Announcement Before Today’s Blog

Some of you may already know this, but
winning an official tournament awards a Monkey D. Luffy card with an official serial number.

It is an extremely rare card, however I am able to arrange one through my own trusted channels.
If you are interested, please feel free to contact me via the details at the bottom of this post.

Today in Fukuoka, the temperature reached 16.5°C.
It may sound warm on paper, but with the cold wind blowing,
the actual felt temperature is closer to 7–8°C.

My day started with a request from a customer asking me to send some Japanese snacks overseas,
so I headed to Don Quijote to pick them up.

Have you heard of Don Quijote before?
If you’ve ever visited Japan, you probably have.
It’s a very famous discount store where you can find almost anything food, daily necessities, and sometimes even Pokémon cards.

There are supermarkets and discount stores near my home,
but Don Quijote locations in more rural areas tend to have
much better and wider selections, which makes them perfect for this kind of request.

This time, the request was for a ¥3,000 (about $19 USD) assortment of Japanese snacks.

Honestly, when visiting another country,
it’s often hard to know what you should buy as souvenirs.

I remember when I visited Los Angeles in the past,
I bought what I thought was a very “American-style” T-shirt…
only to later realize the tag said Made in Vietnam (laughs).

I ended up buying chocolate instead, but while it was technically American,
it didn’t really stand out, and I remember feeling a bit disappointed in my own sense of taste.

Because of experiences like that,
I also offer a service where you only need to tell me your budget,
and I’ll choose items that feel truly Japanese for you especially helpful for those who’ve never been to Japan.

This isn’t bragging, but…
I think I have pretty good taste (laughs),
so feel free to ask when you’re buying cards or boxes.

After returning home,
I processed around 100 applications for the
Weekly Shonen Jump × One Piece Start Deck.

For those who reserved through me,
you’re already in a position where profit is essentially locked in.

Why?
Because my prices are set below current market value,
and this Jump edition is no longer being sold.
When something becomes unavailable, demand naturally increases
from both Japanese buyers and international collectors and prices follow.

Shipping will happen later,
but I’m confident that those who secured one will be happy they did.

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After that, I spent the rest of the day preparing shipments for existing orders.

Recently, One Piece orders have overwhelmingly surpassed Pokémon.
This doesn’t mean Pokémon has lost popularity it’s simply that One Piece momentum right now is incredible.

On the other hand, Pokémon cards are currently at a very interesting point.
With prices having dropped, now is actually an excellent time to buy:

• PSA 10 graded cards
• Rare singles
• McDonald’s Pikachu
• Regional Pikachu Boxes (Tohoku, Hiroshima, Fukuoka)

Many of these are sitting near price bottoms,
and from here, I personally believe the direction is upward.

The serial-numbered Nami card (One Piece Card Game) is limited to only 1,000 copies worldwide
and remains extremely popular.
At this pace, it’s likely to disappear from the market soon.

At the moment, I may still be able to secure two or three more copies.

As mentioned at the beginning,
the serial-numbered Monkey D. Luffy is also possible to arrange.
If you’re interested, don’t hesitate to reach out.

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shinobu 🇯🇵