Do folks still collect JP cards?

R

RedRayquaza

I stopped collecting/playing near or at end of WOTC's printing of Pokemon cards in the States. But I would, when I had the money, buy overly priced Japanese packs at a nearby card shop and collect Japanese sets on top of the US cards. Not as hard core as collecting the English sets but enough. I'm curious, are there enough folks out there, or maybe more appropriately here, that still collect Japanese cards?

I know before at my Pokemon league was a bit of a challenge, but could find a person or two who would collect international versions of cards as well. But it seems the sets these days come out with less time in between the release of them in Japan and in the US than what I think I remember them being.

More of a curiosity thing. Just trying to get an idea with what I can do with some of these extra cards I'm collecting. Whether they're worth anything or not. I've not really looked on eBay, but I was never an eBay person. I use to sell through Yahoo! Auctions, which was easier to manage among other things. But then again, I have a small assortment of things from BW3-6 at the moment, so finding anything on there to compare to what I have might not be easy.
 
Yes, there are.

I collect them.

Other collectors, please post your involvement.
 
A solid amount of people collect Japanese cards, whether it be sets or promos.

I personally collect specific Japanese promo sets.
 
I used to collect Japanese cards back in the WotC days (I, too, remember buying overpriced packs at local stores ($6-$8 depending on set)), and re-started again recently with BW3-on. I really like the Japanese cards because they're a nice, high quality, and it's fun to see and get cards before the International release.

There's a thread down in the trading forum that also lists people who are interested in trading for Japanese and other language cards, so you might want to check that out as an addition to your Yahoo! Auction selling.
 
i have just started collecting the newer sets in japanese.

prefer them over the english sets for the following reasons;
better pull rates
no need to collect reverse holo's
less useless cards (only 5 cards per pack)
holo's look better
if you pull a secret rare from a booster box, it's usually worth more than what you paid for the box
 
kisekii said:
i have just started collecting the newer sets in japanese.

prefer them over the english sets for the following reasons;
better pull rates
no need to collect reverse holo's
less useless cards (only 5 cards per pack)
holo's look better
if you pull a secret rare from a booster box, it's usually worth more than what you paid for the box
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This is exactly why I buy them. They're a lot more fun to open than English boxes because you don't have nearly as many useless cards. The FAs look 100x in person than their English counterparts.
 
Yes i still collect japanese cards...any old cards im missing (rotated out stuff- mainly shinies and such) i dont mind if they are english or jap. legal stuff i only want english so i can play w it if i choose. BUT then there are the oodles of japanese exclusive promos that will never see an american release (victory medal feraligator/meganium, the new trainer champion belt holo, holo scroll, etc)...so those i want and are only japanese.
 
I collect Japanese cards as well. The Japanese BW era holos look much better than then English ones.
 
hunter994x said:
I collect Japanese cards as well. The Japanese BW era holos look much better than then English ones.
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All Japanese holos look much better than English ones
 
omahanime said:
All Japanese holos look much better than English ones
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Generally speaking, of course. But I think the BW holos where the holo is just horizontal lines is a waste.
 
Daelum said:
Generally speaking, of course. But I think the BW holos where the holo is just horizontal lines is a waste.
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I wholeheartedly agree with this about 762%. It is the most boring of all the holos styles, ever, and is typically paired with very bland artwork.

That said, the Japanese horizontal line holos STILL look tonnes better than the English ones. PD/HB and ND are excellent examples of that, what with how there was so little holo (and most of it pretty faint) on some of the English cards that people actually thought they were printing errors. Also, the holo borders on the Japanese ones do make them look awesome; I wish they'd kept that for the English cards.
 
something I have just noticed (not 100% confirmed) but it appears "ultra rare" japanese cards tend to hold their value better in the long run.

Looking on the trade forum/ebay you can get just about any english prime card for $2-4 each, whereas the japanese counterparts on ebay are still worth around $15-30 each.

Same with BW ultra rares, english reshiram/zekrom/tornadus/thunduras FA's can be found on the trade forum/ebay for $2-7 each but the japanese versions are mostly $30+ each.

Anyone else have an opinion on this?
 
kisekii said:
something I have just noticed (not 100% confirmed) but it appears "ultra rare" japanese cards tend to hold their value better in the long run.

Looking on the trade forum/ebay you can get just about any english prime card for $2-4 each, whereas the japanese counterparts on ebay are still worth around $15-30 each.

Same with BW ultra rares, english reshiram/zekrom/tornadus/thunduras FA's can be found on the trade forum/ebay for $2-7 each but the japanese versions are mostly $30+ each.

Anyone else have an opinion on this?
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I think it's because they're rarer but I know very little about JPN cards.

I think the pull rate on FAs is one per two boxes in Japan whereas here you're pretty much guaranteed to get one in a box and I've had two FAs in both of my Next Destinies boxes. Also, the cards look a lot better than their English counterparts.
 
I wonder how much of that is just secondary market mark ups, though. Most Japanese cards are more expensive internationally in general, since most of the sellers are resellers trying to make a profit while also recouping from losses like shipping, etc. And since all (or at least most) of the demand for Japanese cards internationally is collectors, the cards USD value wouldn't have the same fluctuations that we're used to seeing for competitive English language cards.

I guess the only way to know for sure would be looking at the comparative value in JPY in Japan for the Primes/EXes, etc. at various points in their life cycle. Primes would probably be the most interesting, since Japan's been BW-on for some time now.
 
What Artemis said is true. A lot of the value of Japanese Ultra Rares sold on Ebay is just making up for the cost of getting into the states. If you go look at Yahoo! Japan, a lot of Ultra Rares that are normally $30 on Ebay are like $5, but you end up paying a good amount because of middleman fees (unless you live in Japan).
 
SoulWind said:
I think it's because they're rarer but I know very little about JPN cards.

I think the pull rate on FAs is one per two boxes in Japan whereas here you're pretty much guaranteed to get one in a box and I've had two FAs in both of my Next Destinies boxes. Also, the cards look a lot better than their English counterparts.
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I don't know anything about collecting Japanese cards :p. However, aren't Japanese boxes half the price of an English box? Would that balance out the FA/UR pulls (assuming you were super lucky with your Next Destinies boxes)?
 
I also collect Japanese cards along with English and Dutch and I want to start to collect Korean as well.

The Japanese Booster Boxes are half the price of an English Box but you have to pay shipping costs...
I just opened a few Japanese Booster Boxes from Freeze Bolt and Cold Flare (3 of each) and mostly I pulled 2 normal Ex cards and 1 FA Ex per Box.
So with a few Boxes I only need 4 secret rares from both sets.
As with Dark Explorers English I opened 4 Booster Boxes and I still needed 10 Reverse Holo's, 2 normal Ex cards, 2 FA Ex cards, 2 Shinings and the Golden Catcher.... :(
 
abv150 said:
I also collect Japanese cards along with English and Dutch and I want to start to collect Korean as well.

The Japanese Booster Boxes are half the price of an English Box but you have to pay shipping costs...
I just opened a few Japanese Booster Boxes from Freeze Bolt and Cold Flare (3 of each) and mostly I pulled 2 normal Ex cards and 1 FA Ex per Box.
So with a few Boxes I only need 4 secret rares from both sets.
As with Dark Explorers English I opened 4 Booster Boxes and I still needed 10 Reverse Holo's, 2 normal Ex cards, 2 FA Ex cards, 2 Shinings and the Golden Catcher.... :(
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Yikes! That seems like a lot of cards to still need after opening four booster boxes :(.

Are there many people who sell Japanese booster boxes and ship for free? I purchased a Korean Hail Blizzard booster box on eBay from a seller who shipped it for free. He was selling (BIN and auction) a lot of Korean booster boxes that all came with free international shipping.
 
There is really only 1 or 2 sellers that ship JPN boxes for free, but they usually add the shipping cost into the item price and will most likely ship with Japan Surface Mail, which takes forever.
 
Daelum said:
There is really only 1 or 2 sellers that ship JPN boxes for free, but they usually add the shipping cost into the item price and will most likely ship with Japan Surface Mail, which takes forever.
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That makes sense. Stuff is rarely ever free :p.

Thanks for the information!
 
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