Japanese Pokémon cards and products

It is a product made for the Japanese market: cards printed in Japanese, booster packs, booster boxes, decks and boxes sold in Japanese shops. The game is the same as in Europe; what changes is the card language, the product formats and the release schedule.

Some products only exist in Japan: regional Pokémon Center boxes, special sets, promo cards handed out at events. That is one of the reasons so many collectors turn to Japanese cards.

• Booster packs — a Japanese pack usually holds fewer cards than a Western one. In our catalogue, a standard Japanese box such as Mega Brave (M1L) contains 30 packs of 5 cards, while the French box of Chaos Ascendant (ME04) contains 36 packs of 10 cards. High Class Packs are the exception: MEGA Dream ex (M2a) offers 10 packs of 10 cards. The exact contents are listed on each product page.
• Finish — collectors know Japanese cards for consistent printing and cutting. It is a tendency, not a guarantee: before grading, every copy still needs a close look.
• Release schedule — sets come out in Japan first. Their Western counterpart usually follows several months later, sometimes combining and reorganising the contents of several Japanese sets. Collecting in Japanese means seeing the cards first.
• Price — in Japan a pack costs less than a French pack does in France, but it holds fewer cards. For a buyer in Europe, the final price also includes shipping, import duties and taxes, and availability: popular sets sell out fast in Japan, often with a per-customer limit.

Neither version is “better”: Western cards are the ones used in official European tournaments, while Japanese cards appeal mostly to collectors. Many collectors follow both.

At the bottom left of every Japanese card, a short code shows which set it comes from. It is the reference used everywhere: product pages, price guides, sales between collectors. Read it in three steps:

• The letters — the era of the game: S for Sword & Shield, SV for Scarlet & Violet, M for the Mega era.
• The number — the release order within the era: M1, M2, M3…
• The suffix — a lowercase “a” usually marks a special set, such as the High Class Packs Shiny Treasure ex (SV4a) or MEGA Dream ex (M2a). A capital letter tells apart twin sets released together, such as Mega Brave (M1L) and Mega Symphonia (M1S).

Promo cards have their own code: SV-P for the Scarlet & Violet era, with a number such as 062/SV-P. Next to the code, the card number (for example 349/190) shows its place in the set: when the first number is higher than the second, it is a secret rare, outside the main list. Rarity letters (AR, SR, SAR, UR…) complete the picture.

Note that Japanese codes are not the Western ones: the 151 set, for example, is SV2a in Japan and EV3.5 in the French edition.

The Japanese market is not immune to fakes or resealed products: weighed packs, boxes opened and then rewrapped. Provenance remains the best protection.

At Yuminto, our Japanese sealed products are bought from established shops and suppliers in Japan, never from lots of unknown origin. Every item is checked on arrival: box condition, original shrink wrap, overall consistency. An opened product is never sold as sealed.

For a graded card, the certification number on the label can be checked online on the grading company's website (PSA, for example), and the photo on the product page shows the exact copy you will receive.

Everything on this page is already in France: no import wait, and no customs fees to pay on delivery for an address in France or the European Union.

Orders leave within 24 to 48 business hours, tracked, to a pickup point or your home. Booster boxes and sealed boxes travel wedged in a reinforced carton; cards are protected by a sleeve, a toploader and rigid padding. Pickup-point delivery is free above a certain amount, shown in your cart.