English vs Japanese Pokémon cards: what’s different
How Japanese Pokémon sets, rarities and numbering compare with English ones, and what to know before collecting both.
The Pokémon Trading Card Game is made in Japan, and many collectors collect Japanese cards alongside English ones, or instead of them. The cards share art and Pokémon, but the sets around them differ.
Japanese sets come first
New cards usually come out in Japan first, and later in English. An English set often brings together cards from more than one Japanese set, so English and Japanese set lists rarely match one to one, and the card numbers differ too.
Compare the two in Holofile’s lists of English sets and Japanese sets, or with the release dates and Japanese release dates.
Names: printed in Japanese, searchable in English
Japanese cards print their names in Japanese. Holofile shows each Japanese card and set by the English name collectors use, with the Japanese beside it. For example, the set テラスタルフェスex is listed as Terastal Festival ex.
Rarities have their own names
Japanese sets use rarity names and codes of their own. A few you’ll see in recent sets:
- AR (Art Rare), close to what English sets call an Illustration Rare.
- SAR (Special Art Rare), close to an English Special Illustration Rare.
- SR (Super Rare) and UR (Ultra Rare).
The rarities pages list the cards of each: English rarities and Japanese rarities.
Numbering
Like English cards, most modern Japanese cards print a collector number such as 217/187, and numbers past the set’s size are secret rares. The earliest Japanese Pokémon cards print no set number: they show the Pokémon’s Pokédex number instead. See how card numbers and secret rares work.
Prices
Japanese and English copies of the same Pokémon are different cards with their own prices. On these pages, Japanese cards’ market prices are in US dollars where a card has one, and in yen otherwise; the app shows them in yen or in your own currency. Compare a Pokémon’s cards across both languages on its page, for example every Pikachu card.
Collect both in Holofile
Holofile’s catalog has English and Japanese cards, sets and sealed products. Turn on Japanese cards in the app to search and scan them; see Japanese cards.