top of page
Search
  • Writer's pictureCourt (Wade) Caywood

The Interesting World of Japanese Pokémon Cards



by Finn, Grade 7

Pokémon cards. You’ve probably heard about them at least or even have some right now. You’re used to the 10 card packs and the 36 pack booster boxes. But what if I told you that there’s another format then the one you’re familiar with. And it all comes from one place: Japan. Recently, I’ve learned about and became very interested in these cards, and I know the image might’ve caught your attention too. So, let’s dive into the world of Japanese Pokémon cards.


What am I even looking at? And what makes these cards different?


What you’re looking at is a booster box of a recent set release called Legendary Heartbeat. These cards come in booster packs of 5 cards per pack, but Legendary Heartbeat comes in 7 card packs. This is also the set that introduces the Amazing Rare rarity of cards. Along with this, booster boxes usually have 30 packs, with Legendary Heartbeat boxes having 20 packs instead. And that’s not the only type of boxes. There’s usually an annual release of smaller boxes but have guaranteed better pulls, more hollows, or even a chance to get a good pack, a pack that you have a 1/250 odds of pulling and getting loads of rare V and Trainer cards. Along with this, normal booster boxes have set hit rates (The chances of getting certain types of cards) compared to the boxes here and in other places around the world. And that’s about all of the differences.


Wait, Legendary Heartbeat? Shiny Star V? Why don’t we have these sets here?


Well, Japanese sets are really small, with usually 2 of them making up one English set. For example, here we have Rebel’s Clash which is made up of the Japanese sets Rebellion Crash and Explosive Flame Walker. Because of this, Japan does get set releases more frequently and quicker than English set releases. For example, the upcoming set Battle Styles releases March 19th meanwhile Japan is releasing their sets that make up our set in around 2 weeks.


This sounds interesting, where can I buy it?


I may not be an expert on this topic since I’ve never actually bought any Japanese cards, but I will tell you what I know. There are Pokémon shops or just card/hobby shops in general who usually get a set amount of pre-orders and let you order it for about what the Yen price to USD would be, with some small extra fees for shipment or even just getting the cards to break even. But there is another option: Amazon. Amazon does have a wide variety of cards, with sets like VMAX Rising and Legendary Heartbeat being some of the first results. But, if you want some savings or to get some pre-orders, you can go to Amazon JP, which is easy to do by just changing the store you’re in in the settings. This will require a separate account though and individual boxes cost about as much if not a little more than the Amazon US prices due to shipping and other taxes, but if you want pre-orders or multiple boxes, this is where the savings come in.


There are a lot of other smaller topics that I won’t get into, but there are other resources on YouTube if you really want to get into collecting these cards. But yeah, that’s the world of Japanese Pokémon cards. While it may seem weird at first, you can learn to love the beauty in the pack art, booster boxes, or even in the cards themselves. So if you’re interested, let’s go catch ‘em all again in a more unique way you might be used to.

5 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
bottom of page