I could say the same about US cards. At least Japanese cards have stellar quality control and look stunning. US cards? Crappy quality control, frankenstein sets, horrible bright yellow borders… did I mention crappy quality control?
There’s a lesson to be learned from that video. In Japan, never, ever dump coins in a gatchapon machine that advertises itself with an English-language sign.
You will definitely be broke if you go shopping in Akiba: an urban hellscape of runaway maid girls and overpriced everything. How that place somehow keeps up its reputation as a cool place in Tokyo I will never know. How Tokyo even has such an astronomically high reputation as being cool I also don’t really know, but that is beside the point.
Looking at the card shops in Japan especially in Akiba, it’s funny how just a few years ago some there are some products these shops probably couldn’t even give away, but these days the prices are jacked through the roof, especially if they have anything mildly interesting to sell which is rare for sure. You really aren’t missing out too much just buying from Yahoo.
It wasn’t always that way, of course. Unfortunately, the old Akihabara Electric Town vibe is long gone.
The thing I miss most is the Akihabara Department Store, with its creaky wooden floors and “secret” second-floor gate to the JR station, where an ancient employee still used an actual ticket punch.
Collecting Pokemon is hitting mainstream in Japan which is a good thing. Prices in Japan are going up because of the demand. Publicity is a good thing.
ok so that mean a lot of people have sealed copy at home, but they dont go on the market
or maybe in 2014 there is less collectors and the kids play with the cards so they are damaged
It could be a little of both, but the card came in a plastic wrap in a book and they’re new-back Japanese, so many are likely in very good condition. I don’t think this card is particularly hard to grade nor is it hard to find a mint copy raw.
All I was saying is that this is a niche card which may explain its pop report (actually, there’s 183 psa 10 copies which isn’t that low). Many of these cards are still in Japan and ungraded. The Japanese don’t usually grade their cards.
It’s definitely a massive stretch to suggest that any of the part-time employees at Rip Off are qualified to judge the authenticity of such an item, but it is really just a super quick and convenient way to offload stuff and get some cash if you have to. There are a ton of reasons why someone might have to sell their stuff there.