I find it interesting that the Japanese sets are often cheaper, and harder to price than their WOTC counterparts. The added challenge of finding a foreign (to me) card is pretty cool, especially since they originated from Japan! Does anyone else feel like cards from sets like Japanese base should be worth more? Why or why not?
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I’m assuming all the prices of English vs Japanese is the nostalgia connection they have with the cards, which pushes prices a lot higher. I personally collect Japanese cards for the better quality all around for 1/5th the price. My conflict is that, the majority of collectors enjoy the artwork, so whether it is English or not, the art is still there. I think another reason is some collectors worry about investment or a return on their cards. I can give two sh*ts about investment because that isn’t why I collect. Let’s be honest, it would be great if our cards when up in value but if it happens it happens. Japanese card prices have slowly increased over the years. We all like a good chase and Japanese do it right with a lot of their Japanese exclusive cards such as: The Mario/Luigi Pikachu, Pretend Team Skull Pikachu, and Munch cards. I think the majority of these cards are underpriced but, we as collector’s, determine that.
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As a wise man once said, most expensive cards in the hobby are all japanese
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English wotc is definitely the wheelhouse for sets. However I’ve sold a lot more Japanese set cards in the past few months. Probably because the prices of English have increased.
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I bought a couple recently from you Scott, partly due to English rising but mostly because Japanese has really grown on me in the last few months.
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I just find it crazy that I can find PSA 9 Japanese Base set Holos for less than a tank of gas or a night out at a restaurant
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For collecting that’s a very productive mindset to have. Weighing every non-essential consumption vs. something that will likely hold its value for quite some time.
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No doubt English is more in demand worldwide, but I wonder what the demand for English cards is like in Japan over their native prints?
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I think it is hard to wrap our heads around just how many people are buying English Pokemon cards. It is hundreds of thousands, if not 1,000,000+, active buyers. That is people who are seeking out Pokemon cards on a semi-regular basis.
Japanese set cards are super popular. But English Pokemon is on a level that isn’t true in any other world of cards. I’ve posted this on several occasions on E4 in the past, but it is always good to remember.
People that speak Japanese in the world: 120,000,000
People that speak English in the world: 1.5 Billion
That fact will always be a primary influence in the markets for Pokemon cards. So sure, Japanese cards can win when there are trophies with 0.05% as many copies as there are active users on E4. lol. But if you’re talking about growing the value on cards with millions produced, you need to win a larger numbers game. Japanese set cards will literally never have the raw demand that English wotc has. Does that mean there isn’t an opportunity? Of course not. There are dozens of factors and angles you may leverage to win on a micro scale. But if you could pick one long-term index fund for set cards, you’d pick English every time.
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To echo Charlie’s comment, it’s also why the Japanese cards from set-trophy typically do better on the open market!
I have actually been considering collecting some Japanese versions of the cards I already have in English, just to have both versions PSA graded. However, as with most people, my primary concern was collecting the English versions of the most iconic cards from my childhood as those are the ones I played with and collected. Japanese cards are easier to find in better condition and are cheaper so purchasing them is a good move to make for collectors who just enjoy the artwork.
Overall, I think they are priced accordingly as some others have mentioned there are far more English speaking people in the world so despite them originating in Japan, the English versions will be more desirable to most collectors. This is of course excluding the collectability of the Japanese trophy cards and the like as Japanese cards are produced with more of a mindset for collectors whilst the modern English releases are not.
A unfortunate fact I think we consider too is that English prints aren’t as great in quality than Japanese prints, which means getting a “Mint” card is in much higher demand in English than a Japanese variation. Thus more expensive. Once you step outside of normal sets, though, for promos and trophy cards, this tends to snap back in Japanese favor.
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Charlie’s probably seen how often I post about Japanese cards on the Pokemon Card Collectors Facebook group, I buy Japanese from the sets because things like the full arts are almost identical but can be so much cheaper than english.
Where as I buy the English full art promos that use the “rare” Japanese art, for example the stain glass legendary bird trio was relatively expensive as a Japanese card,the Beams Pikachu, the sword/Shield starter trio Pikachu, but as English they are almost dirt cheap
I collect lots of the Gx rainbows too, on that style of card you don’t really notice if it’s English and I really prefer Japanese card quality
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I think the japanese exclusive holos from the Base and Neo era have a TON of potential once collectors finish their english sets. No facts or stats to back it up, I just know that’s where I’ve started heading.
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$20 PSA 10 Japanese Neo Holos are criminal.
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Good point.
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the demand for japanese cards isnt as big as their english counterparts. while the newer sets do sell well and the quality is way better the market isnt as hyped for it as much. plus you can tell going to worlds a good 80%-90% were trading american cards. many of the japanese players also were into certain playable cards in american as well but many mostly had like higher end cards or sleeves and deck boxes.