East vs West: Comparing English and Japanese Pokémon TCG Cards

1st March 2024 EDT FEATURES

East vs West: Comparing English and Japanese Pokémon TCG Cards

Newcomers to the Pokémon TCG might not know this, but there are differences between English and Japanese cards that go beyond language alone.

Many people who are just starting to get into the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) scene might be wondering if there’s a difference between English and Japanese Pokémon TCG cards as far as viability for collection or sale is concerned. There are, in fact, several key differences which will be detailed here.

Advantages of English Pokémon TCG Cards

While Pokémon TCG cards outside Japan do exist in a variety of languages, the vast majority of them are printed in English. One key area where English cards are often superior to their Japanese counterparts lies in the value of PSA 10 cards.

Although English cards typically have a lower level of quality than their Japanese counterparts, this ironically leads to a spike in the value of the highest-graded English cards because there are fewer of them to go around.

Similarly, although international card collectors have frequently lamented the fact that English booster packs have less impressive pull rates than do Japanese ones, this once again works in the English iteration’s favor in terms of value. There are a great deal fewer English cards of the highest rarities than there are Japanese ones, thus driving up the English cards’ value.

For those who enter Pokémon TCG tournaments, the only way to legally use Japanese Pokémon TCG cards in tournaments is by crafting an entire deck of Japanese cards. Current official Pokémon TCG tournament rules state that every card in a deck must be in the same language.

Since it’s vastly easier to obtain English cards in comparison to Japanese ones when outside Japan, the target market for English cards is thus larger because it includes a wider swathe of competitive Pokémon TCG players.

Advantages of Japanese Pokémon TCG Cards

One of the biggest selling points of Japanese Pokémon TCG cards lies in the fact that some of them bear unique designs and artwork. Many of these cards are of the Special Art Rare (SAR) rarity—they are never reprinted in English and thus solely exist in Japanese.

This also makes them more marketable to non-Japanese buyers because unless those buyers actually travel to Japan themselves, buying those Japanese cards from an online seller would be the only way to obtain cards with one-of-a-kind art.

For those trying to make money by selling Pokémon TCG cards, Japanese cards are far more profitable than English ones. This is because Japanese cards have a greater degree of immunity to price fluctuations.

Reprints are far more common in English than they are in Japanese. When a reprint of a previously rare card occurs, its value declines rapidly. Those who attempt to financially profit by selling English cards run a much greater risk of holding on to their “assets” for too long and ultimately failing to make money—or on some occasions, break even at all.

Individual Japanese cards are often more coveted by completionists than are individual English cards. Individual Japanese cards are less frequently sold and thus less common, making the cards necessary for the completion of a full set just that much more desired when they’re in Japanese. Making availability even more of a challenge is the reduced duration of Japanese cards’ print runs.

Booster Packs and Boxes: English vs Japanese

Pokémon TCG booster packs and boxes have significant differences between the two languages—both have their pros and cons.

A Japanese booster pack contains 5 cards and each box has 30 booster packs in it. English booster packs, on the other hand, contain 10 cards. A box of English Pokémon TCG booster packs has 36 booster packs in it. This means that an English booster packs gives buyers better value for money; however, a Japanese booster pack is less likely to cause the buyer to waste money on repeat cards.

Additionally, a Japanese booster box features the entire set art on its cover. This feature can sometimes drive up the value of a box of booster packs if the cards are still in the box. English booster boxes do not include this feature.

In the past, only Japanese booster packs guaranteed the pull of one or more cards of Secret Rare or rarer. However, since the beginning of the ninth generation of the Pokémon TCG, this has been true of their English counterparts as well.

That covers all the basics about the differences between English and Japanese Pokémon TCG Cards. In the end, there’s not really an option which is the clear-cut “better” choice. The buyer’s, seller’s, collector’s, or player’s personal goals and budget will inform them on their decision.

With the information from this article in mind, anyone reading this can now further dive into the world of Pokémon TCG—whether English or Japanese—armed with the knowledge to get the most out of their experience with whatever they plan to do with these cards.