yes, for me, the language barrier is one of the biggest reasons i don’t really collect japanese much, outside of any unique releases, art, no rarity, etc. i think the collection value is higher and more meaningful to me when i have a better connection to the language. unfortunately, pokemon doesn’t seem to be very consistent with foreign languages, unlike MTG.
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100% japanese
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Dang, this is the nicest post M has ever made lol.
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Way more english. My Japanese Collection is pretty big too but because of the low value and slow growth I’ve pretty much just put them away. Would love to see a substantial increase but don’t expect it:(
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50/50 ! I enjoy the trophy/prize cards that JP has but for set cards I always buy english.
Althoug I am so happy I bought a 1996 base charizard psa 9 japanese for cheap some years ago, it’s by far the best version of that artwork
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I collected 99% English until the last few years. I was able to visit Japan a few times recently, and was surprised how inexpensive Japanese cards were, so have picked up a few each time. Still mostly focused on English collecting, though.
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english only, but i’ll go japanese for cards that isn’t available in english
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Primarily English for me. I noticed I personally get more “value” out of English cards, since many of those cards are the ones I owned as a kid. End of the day that’s really why I got back into the hobby. I briefly considered going with Japanese instead for budget reasons, but quickly found the feeling wasn’t quite the same.
However, I do own a few Japanese cards in my collection:
- A set of the Japanese Base holos for a very similar reason as Jonandek, we wouldn’t have our hobby without these cards kicking it off in Japan. (However, no no-rarity for me!)
- Masaki Promos. I do really like these cards, despite having no nostalgic connection to them, I can appreciate what they are.
- Kanto Lottery Promo’s. I fell in love with the Charizard from this set, and found a good deal on the trio a while back, so decided to pick them up.
- And finally, I own a full set of VS cards. I am a big fan of the Gym Series, and this is their spiritual successor that never made it here. I really wanted to add these cards to my collection when I found out about their existence.
So in short, I do like Japanese, but only go for them on special occasions and for special cards.
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@voltagic, about the Kanto lottery promos, are those the Charizard, Blastoise and Venusaur from the Trade Please Campaign? If so, are they any different from the CD Promos or does PSA label them separately?
Nope, that’s different ones. I snapped a picture for you
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@voltagic, Ah I see, thanks for the info 
99% Japanese, only BS promos, prerelease, W stamped cards and some cool promos (E3 red cheeks etc) in english.
Seems like collecting the Japanese cards is more of a love job, as I’ve become more and more invested in collecting the JP cards have appealed more and more to me so other than early WOTC English I only look at Japanese cards.
WOTC master sets in progress to finish my childhood collection in English, and Japanese exclusives/promos as well as all arts/cards of specific pokemon like Ampharos.
I have more English cards due to getting back into the hobby during XY. I have binders and boxes full of B+W XY and a little sun and moon(mainly base), I have random cards from pretty much every English set, however I lean more towards Japanese unique and exclusive cards at the moment. I am not buying any wotc era cards until things settle down, my wants list is mainly full of Japanese cards but there are plenty of Wotc and individual English Pokemon cards I want(favourite Pokemon and liked cards)
The short answer:-
I prefer Japanese unique/exclusive cards but have far more English cards at the moment. I need to shift alot of unwanted bulk XD
100% Japanese! I love the promos I’ve got a bit of a guilty pleasure for the Pikachu art works and have bought probably too many lately…My main love though is trying to collect all the different Charizards in Unlimited and 1st Edition. Before you say this has been done to death it basically stemmed from sending two japanese Charizards to PSA and both came back 10’s and I got the bug of collecting and didn’t sell them even though that was the plan!
I currently have 65 PSA 10’s, 5 PSA 9’s and 3 PSA 8’s all unique. I like the chase of trying to find Unlimited and 1st Edition cards, the glossy feel and easier to grade imo!
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English as it was my second language although my parents used to buy us loads of Japanese packs as the store that sold them was closer to their work.
I find the durability of the earlier Japanese sets better too!
Grew up opening packs, so began with English. Since 2012, I began collecting Japanese cards because they have a different visual appearance which I found cool.
I love the multicolored art on the back of the card, along with the grey border instead of the English yellow.
Of course, I still will buy English cards, but happy to collect both!
Definitely 99% English cards in my collection. Lately I’ve been incorporating more Japanese into my collection because it’s cheaper than the English cards. I also have some Chinese cards too.
I only collect English cards. It’s not that I don’t adore Japanese cards, but I have ADHD which gives me a tendency towards obsessiveness and impulsivity, so I NEED to limit myself to keep myself from going overboard lol.
Once I’ve achieved most of my English goals, I’ll open up to Japanese cards, but likely only exclusive art of my favorite pokemon.