Japanese vintage is not undervalued and only really has value to a personal collection. Instead, invest in English. JPN vintage will stagnate or grow very slow (if at all) compared to ENG.
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Vintage Japanese set cards have little room to grow
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Vintage Japanese promo cards have little room to grow
I think that after the pandemic English really has hit some kind of ceiling, I donât think pokemon could be more mainstream than this. Sure, people would improve their collection, pushing for 10s and rarer cards, but whoâs not on the boat after covid imho I donât believe it will in the future.
But for Japanese I donât know⊠personally Iâm a bit scared of bigger (huge) markets like China, India, Indonesia and so on, getting in the hobby
I mean just look at the recent chinese market trend who fiend for jp vintage exclusively, thatâs a 1.4b population.
The fact jp modern is already priced higher.
The fact jp are the older originals, the whole hobby originating from there, the artists being japanese.
I find it bizarre how many people are so shocked over modern being priced higher and scream âbubbleâ. It should rightfully be priced higher. Superior quality aside, itâs literally the actual first edition every single set.
The only reason vintage is priced lower is because of the difference in pullrates but longterm that wonât matter.
Iâm just a collector and not an investor in this hobby but âInvestmentâ wise, itâs always the same story. Be it crypto, stocks or collectibles. Majority loves to fomo but hates to buy low due to fear. Until the tide turns. Jp vintage is whatâs called âsmart moneyâ
Looks wise, personally speaking, I preffer the borders, the quality and language. Jp letters look like a piece of art and not as corny/tacky as english. To me they legit cheapen the look. Itâs much more aesthetically pleasing to look at japanese cards. I also had alot of them in my childhood, no idea how they got there but they were around so the nostalgic aspect is also covered.
Well or :bear or is difficult to predict. Japanese Vintage Promos remained a niche market. I donât see this trend changing. Occasionally there are spikes in the JPM , yet if you take out extremely rare and unique cards ( Illustrator, UniCarp and such,) the market lags behind less rare English counterparts.Most Main stream vintage Japanese promos lag in value. To name a few. Natta Wake, Worlds Pikachu , coro mags. Trainer mags. These cards are over 25 years old , limited in good condition yet still relatively cheap to acquire, compared modern English alt arts. I can get a PSA 10 Nata Wake Promo for less than a Moonbrean. That is a 25+ year old peel card with less detail attribution than any out of the pack modern chase. To me this doesnât mean value. However in terms of the question of sentiment. Depends on the audience. If the audience is a collector valuing the attige of ,;older rare minter better, than vintage Japanese is the heart of collecting. A modern,main stream,investor may differ in opinion.
The cards from ones own language is what they will buy? if u tell a Japanese person âDonât buy japanese, buy english insteadâ they will look at you like you are stupid. They cant read those cards.
Edit: Also I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH, DO NOT INVEST IN POKEMON CARDS. GO INVEST IN STOCKS. YOU WILL GAIN MORE MONEY, IN LESS TIME, THAN WHAT YOU EVER WILL WITH POKEMON.
Edit 2: Also stocks dont have as much as a pay-wall than vintage pokemon. Leave the cards to us collectors. you hogging them for 30 years just for you to find out you left them in the attic for too long benifits nobody. let people who enjoy them have them. Dont be in it just for the money. (I wonder if we have people in the forum who just want to know the rarest cards just to know what to go and snipe lol.)
Thats not always the case though, most chinese collectors collect jp over chinese, same goes for thai collectors.
Most collectors dont actually play the game (anymore), so there is no need to be able to read the cards. And potential few reasons why they collect jp instead of their own native language has been mentioned above
I mean yeah, but the statement that Japanese âOnly really has value to a personal collection.â is just false. If a chinese person were to collect korean cards, it would only have value to a personal collection, if a japanese person were to buy english, it would only have value to a personal collection. If the card is outside of your language, the market around you wont have much of a want for it. People want to be able to read the cards, and if they dont, its because they have a personal goal or something.
Edit: Forgot to clarify, the statement mentioned is for market. Market is everybody, not just collectors, little kids are on the market, players are on the market, anybody who buys, or sells cards, is on the market. Most people want to be able to read the cards.
Edit 2: Yes Competitive Players are collectors, yes little kids are collectors. Its not just adults who can fund entire binders.
"If the card is outside of your language, the market around you wont have much of a want for it.
But thats simply not true though, as i said, take thailand for example. You will find more jp singles than thai singles in card shops and even the newest gen jp singles sell for more than thai singles. Same story china
People value jp cards because of tons of reasons. Quality, looks, more prestige, older, original etc.
Edit, yeah i was talking about collectors, not kids playing the tcg, so glad you clarified. We can agree on that. Kids obviously play the game in their native language but that doesnt mean other languages (jp) dont have much of a want in that country. They do
Edit 2, i also dont see how this conversation has anything to do with the question if jp vintage is undervalued or not lol. Little kids playing the tcg are not the main crowd for buying 4 figure vintage cards
The first statement lumps a ton of stuff together and then the 2nd/3rd statement is just repeating part of the first statement again. Itâd be interesting if several of these lumped up ideas were asked separately. For example, I might have voted to that I agree that japanese (set) vintage is not undervalued but when you lump it with âonly has value to a personal collectionâ its not asking an individual question anymore.
I think the discussion of how japanese vintage set cards will fare over time compared to english wouldâve been interesting
i mean its simple though JP demand will always outweigh lesser demand regardless even if the cards in that language are printed in Japan (Thai/Chinese/Indonesian) where the quality is the same to Japanese only difference is the price/playability in where ever they are.
also Japanese sets always drop first in those countries like Thailand/Indonesia/China btw so ofc you will see more before their release drops for their respective language. The gaps in release will make it that way.
Vintage Japanese promos will always be desired and scarce. I see this section of the hobby growing the most over the coming years.
Vintage Japanese set cards are currently undervalued, but not by much given their supply and demand. I see this section of the hobby growing a little over the coming years.
Modern Japanese chase cards will always be desired. I see this section of the hobby growing more than vintage set cards but less than vintage promo cards.
So in terms of growth potential:
Vintage Japanese promos
Modern Japanese chase cards
Vintage Japanese set cards
Perhaps the vintage Japanese chase cards should be considered separately. When answering these questions, I wasnât specifically thinking about crystals, gold stars, Lv.X., etc. More so along the lines of vintage set holos and EX cards. Vintage Japanese chase cards definitely have some room to grow.
Well I canât speak for China (which is already picking up) and Thailand, but if I am giving my honest opinion, India will never be a buying force in Pokemon. Hobbies, specially in terms of collectibles are hugely driven by what is consumed on television.
Pokemon was huge in India for a couple of years only because of the anime. After a couple of years, Beyblade came along and all of us moved to having launchers and beyblades and Pokemon card collecting never sustained. Given the fact that genuine product is so hard to find and so very expensive, I donât see the hobby pick up anytime soon.
The other main reason and I feel this is the most important one, is how India is as a whole culturally. I canât imagine any middle class parent wanting their child spending money on Pokemon cards. Indians are very much focused on careers, doing well and getting a good wage by having a good job. That is the reason also why competitive gaming also has never picked up in India. There is no incentive for any.
I know you did not ask for this but just wanted to share my thoughts on the Indian market (hobby wise). So I personally wonât be scared, at least not anytime soon.
or :bear or 
is difficult to predict. Japanese Vintage Promos remained a niche market. I donât see this trend changing. Occasionally there are spikes in the JPM , yet if you take out extremely rare and unique cards ( Illustrator, UniCarp and such,) the market lags behind less rare English counterparts.Most Main stream vintage Japanese promos lag in value. To name a few. Natta Wake, Worlds Pikachu , coro mags. Trainer mags. These cards are over 25 years old , limited in good condition yet still relatively cheap to acquire, compared modern English alt arts. I can get a PSA 10 Nata Wake Promo for less than a Moonbrean. That is a 25+ year old peel card with less detail attribution than any out of the pack modern chase. To me this doesnât mean value. However in terms of the question of sentiment. Depends on the audience. If the audience is a collector valuing the attige of ,;older rare minter better, than vintage Japanese is the heart of collecting. A modern,main stream,investor may differ in opinion.
