How popular are they? I know several certain ones fetch a high dollar amount obviously.
I ask because the owner of one of the local shops here in town about the ones I have and he basically said and I quote:
“I’m not too familiar with the foreign stuff, I just never have anyone ask for it.”
“ Yeah I’ve only met 2 people in my entire life that collect the Japanese stuff. Lol”
He has a huge PSA collection and is very knowledgeable with the English stuff, but it seems weird he’s never really had anyone ask him for them or knows anyone who collects them lol.
I guess maybe it all depends on location? This is in San Antonio so…
Personally I only collect japanese cards/stuff. It’s true that the market is more oriented toward the english cards simply because most people speaks english and not japanese, and so they can understand what the card says/use it in a tournament etc, while I just like the artwork (also I feel like the japanese cards are the ‘‘real’’ ones since Pokemon was born in Japan).
The language barrier is a huge factor + it’s probably easier/cheaper for most people (i.e.: children) to get eng cards in your country than search for the japanese ones, but I think they are gaining popularity and on fb you can see them pop out quite often.
Also I think the lack of knowledge about the japanese cards is also another importar variable. @crushingame ,
As a seller, I’ve sold them daily for years. Most with increased pricing.
As a collector, Japanese promos are what the hobby is all about. They cover everything: exclusive art, release, history, variety of rarity and a variety of pricing options.
The number of people who collect cheap set cards is large. The number of cheap set cards is large.
The number of people who collect rare Japanese promotional cards is small. The number of rare Japanese promotional cards is small.
It is to be expected that a local card store guy wouldn’t be familiar with the rare Japanese cards. The customers they’re attracting are the ones who will pop into a store and buy a few cheap packs to have some fun opening up or maybe buying a one of a small handful of popular set cards.
When you have an incredibly rare card, you’re not going to sell it through a local store. Since the number of people looking for these cards is small, you’re going to use the Internet to reach everyone across the world who would may be considered a serious potential customer for these items.
Let me know what he’s got, ill snatch them up. As Scott mentioned, the history, exclusivity, and history is very interesting in these cards. Although some hate that most of them are dressed up Pikachu but even the Scream Promos are great. I also like the 20th anniversary cards and Festa cards. I look forward to more Japanese exclusives!
I can only agree with Scott here. English has got nothing on the Japanese’s collector game. They are miles ahead.
And sure, on the local level you won’t find many people looking for Japanese cards (probably because they know that most local sellers aren’t interested in Japanese product, so the dog bites its own tail here). But on the grand scale there are enough collectors of Japanese cards to make a big impact. I can definitely appreciate the card connoisseur who eats Masaki Omastar on his French Pretzel over the Base Set chad who only slurps Charizard soup all day.
Japanese promos are increasing in popularity. I’d consider them the second step in card collecting after English cards in English speaking countries.
Personally, I was interested in them after I collected about 75% of the English cards on my list. I knew of the trophy cards and that there was exclusive artwork, so I did my research on them.
Japanese collectors are like a lake compared to the OCEAN that is English collectors (speaking from a North American perspective). Much of e4 is part of that lake so you’ll get a skewed perspective here but in the wider community English is definitely king.
When I was a newbie I wasn’t into japanese cards.
Now that my pokemon’s love has increased, my interest in japanese promos has increased too.
I mainly collect English cards but I always find a japanese promo I’d like to buy!
I search mainly the cards I can’t find in English, so promos and not japanese sets (but I have some too lol)
I am newer and I love many of the Japanese cards and promos.
some are exclusive art
many are exclusive promos
fun to collect parallel sets (collecting English and Japanese rocket)
often times can fill a need. Example. I want a PSA 9/10 Umbreon 1st Disc Neo Holo. I currently can not justify buying one, at least until I go back to the office to work. So I was able to get a Japanese Neo 2 Umbreon Holo PSA 9. Not worth as much. But the art work is the same I love in the English version.
I think some look better. The Japanese fossil set is awesome. It may be the next set I start even before the English version.
I love Japanese promo cards. I adore the exclusive art and history behind the cards. There are still a decent number of English set and promo cards that I wish to have in my collection. That said, I think my collection will mostly be focused on Japanese promos.
Certainly! Here are a few promo cards I have:**Mew:**Player’s Mew 013 Play Promo
McDonald’s Mew Promo
CoroCoro Magazine Shiny Mew
Mew Ex 7000 Exp. Pts Japanese Play Promo
**Pikachu:**Luigi Cosplay Pikachu (Mario Cosplay Pikachu also exists)
**Charizard:**Meiji Embossed Lizardon
This barely scratches the surface of the kinds of exclusive Japanese Promo cards you could collect! I hope this gives you a little bit of an idea as to the art and variety that Japanese promo cards offer.
Certain promos I bought multiples of in search for high grade candidates, I usually put up for sale on our Craigslist equivalent - which probably hosts the most casual clientele - and they gather a lot of interest within days. People don’t need to know anything about the release to gravitate towards the artwork of Poncho/Mario Pikachus, Play promos or even Rocket 20th and Master Battle promos. I do notice though that people don’t initially offer too much for them, because they don’t know the market, while the value of stuff like 1st ed Base is widely known.
