…. i read the cards
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Like everyone here I grew up with English Base, Jungle & Fossil. After my re introduction back into the hobby I’m 2015-16 I went back to English. Only after finding efour that opened the world of Japanese cards for me and have never looked back.
They are the true first releases of 99.9% of cards. They look superior in all aspects (boarder & textures). I don’t care for the text on the card and what it says. I never have as I am buying the art of my favorite Pokemon & artists.
However I do agree with all the previous sentiments on why English is valued far more than Japanese. Be happy for it to stay that way as I can pick up the cards I want for my collection in Japanese for less outrageous prices in most cases 
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I’m still learning the technical side of the 1997 era and would love to hear which specific releases are the hardest to find with perfect centering.
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Same here. When I first got back in I went for the stuff that was around when I was a kid (WOTC Base, Jungle, Fossil). But I got bit by the Japanese bug a couple years ago and haven’t looked back. The quality just blows English out of the water. Now that I collect almost exclusively JP cards, when I see English cards they look like cheap knockoffs 
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well if u just go by the psa 10 price technically no rarity way outperforms 1st ed base but no rarity is like actually rare 
if u do something like # of psa 10 * psa 10 price then yeah 1st ed base will way outperform
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Unlike you, I, and many others, more Americans are barbarians that only appreciate one language. 
I’m only slightly kidding. The world is so much bigger when you can engage outside of your own linguistic community.
@SolemnStar It just means we can keep collecting without the fuss over English cards getting in our way. 
I’m working on a video related to this right now.
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Centering is REALLY bad on Japanese old back.
For example, I recently went through a stack of about a few hundred Japanese Base Set cards that I had in one of my boxes, all in pack fresh condition. I only pulled out a handful with centering strong enough to get a 10,
I would say it’s anecdotal, but I’ve been dealing heavily in Japanese old back for about six years now and have had this problem pretty regularly, so it’s definitely a thing.
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