I’ve often seen it said that it’s easier to pull a PSA 10 quality Japanese card than the Western equivalent. A few YouTubers also suggest that the shiny ratio is higher for Japanese boxes (something like 50/50), so with those factors together PSA 10s cards from the Japanese sell for less than the Western equivalent (due to the effect of supply / demand / desirability / et al).
However, I’ve never heard a particularly concrete explanation as to why this is.
Is the cardboard itself physically different?
Do they have better QC over in Japan?
Better printing process in general?
This has been going on over 20 years… why wouldn’t Western manufacturing up their game? Especially post-WoTC?
I’m sure there’s many more derivative questions, but just wondered if anyone could shed any light on this .
yes, they just do it better over there. that being said, i prefer the poor print quality of the english sets. it’s more fun for the collector to chase down the truly gem mint cards. when i see a pop report on a card and 80% of the graded copies are psa 10, the collector in me kind of look “down” on it…
Grab a few cards for yourself, they’re amazing! Their cardstock is better, QC is better… just better all around. I love the quality and feel of Japanese cards.
let’s not forget some of the Japanese ex-series sets like Furthest Offense and Defense, these were horrible print quality…
but overall it’s better QC and lighter borders I think also play a role
I actually wish English releases had the same quality as Japan. It would mean more people have more access to the cards they want without it being in terrible condition. I care not whether I have the “best” and “rarest”. I just want to complete my goals. Sure, it’s cool to know that your card is rarer than most, but I would like the “rarity” to be an aspect on quantity. Not on quality.
Better cardstock and better QC are two definite reasons.
Two reasons that despite being somewhat fringe also play a huge role in this are customer expectation and packaging.
In regards to customer expectation, English collectors have become so used to sub-par quality that we buy the product regardless, which in turn signals TPCi that all is good in the eyes of the consumer. A good recent example is Hidden Fates. Stained pack fresh cards, curly foils, jagged edges, none of this dettered it from being a huge commercial success, so no real reason for the mother company to think something is wrong with the product.
In regards to packaging, Japanese product tends to come in small boxes and mostly wrapped in plastic. English collection boxes on the other hand, have been destroying cards with their rigid plastic frames for as long as they existed. Best example of this are Shining Legends collection boxes. Those Shining Lugias and Shining Celebis come out of the box completely battered. Not to say Japan is without its problems as some of their promos are distributed alongside coins that scratch and mark the card, but this is less prevalent and rarely happens on expensive product.
True, but the old back cards up until 2001 were even darker than the Western ones and still have better 10/9 ratios.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet is the different holo foil. I think the material Media Factory used is more sturdy and doesn’t scratch as easily. ‘Print lines’ fresh out of the pack are almost non-existent on the Japanese side. Maybe they’re also more careful in the production process.
The only thing you really have to worry about most of the time is centering. The e-series in particular seem to be easy grades. Not only because of the lighter backs, but also because the PSA graders just don’t notice their centering issues (of which they have as much of as any other set).
It might have to do with the guys printing the cards (no way!). Cartamundi has been producing cards for the western market since the 90s. They’ve been producing Magic the Gathering cards for WotC since the inception of the game and their portfolio also includes Yugioh and Pokemon. Somewhere between 2013 and 2016, they created a joint venture with the Japanese printing company Amada Printing, which has been renamed to Japan Card Products co. ltd… My guess is that Amada printing previously held the rights to produce Pokemon cards for the Japanese market and had higher quality standards, and that one of the conditions for Cartamundi merging with Amada Printing was that they keep Amada’s quality standard. Or maybe the equipment present at their factories was better from the get-go and Cartamundi would just continue to use it.
Anytime i order cards from japan i am so impressed. Impressed with packing, impressed with card quality, impressed with their sleeve quality, even impressed with the envelopes. Its actually incredible. And the sellers arent greedy either
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