Last time, we briefly touched on the Japanese Pokemon card market and why it is a very good idea for collectors and investors to explore it rather than just staying on the English side all of the time.
For those of you who have never really touched Japanese Pokemon cards, this is obviously new to you. But if you are really serious about becoming a shrewd collector or a successful investor in this field, you cannot ignore the Japanese market, which is, at its core, stronger than the English market.
While Pokemon has certainly become a major phenomenon in America and the western world in general, let's keep in mind that its roots are in Japan. It is a Japanese creation. Pokemon Red and Blue, the inaugural video games of the franchise, were released in Japan in 1996. It wasn't until late '98 that they saw their release in the United States. Going even further, Pokemon cards saw their initial release in Japan in '96, but they didn't make it to America until 1999.
Because of that, Japan is always going to be the ground floor for anything Pokemon related. Whether it's video games, cards or any other type of merchandise, Japan gets it first. America comes second.
So why wouldn't you want to dabble in the Japanese Pokemon card market to see what it has to offer?
I can understand the apprehension for native English speakers. After all, chances are, you can't read Japanese, so you might find it rather pointless to collect cards with Japanese text.
But in reality, when it comes to Pokemon card collecting, what you are actually collecting is art. The art is what draws you in; not the text.
For example, I would be willing to bet that most people familiar with Pokemon would be able to recognize Base Set Charizard's art. But those same people wouldn't be able to tell you what the card text says without Googling it. When you think of it that way, who really cares what the card text says.
Now clearly, for people who actually play the trading card game, the text is important. But I'm talking about collectors here.
After you come to the understanding that the card art is the ultimate factor, you'll become more likely to do some research and see what cards were printed in Japan that never quite made their way to an English-speaking printing facility.
Because the Japanese are the originators of Pokemon, they will have exclusive cards that will never get an English copy. Ergo, the most valuable card in the hobby is not the 1st Edition Base Set Charizard. It is the Pikachu Illustrator, a promo that was only released in Japan.
Now the Pikachu Illustrator is an incredibly pricy card, so that particular example is not exactly within the financial reach of most. But even still, there are tons of entirely affordable cards that you will miss out on if you are too stubborn to dive into the Japanese market.
Officially sold my Japanese Mario & Luigi Pokemon cards today, bought both boxes for £160 sold for £1250, pretty darn good profit there!
— Mr Wreck (@SenseiBeckett) August 28, 2022
So now, we have covered that Japan is the ground floor and that there are exclusive Japanese cards. But what are some other reasons as to why the Japanese market is superior to English?
The Japanese Pokemon Market is Stronger
The English side of things is incredibly saturated. Pokemon card aficionado Scott Pratte says (you may know him from his YouTube channel called “smpratte“), saturation is the death of hobbies.
This is something we have seen time and time again in America. A new Pokemon card set does well and actually increases in price. But then, out of nowhere, it gets a massive reprint, and the price tanks. Those who are relatively experienced will probably remember how this happened with Ultra Prism a few years back. Booster boxes were actually in the neighborhood of $400-500. Then it saw a rather significant reprint and the price plummeted all the way down to $80 a box.
That isn't something that occurs in Japan. Yes, Japan does do reprints. However, they typically only do one or two very small reprints to meet demand. That's it. Because the reprints are so small and infrequent, prices don't move much. That makes it much easier for both collectors and investors. Anyone following some of the recent popular Japanese sets (like Eevee Heroes, for example) has already seen this principle in action.
As a result, the Japanese market is less prone to wild fluctuations. We have already discussed the 2020 boom, but that mainly applied to English. Yes, the Japanese side was affected, because rising tides do lift all boats. But instead of peaks and valleys, Japanese product saw a rather steady increase. Was it expedited? Sure, but still not even remotely close to the berserk uptick that occurred among English cards.
Japanese Pokemon prices are better than English
Now going a little further from a value perspective, Japanese prices are generally better than English.
While this isn't true 100 percent of the time, the exception is not the rule. Usually, Japanese product is cheaper. It isn't out of the ordinary to see Japanese booster boxes at around $50 for newer sets. For individual cards, you will almost always be better off buying the Japanese versions.
To further Japan's case, Japanese cards typically have better print quality. Yes, the print quality of English cards has improved from the vintage days when it seemed like it was almost impossible to pull a PSA 10-quality holo out of a Wizards of the Coast booster pack. But there are unquestionably still some quality control issues.
Barring centering issues (which aren't incredibly common on the modern Japanese side of the hobby), it is very easy to send a fresh, mint Japanese card off to PSA and nab a 10. I will say that poor centering was definitely more of a problem in older Japanese sets, but that changed for the better probably around the time of Diamond & Pearl (so around 15 years ago).
Look: I get it. You are used to English, and you can't imagine yourself committing to Japanese cards. I used to think the same way when I first got back into the hobby at the beginning of 2017. But as time passed, I became more and more amenable to Japanese cards, and now, I would say that 90 percent (if not more) of what I buy is Japanese.
You are obviously free to do what you want, but I'm telling you: the best deals in the Pokemon card market are currently in Japan, and it's hard to see that changing.
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