Pokemon Card Hunting in Japan

Hello people,

It was requested, and I also know, that many of you want to know more about this, so I decided to give you a deeper insight on this with a special article.

Content:

A. First Hand Cards

 1. Packs

 2. Theme Decks

 3. Promos

B Second Hand Cards

 1. Singles

 2. Bulk

C Special Promos

D Merchandise

A. First Hand Cards

First, I'll tell you about the easiest way to get Pokémon cards in Japan. Many of you will already know what I am about to tell you, but some don't, so I'll give it a look.

This way is buying them in store - either in standard Packs, or in Theme Decks.

1. Packs

 

Booster packs in Japan are the same as everywhere, with the difference, that they only contain 5 cards and cost about $1,50. The pullrates are also about the same as in western Boosters.

If you don't want to buy single packs, you can, of course, buy Booster Boxes.

The deal with those is, that they contain 20 Boosters (equal 10 western Booster) and cost about $30.

This is, what I usually do, when a new set comes out:

Buy about 4 of those Boxes to get some basic stock of the new cards.

The nice thing about packs is, that you can get them everywhere - and if I say everywhere, I mean everywhere. And also for the same price. Convenient stores all have Pokémon cards, and you can also buy whole Booster Boxes there, if you ask.

The main difference is, that the Booster's Setlist usually doesn't contain all the cards, that come in western Boosters. I'll show you this by the example of the newest set, Phantom Forces/ Phantom Gate:

Cards in Phantom Forces, that were not included in Phantom Gate:

#29 Helioptile 

#59 Scarmory

#60 Bronzor

#61 Bronzong

#62 Dialga EX

#65 Aegilash EX

#66 Klefki

#70 Dedenne

#71 Diancie

#75 Goomy

#76 Sliggoo

#77 Goodra

#90 Furfrou

#94 Enhanced Hammer
#95 Gengar Spirit Link

#96 Hand Scope

#101 Professor Sycamore

#103 Roller Scates

#104 Shauna

#105 Steel Shelter

#107 Tierno

#108 Trick Coin

#109 VS Seeker

#111 Double Colorless Energy

#122 Dialgy EX

As you can see, there are many cards missing, that made this set so interesting.

So, how do you get those in Japan?

The answer is: 

2. Themedecks

These are a really big part of every new set, that appears in Japan for this exact reason:

They are like a small new set by themselves, with lots of new cards included.

You might know the one, that came along with this Set:

Hyper Metal Chain Deck

I'll give you a look into the Decklist:

001/018	Skarmory		2×
002/018	Bronzor		3×
003/018	Bronzong		3×
004/018	Dialga		3×
005/018	Aegislash		1×
006/018	Klefki		3×
007/018	Furfrou		1×
008/018	Ultra Ball	I	4×
009/018	VS Seeker	I	2×
010/018	Switch	I	2×
011/018	Pokémon Catcher	I	2×
012/018	Red Card	I	2×
013/018	Roller Skates	I	2×
014/018	Shauna	Su	2×
015/018	Tierno	Su	4×
016/018	Professor Sycamore	Su	4×
017/018	Steel Shelter	St	2×
018/018	Double Colorless Energy	E	2×
019/018	Dialga		0×
—	Metal Energy	E	16×

*http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Hyper_Metal_Chain_Deck_%28TCG%29

As you can see, this Decklist is pretty awesome.

It gives you important Trainer staples, such as VS Seeker, Sycamore, Ultra Ball and DCE and of course those Bronzong, Dialga EX and Aegilash EX with the possibility to get a Full Metal Dialga EX in every 6th Deck. I bought 4 of these, sadly didn't pull the FA Dialga, but those Trainer's, and the EX's were definetly worth the 1000Yen, or $10, each. I know this deck still doesn't contain all the cards missing in Phantom Gate, but ill explain that later.

Let's look at those Themedeck's a bit more.

If you think the last one was amazing, you will like what is about to come!

Take a look at this:

  

Blastoise + Kyurem-EX Combo Deck

001/018	Squirtle		3×
002/018	Wartortle		2×
003/018	Blastoise		3×
004/018	Suicune		2×
005/018	Ducklett		1×
006/018	Kyurem-EX		3×
007/018	Kangaskhan		2×
008/018	Energy Retrieval	I	2×
009/018	Ultra Ball	I	4×
010/018	Rare Candy	I	2×
011/018	Switch	I	2×
012/018	Pokémon Catcher	I	2×
013/018	Random Receiver	I	4×
014/018	Professor Juniper	Su	4×
015/018	Cheren	Su	4×
016/018	Skyla	Su	2×
017/018	Master Ball	I	1×
018/018	Double Colorless Energy	E	4×
—	Water Energy	E	13×

*http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Blastoise_%2B_Kyurem-EX_Combo_Deck_%28TCG%29

This is, what I call crazy!!!

Back in that time, this Themedeck gave you half a Blastoise Deck, for cheap money.

Nearly everything else you needed was this:

Battle Strength Deck Black Kyurem EX

001/018	Squirtle		2×
002/018	Frillish		3×
003/018	Jellicent		2×
004/018	Magnemite		3×
005/018	Magneton		2×
006/018	Magnezone		2×
007/018	Zapdos-EX		1×
008/018	Black Kyurem-EX		2×
009/018	Rufflet		1×
010/018	Ultra Ball	I	4×
011/018	Rare Candy	I	2×
012/018	Switch	I	2×
013/018	Pokémon Catcher	I	2×
014/018	Random Receiver	I	4×
015/018	Professor Juniper	Su	4×
016/018	Cheren	Su	4×
017/018	Skyla	Su	2×
018/018	Plasma Energy	E	2×
—	Water Energy	E	8×
—	Lightning Energy	E	8×

*http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Black_Kyurem-EX_Battle_Strength_Deck_%28TCG%29

Yes, that is the Black Ballista Black Kyurem EX!

Remember how much money those were back then?

And there are more of these, containing, along others, cards like N and, of course, more EX's, like Zekrom EX, Moltres EX, Zapdos EX, or Reshiram EX.

I gladly trade some cards missing in the standard Set for these Themedecks!

The last one, I want to show you is the new...

Yveltal EX + Xerneas EX Super Legend Set.

This one is special, becuase it includes more than just cards, and is more like one of the western Elite Trainer Boxes, including Special Condition Markers, Damage Counters, Sleeves and a Deckbox.

 

Away from these, there is also something new in here:

Full Art EX's... As Promos?!?!

What?!? Why even bother printing ultra rares, if you can get the same card as a Promo short after anyways?

But I will not question it. This Box is just too good for the price of 3000Yen (~$30).

I will come back to this later.

Now, there are still more cards missing. 

Those are distributed in a way, well known to all of you:

3. Promos

We all usually know Promos as cards, either given out at League, or at Tournaments.

But these are usually cards, that are already included in the basic set anyways.

In Japan, you also get Promos at League, or at tournaments, but those are cards, that you often can't get in another way. In the case of Phantom Gate, particularly things like the Gengar Spirit Link, Trick Coin and Hand Scope.

The Gengar Spirit Link, for example could be acquired at the big Battle Festa tournaments this fall.

As you can see, there are many diffenerent ways you can - and have to - use to get the cards you want and need. But those are, as you know, not the only ways. 

Of course here in Japan, too, people sell and trade their cards, and this leads me to...

B. Second Hand Cards

I think this section might be more interesting, solely for the reason, that it might differ greatly, from what you are used to. First point will be, how to get...

1. Singles

Sure, like everywhere else, you can just trade, but that has two requirements:

First, you have to have cards to trade with, and...

Second, you have to have people to trade with.

Since I did have neither, I had to find another way.

People told me:

Book-Off sells Pokémon singles!

(Book-Off = second hand bookstore)

Well, they might do that somehere else, but not here, where I am - stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Then I made a new friend: A card-game-maniac, like i've never seen it before.

And I learned, how to get card-game-singles in Japan.

In most big citys, there are second-hand hobby-shops, that sell Pokémon cards. When you get to the even bigger citys, there will be shops, that only sell second hand trading cards.

(this is how we completed our decklists in the last minute in Tokyo)

Now, you have to know:

In Japan, Trainers are the expensive part of a deck, not the Pokémon, even not EX's.

For me, this makes some sence. Most decks use about the same Trainers, while every single archetype uses differet Pokémon. So, don't be surprised if an N costs 600Yen, and a Genesect EX 800Yen.

Well, in the end, I was lucky enough, to also find a place, that sold Pokémon cards second hand not to far from the city i live.

They have single cards hung up in sealed sleeves, so you can scroll through them.

Quite some of them are holo, and a few even playable, but most is just bulk.

Every cards is about 100Yen, increasing to 150Yen for holos and about 250Yen for playable holos.

While this is not a bad price, and you might sometimes find hidden treasures, these were not what I went there for.

I went there for the...

2. Bulk

One day, they started to sell big packs of 200 cards, covered with an EX at the front and the back. And I thought "what could possibly go wrong?", so I bought some.

I know, you've seen this picture before, but after I saw, what was inside (I seriously just expected bulk cards) I had to go back. 

And I bought more.

Frontside:

Backside:

This is sweeeeet!!!

They cost 400Yen (~$4) each, and if you buy 3 you only pay $10.

Now, this is to good to be true.

But there ARE some problems to this kind of Packs:

1. The EXs are usually slightly damaged decreasing their value, and therefore making this deal a little bit less insane

2. You never know, what you get inside. I'll show you some examples:

You can get this:

 Or this:

3. You end up with a LOT of actual bulk cards.

Ok, enough of the jokes...

These are just an awesome deal!!!

The only way I can explain those, is, that the shop doesn't value Pokémon cards anymore and just wanted to get rid of their stock as fast as possible.

Of course, I hope that's not the case, and I will be able to get more of those in the future. 

These are the main ways I get my cards, and up until now, I got away with it fairly well.

C. Special Promo Cards

 In Japan, there are also quite some special promo cards.

Those are given out at many different occasions.

For example:

-at tournaments

-at restaurants

-at shops, that sell Pokémon merchandise

-at cinemas

-at other events organized by TPCi

The difference to the other Promos is, that these cards never appear in the sets.

You might know this from movie-promos, that are also given out in the rest of the world, but in Japan, these are everywhere.

I'll show you some of my favorite examples:

Shiny Mega Gengar

You have most probably seen this card.

This was given out at all shops selling Pokémon cards, if you bought Phantom Gate merchandise or cards for 1500Yen (~$15).

So for every Booster Box you bought, you get two of these cards.

I like, that they introduced an EX card as a Promo for the Boosters, and hope they will also do this for Gaia Volcano/ Tidal Storm.

Jumbo ToysRUs Christmas Pikachu

Basic Pokemon
Pikachu          HP70

(L) Happy Gift
Add your hand cards to your opponents hand cards.

(L)(L)(C) 10.000 Volt
Discard all energy attached to this Pokémon.

This card can be obtained by buying Pokémon merchandise at ToysRUs for 3000Yen (~$30). It is a jumbo card, which means it is as big as 4 regular cards, and only the first 100.000 customers get one.









Battle Festa 2014 Promos

I am very sure, all of you have seen this card.
The Full Art Pikachu Promo.
This was given out at the tournaments for all participants.
This makes it similar to the World Championship Promos, which also never appear in a Set.


Also given out at the Battle Festa were Absol EX and Mega Absol EX. You could get those, if you gained enough participation points. Earning those was very time-intensive, because the lines at the mini games were so long. 
I was trying to play as many rounds in the main event as possible, so i did not have the time to get those.

 
I hope I'll be able to get some at the next Battle Festa in Sendai, I am attending this weekend.

There are many other occasions, where many less spectacular Promos are given out, like the ...

Pokémon TCG classroom for kids

... where these Pikachu and Raichu Promos were given out, which also appeared as movie-promos in cinemas, why you might have already seen those.

But cards are not everything in the Pokémon TCG world!!!

Of course, there are much more things, that make us card players happy.

 

D. Merchandise

This is everything Pokémon-related in the TCG, that is not cards.

Like...

-Sleeves

-Deckboxes

-Storage Boxes

-Playmats

-Special Condition Markers

-Coins

-Damage Counters

.. and much more.

You might already know about this stuff, and you might already be jealous of me for living in Japan.

If not, I will give you reasons to.

1. Sleeves

In Japan Pokemon sleeves come in a much greater variety, than how you might know them.

First, every new set, there are new sleeves introduced, which can be bought at shops in packs of 32 for about 400Yen (~$4) That means you pay about $8 to get enough sleeves for a 60 card deck.

 

But away from that, there are als many other sleeves coming out each season.

Special Sleeves are given out at leagues, like these cool Hawlucha Sleeves.

Starting from the next set, there will also be sleeves given out in sets of 32, if you buy two Booster Boxes of Gaia Volcano/ Tidal Storm.

Some Sleeves are also limited to special Pokémon Centers in Japan. Like these ones from the Nagoya Pokémon Center.

Just like the western Elite Trainer Boxes, some japanese Boxes also contain sleeves, like the earlier mentioned Super Legend Set.

 

Another part of this SLS was a Deckbox, which leads me to my next point.

But first let my tell you why these Sleeves are so interesting. Since in Play!Pokemon sanctionized tournament only official Pokemon or plain colored sleeves can be used and if people only used the sleeves released outside of japan that would make for a pretty boring picture at tournaments.

 
And that's why people buy sleeves from Japan.

Only for the reason, that these look so cool, and to stand out from all those standard sleeves.

I, for example, just sleeved my Genectric deck with these beauties:

<===

Fun Facts:

1. At japanese tournaments all kinds of sleeves can be used. At the Battle Festa in Tokyo i've seen sleeves, that make me support, the rules, so they don't allow those. This is a kids game, after all.

2. Japanese players ALL double sleeve their deck, and thats totally understandable. When you put $30 Sleeves on your cards, you want these sleeves to stay like new for as long as possible.

2. Deckboxes

Now finally to my second point.

Just like the first mentioned sleeves, there is also always a Deckbox coming out with each new set, and those usually have a motive similar to the sleeves.

These can also regularly be bought at retail stores.

Another example for a deckbox is the one, that came in the Yveltal EX + Xerneas EX SLS.

Deckboxes don't come in such a vast variety as the sleeves, but there are still enough for everyone to find one he likes.

Too bad those can't hold a double sleeved 60 card deck...

And this is where we get to...

3. Storage Boxes

Those were arond some time ago and i suppose you can also call the boxes, that come with the ETB Storage Boxes, since they can hold multiple Decks, even deckboxes, inside.

But there there is something better out there, you might want to put your decks in:

These storage boxes were introduced again with XY, after they haven't been produced in a long time. They have 7 smaller slots, that can all hold a Ultra Pro standard deckbox and also one bigger slot, that is used in this picture to hold all my empty sleeves.

I know, there are lots of other things to talk about, but those are about the same here in Japan as you are used to them, including Game State Markers, Playmats, Promo Figures, etc...

Ill just give you some pictures, of how shopping trips to ToysRUs usually look like for me:

An older one:

 And my most recent one:
FYI: Those rubber bands at the bottom of the picture are supposed to hold a sleeved 60 card deck.

Here, I will conclude this special article with so many photos.

I hope you enjoyed reading it.
I'm, as always, glad about any feedback.
The next article will be about my second Battle Festa Tournament in Sendai and will come out next week.
See you then.

Greets from Japan,

Hannes (hanfffff)