List of All Japanese Pokemon Phone Cards

[JoshsOddCollection]

Hello everyone,

This is a guide on the old-school prepaid phone cards, specifically ones from Japan. These cards were made in the late 1990s and early 2000s and allowed people to make phone calls at telephone booths (this was before cell phones were mainstream). I didn’t even know these existed until a few days ago (I still don’t much about these cards), but I thought they were interesting so I dug up as many as I could find online over the past few days.

Let me know if there are any cards I missed or if you have any cards/info to contribute!

Happy collecting

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PiPiPi Adventurer
Year: 1996
Japanese text:
ポケットモンスター (Pokemon)
アドベンチヤー (Adventurer)

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PiPiPi Adventurer - Pikachu
Year: 1996
Japanese text:
アドベンチヤー (Adventurer)

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PiPiPi Adventurer 2
Year: 1996

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PiPiPi Adventurer 3
Year: 1996

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CORO CORO COMICS - Red
Year: 1996

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CORO CORO COMICS - Green
Year: 1996

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Articuno
Year: 1996

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Zapdos
Year: 1996

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Moltres
Year: 1996

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Televi-Kun and Kusei
Year: 1998
Background: Televi-Kun is a Japanese monthly manga magazine published by Shogakukan
Japanese text:
てれびくんとくせい (Televi-kun and Kusei)
ポケットモンスターテレカ (Pokemon telephone card)

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Pokemon Center Tokyo Grand Opening Telephone Card Set
Year: 1998

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Pokemon Center Osaka
Year: 1998

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Pokemon Center Osaka Telephone Card Set
Year: 1998

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Mewtwo Strikes Back 1
Year: 1998

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Mewtwo Strikes Back 2
Year: 1998

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Mewtwo Strikes Back 3
Year: 1998

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Mewtwo Strikes Back 4
Year: 1998

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Mewtwo Strikes Back 5
Year: 1998

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The 64 DREAM
Year: 1999
Japanese text:
ザロクヨンドリーム (The Rokuyon Dream)

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3rd Anniversary Pocket Monsters Telephone Card Set
Year: 1999

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Mirage Pokemon: Lugia’s Explosive Birth 1
Year: 1999

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Mirage Pokemon: Lugia’s Explosive Birth 1 - Holo
Year: 1999

https://i.imgur.com/kt5G8xo.png(image larger than 4 MB)

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Mirage Pokemon: Lugia’s Explosive Birth 2
Year: 1999

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Mirage Pokemon: Lugia’s Explosive Birth 3
Year: 1999

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Mirage Pokemon: Lugia’s Explosive Birth 3 - Holo
Year: 1999

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Mirage Pokemon: Lugia’s Explosive Birth 4
Year: 1999

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1999 ANA Airlines
Year: 1999

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2000 ANA Airlines
Year: 2000

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ANA Airlines 1
Year: ?

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ANA Airlines 2
Year: ?

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ANA Airlines 3
Year: ?

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ANA Airlines 4
Year: ?

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Famitsu Magazine
Year: 2000

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Pikachu the Movie 2000 - Lord of the Unknown Tower 1
Year: 2000

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Pikachu the Movie 2000 - Lord of the Unknown Tower 2
Year: 2000

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Pikachu the Movie 2000 - Pichu and Pikachu 1
Year: 2000
Japanese text:
ピチューと (Pichu and)
ピカチュウ (Pikachu)

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Pikachu the Movie 2000 - Pichu and Pikachu 2
Year: 2000
Japanese text:
ピチューと (Pichu and)
ピカチュウ (Pikachu)

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Pikachu the Movie 2000 - Hide and Seek Pikachu
Year: 2000
Japanese text:
ピカチュウの (Pikachu of)
ドキドキ (throb)
かくれんぼ (hide and seek)

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Pikachu the Movie 2000 - Celebi
Year: 2000
Japanese text:
セレビィ (Celebi)

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Shiny Concert 2001
Year: 2001

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Celebi Timeless Encounter
Year: 2001

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Guardian Gods of the Capital of Water: Latias and Latios - 1
Year: 2002

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Guardian Gods of the Capital of Water: Latias and Latios - 2
Year: 2002
Japanese text:
水の都の護神 (Goddess of the city of water)

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Guardian Gods of the Capital of Water: Latias and Latios - Shiny Raw Sky???
Year: 2002
Japanese text:
ピカピカ (Shiny)
生空キャンろ (Raw sky)

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Latios and Latias
Year: 2002

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Shining Charizard
Year: 2002

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Wishing Star of the Seven Nights: Jirachi
Year: 2003

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Pokemon Stadium - Nintendo 64
Year: ?
Japanese text:
スタジアム (Stadium)
マリオ (Mario)

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BANPRESTO Pikachu
Year: ?

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TOMY Lugia
Year: ?

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TOMY Ash
Year: ?

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TOMY 1999-2000
Year: ?

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SHOWA NOTE Pikachu and Togepi
Year: ?

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Dragonite and Pikachu
Year: ?

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7:00 Pikachu
Year: ?

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Pocket Monster Pikachu
Year: ?

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Pocket Monster Shogakukan
Year: ?

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Pocket Monster Mato - Pikachu
Year: ?

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Pocket Monster Mato
Year: ?

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Pokemon Center
Year: ?

[thymeee]

I was scrolling through, and I thought maybe I had a chance to expand on this guide with some of my own, but you got them all! The art on these is so good imo, thanks for the guide!

@pichufan , you have got 2 of the very limited phone cards from Chile iirc right? Those are the only 2 that should be in here to make it more complete.

[pichufan]

Nice idea for a thread. You have quite a few missing though - but that’s to be expected really as there are hundreds and hundreds of obscure ones out there.

Here is a picture I shared of my small collection a few months ago on Discord:

https://i.imgur.com/Jqnrnq7.png(image larger than 4 MB)

You’ll notice I have (or had as I sold one) 3 PiPiPi cards and there’s actually a very rare 4th which was only awarded to 30 people in a lottery:

The dark red-background card on top of the PiPiPi ones is a telephone card distributed in or with the December 1997 issue of Japanese magazine Televi-Kun to celebrate the upcoming new year.

Then I have the 2 Chrsitmas 2000 telephone cards sealed which both feature Pichu. In terms of Pichu there’s also a very rare Pokémon Shiny Concert 2001 telephone card which I’ve only seen come up for sale twice (I’m offering $1,000 for one of these):

To continue what @thymeee said above, there’s a set of Chilean telephone cards released as part of their Pokémon League. I got very lucky last year and managed to find a Pichu one bundled in as a freebie with a Togepi card I bought:

https://instagram.com/p/CMFAQd0lzQk

hapycakeoven has been collecting telephone cards for years and likely has the largest Pokémon collection of those. I know Mason Kampe has also recently been trying to collect all of them also.

There are still a lot you’re missing though. For some useful resources here are some links:

• Teleca is one of the largest telephone card stores in Japan;
• AnimeTeleca is the other Japanese store I’m aware of which has an even larger inventory (NSFW warning);
• Colnect is a massive database of telephone cards which lists a lot of English cards (both official and unofficial) and is where I learned of those Chilean cards.

[JoshsOddCollection]

@pichufan Thanks for the info as always! I just updated the guide to add the cards that you mentioned, and decided to dedicate this guide specifically to Japanese cards because I feel like the other phone cards deserve a thread of their own. While adding the cards that you mentioned I also stumbled across four additional cards! I updated the guide to include those as well

[pichufan]

Another PiPiPi card which I’ve never seen before sold today on YJA (page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e1002042459):

Not sure what this one is from but it’s probably another obscure lottery prize.

[wotcfetish]

Is the Girl in the PiPiPi-Cards someone famous like Imakuni or is it not based on a celebrity/person?

[pichufan]

@wotcfetish

Is the Girl in the PiPiPi-Cards someone famous like Imakuni or is it not based on a celebrity/person?

It’s Yellow. In Pokémon lore she is the person who gave Pichu its name, so she’s something of a celebrity to me.

Oh, I’m wrong it seems. It’s actually Hazel. That’s not as fun.

[chopin]

What a lovely thread @JoshsOddCollection ! Very useful guide for many I’m sure, and a great start to be built upon by others adding pics of theirs!

I don’t suppose you have any information on this Keiko Fukuyama one at all do you? It’s not mine, but I have a vested interest in it because of the artist

[davie]

I didn’t even know these existed… wow. Love the art on these. A cursory search on eBay tells me that I don’t have pockets deep enough to venture into collecting these.

Amazing stuff.

[Berndos]

@davie

I didn’t even know these existed… wow. Love the art on these. A cursory search on eBay tells me that I don’t have pockets deep enough to venture into collecting these.

Amazing stuff.

I’m sure you do for the majority of them - the prices on these can jump around lots. Sometimes a card will sell for 150$ after a drought of a couple of months, then two sellers will list two each at once on auction and they all sell for 60$. Certain ones like the shiny Charizard though are very sought after. Then again, if you look at asking prices of BGS 10 ones on eBay, that’s not the reality of raw cards in Japan, especially because if these cards are unused, they usually grade 9.5s/10s.
Also to start, there are multiple cards pictured here that go for under 50$ easily every time.

[davie]

@Berndos

@davie

I didn’t even know these existed… wow. Love the art on these. A cursory search on eBay tells me that I don’t have pockets deep enough to venture into collecting these.

Amazing stuff.

I’m sure you do for the majority of them - the prices on these can jump around lots. Sometimes a card will sell for 150$ after a drought of a couple of months, then two sellers will list two each at once on auction and they all sell for 60$. Certain ones like the shiny Charizard though are very sought after. Then again, if you look at asking prices of BGS 10 ones on eBay, that’s not the reality of raw cards in Japan, especially because if these cards are unused, they usually grade 9.5s/10s.
Also to start, there are multiple cards pictured here that go for under 50$ easily every time.

$50 a card is still pretty rough if you’re a completionist

This is a totally different type of Pokemon collectible – it’s great.

[JoshsOddCollection]

@chopin Unfortunately I don’t know anything about that card, but thanks for making me aware of it, I’ll add it to the list It’s a beautiful card!

[pichufan]

@davie

I didn’t even know these existed… wow. Love the art on these. A cursory search on eBay tells me that I don’t have pockets deep enough to venture into collecting these.

Amazing stuff.

As with most Japanese items you’re a lot better off buying from Japan rather than eBay. You can search for terms like “ポケモン テレカ” (Pokémon telephone card) and “ポケモン テレホンカード” (Pokémon calling card). What typically sells on eBay for around $40 sells in Japan for $10.

Some of the rare ones definitely fetch a high price though. A few of the cards in my collection sell for the equivalent of over $1,000 in Japan, but those are the ones with a very limited release (whereas the majority of telephone cards are very common).

[assassin5757]

Here is one. There are some efour threads on it.www.elitefourum.com/t/articuno-phone-card/23619/1

[JoshsOddCollection]

@assassin5757 How weird, a variant of Articuno without the gold part on the bottom. Thanks! Do you know if the other birds have this variant as well?

[assassin5757]

@JoshsOddCollection

@assassin5757 How weird, a variant of Articuno without the gold part on the bottom. Thanks! Do you know if the other birds have this variant as well?

I believe it’s only the Articuno. I added the link to the efour thread. On page 3 there is a book with the images of the bird cards. I believe that book is the Silver Bible but I’m not 100% sure.

[JoshsOddCollection]

@assassin5757 Cool, thanks. I’ll try to find a PDF version of that and maybe gleam something from it

[Berndos]

Just as an example, I just won this for 30$, a card that has sold for 100$+ already and one I bought for around 70$ a while ago. Today there was probably just less interest and I got lucky, if I didn’t overlook a scam or something here. On a budget, there are still chances like this.

[davie]

@pichufan

@davie

I didn’t even know these existed… wow. Love the art on these. A cursory search on eBay tells me that I don’t have pockets deep enough to venture into collecting these.

Amazing stuff.

As with most Japanese items you’re a lot better off buying from Japan rather than eBay. You can search for terms like “ポケモン テレカ” (Pokémon telephone card) and “ポケモン テレホンカード” (Pokémon calling card). What typically sells on eBay for around $40 sells in Japan for $10.

Some of the rare ones definitely fetch a high price though. A few of the cards in my collection sell for the equivalent of over $1,000 in Japan, but those are the ones with a very limited release (whereas the majority of telephone cards are very common).

That makes sense! Where would you recommend buying from (I’m completely new to buying from overseas). Proxy services for Yahoo JPN?

[pichufan]

@davie www.elitefourum.com/t/japanese-marketplace-list/21709/1

I use Buyee and ZenMarket mostly for Yahoo Japan and vvJapan for Mercari. vvJapan now uses Wise which has much better conversion rates than PayPal.