also released in Korean)
- 192/SM-P promo (also released in Korean)
- 193/SM-P promo (also released in Korean)
- 194/SM-P promo (also released in Korean)
- 195/SM-P promo (also released in Korean)
- 196/SM-P promo (also released in Korean)
- 197/SM-P promo (also released in Korean)
- 200/SM-P promo (also released in Korean)
- 208/SM-P promo
- 209/SM-P promo
- 210/SM-P promo
- 211/SM-P promo
- 224/SM-P promo
- 227/SM-P promo (also released in Korean, Thai, and Indonesian)
- 270/SM-P promo
- 280/SM-P promo
- 281/SM-P promo
- 282/SM-P promo
- 283/SM-P promo
- 288/SM-P promo
- 325/SM-P promo
- 369/SM-P promo
- 392/SM-P promo
- 400/SM-P promo
- 407/SM-P promo
- 002/S-P promo
- 036/S-P promo
- 099/S-P promo
- 105/S-P promo (also released in Korean)
- 144/S-P promo
- 208/S-P promo
- 227/S-P promo
- 323/S-P promo
- [Jumbo] Pikachu, Jigglypuff, and Clefairy CoroCoro Jumo promo
- [Jumbo] Pikachu Summer’s Vacation CoroCoro Jumbo promo
- [Jumbo] Pikachu & Pichu CoroCoro Jumbo promo
- [Jumbo] Happy Birthday Pikachu Jumbo promo
- [Jumbo] Yokohama Captain’s Pikachu Jumbo promo
- [Jumbo] Birthday Campaign Pikachu 2010 Jumbo promo
- [Jumbo] Moving of Nagoya Pikachu Jumbo promo
- [Jumbo] BEAMS x Pokémon Pikachu Jumbo promo
- [Jumbo] Birthday Present Pikachu Jumbo promo
- [Teach Set] Teach Set July 2011 Pikachu
Additional unreleased Japanese exclusive artworks:
- Pikachu & Ishihara GX (Ishihara’s 61st birthday gift)
- E3 2001 Sample Set
- Japanese Press Conference 2001 Sample Set (two different versions)
- Japanese Space World 2001 Sample Set
- 1996 Prototype card
So a total of 126 different Pikachu TCG artworks that exist in Japanese and were never released in English.
PS: There is also:
- One Spanish exclusive Pikachu artwork: Art Academy Lily-Chan (Dress)
- One Korean/Thai/Indonesian exclusive Pikachu artwork: 001/SM-P / 004/SM-P / 009/SM-P promo in their respective languages
- And just a couple for which the reverse is true (released in English and other languages, but not in Japanese):
- XY174 promo (also released in German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, and even Russian, but not in Japanese)
- SWSH074 Special Delivery Pikachu promo
- 5/5 Poké Card Creator Pack
- Pikachu World Collection 2010 (USA flag)
- Art Academy Meli (Chef)
- Art Academy Rhivern (Cooking)
- Art Academy Xime (Dancing)
- Art Academy Ashley (Kabuki)
- Art Academy Me! (Queen of Hearts)
For pictures of all these cards (except the unofficial releases, which were mentioned separately), I can refer to my Japanese ‘Pikachu around the World’ collection post.
Greetz,
Quuador
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been to Pokumon, i think already saved every japanese card on that website.
HOLY SMOKES !!! thank you soooo much for the list !!! now gonna continue saving to buy some of these cool promos
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