{ "url": "https://www.moonstonehq.com/articles/japanese-vs-english-pokemon-cards", "slug": "japanese-vs-english-pokemon-cards", "title": "Japanese vs English Pokemon Cards, By the Numbers", "summary": "Japanese rows outnumber English by somewhere between 32,405 and 37,948 to 21,908 in our catalog, and carry far less: 43.3% record a rarity against 97.1%, 25.3% an artist against 93.0%.", "section": "Quant research", "published": "2026-09-23", "readMinutes": 9, "publisher": "moonstone", "findings": [ { "value": "32,405 to 37,948", "measures": "distinct Japanese rows", "basis": "against 21,908 English" }, { "value": "0%", "measures": "of Japanese marketplace rows carry an illustrator", "basis": null }, { "value": "0%", "measures": "of Japanese catalog rows carry a rarity", "basis": null }, { "value": "95.92%", "measures": "of English cards have a Japanese counterpart here", "basis": null } ], "tables": [ { "title": "The two Japanese sources", "columns": [ "Source", "Rows", "Set names", "Priced", "Records a rarity", "Records an illustrator" ], "rows": [ { "Source": "Japanese marketplace products (jat-)", "Rows": "26,142", "Set names": "428", "Priced": "77.96%", "Records a rarity": "65.51%", "Records an illustrator": "0.00%" }, { "Source": "Japanese card catalog (ja-)", "Rows": "12,778", "Set names": "115", "Priced": "29.99%", "Records a rarity": "0.00%", "Records an illustrator": "74.98%" }, { "Source": "English, for comparison", "Rows": "21,908", "Set names": "221", "Priced": "97.84%", "Records a rarity": "97.11%", "Records an illustrator": "92.97%" } ] }, { "title": "The twelve largest catalog sets against their best marketplace match", "columns": [ "Catalog set", "Cards bridged", "Best marketplace match", "Overlap" ], "rows": [ { "Catalog set": "スタートデッキ100 バトルコレクション", "Cards bridged": "665", "Best marketplace match": "Start Deck 100 Battle Collection", "Overlap": "79.40%" }, { "Catalog set": "レイジングサーフ", "Cards bridged": "379", "Best marketplace match": "SVM: Generations Start Decks", "Overlap": "1.06%" }, { "Catalog set": "スカーレット&バイオレット プロモカード", "Cards bridged": "218", "Best marketplace match": "SM12a: TAG TEAM GX: Tag All Stars", "Overlap": "3.67%" }, { "Catalog set": "MEGAドリームex", "Cards bridged": "215", "Best marketplace match": "M2a: High Class Pack: MEGA Dream ex", "Overlap": "84.65%" }, { "Catalog set": "ポケモンカード151", "Cards bridged": "200", "Best marketplace match": "SM3+: Shining Legends", "Overlap": "1.50%" }, { "Catalog set": "VSTARユニバース", "Cards bridged": "189", "Best marketplace match": "SM5S: Ultra Sun", "Overlap": "2.12%" }, { "Catalog set": "GXウルトラシャイニー", "Cards bridged": "189", "Best marketplace match": "SM8b: GX Ultra Shiny", "Overlap": "97.88%" }, { "Catalog set": "VMAXクライマックス", "Cards bridged": "186", "Best marketplace match": "S8b: VMAX Climax", "Overlap": "95.70%" }, { "Catalog set": "TAG TEAM GX タッグオールスターズ", "Cards bridged": "183", "Best marketplace match": "SM12a: TAG TEAM GX: Tag All Stars", "Overlap": "93.99%" }, { "Catalog set": "テラスタルフェスex", "Cards bridged": "173", "Best marketplace match": "SV8a: Terastal Fest ex", "Overlap": "4.62%" }, { "Catalog set": "ホワイトフレア", "Cards bridged": "170", "Best marketplace match": "SV11W: White Flare", "Overlap": "100.00%" }, { "Catalog set": "ブラックボルト", "Cards bridged": "169", "Best marketplace match": "SV11B: Black Bolt", "Overlap": "100.00%" } ] }, { "title": "Cross-language coverage", "columns": [ "Side", "Cards", "Bridged to a species", "With a counterpart", "Without one" ], "rows": [ { "Side": "English physical", "Cards": "21,908", "Bridged to a species": "21,908 (100%)", "With a counterpart": "21,014 (95.92%)", "Without one": "894" }, { "Side": "Japanese", "Cards": "37,948", "Bridged to a species": "34,747 (91.56%)", "With a counterpart": "28,816 (82.93% of the bridged)", "Without one": "5,931 bridged, plus 3,201 unbridgeable" } ] }, { "title": "Rarity labels that appear on only one side, twelve of each", "columns": [ "Japanese only", "English only" ], "rows": [ { "Japanese only": "Art Rare", "English only": "Illustration Rare" }, { "Japanese only": "Special Art Rare", "English only": "Special illustration rare" }, { "Japanese only": "Super Rare", "English only": "Secret Rare" }, { "Japanese only": "Super Rare Holo", "English only": "Holo Rare VMAX" }, { "Japanese only": "Character Rare", "English only": "Radiant Rare" }, { "Japanese only": "Character Super Rare", "English only": "Shiny Ultra Rare" }, { "Japanese only": "Triple Rare", "English only": "ACE SPEC Rare" }, { "Japanese only": "Prism Rare", "English only": "Holo Rare VSTAR" }, { "Japanese only": "Trainer Rare", "English only": "Pikachu Rare" }, { "Japanese only": "Shiny Secret Rare", "English only": "Futuristic Rare" }, { "Japanese only": "Kagayaku", "English only": "Classic Collection" }, { "Japanese only": "Mega Attack Rare", "English only": "Mega Hyper Rare" } ] } ], "charts": [ { "title": "What the catalog records about a Japanese card", "unit": "%", "note": "37,948 distinct Japanese rows, against the English figure in the label", "points": [ { "label": "An image", "value": 78.72, "basis": "98.29% on the English side" }, { "label": "A marketplace product link", "value": 76.45, "basis": "97.90% English" }, { "label": "A printed rarity", "value": 43.33, "basis": "97.11% English" }, { "label": "An illustrator credit", "value": 25.25, "basis": "92.97% English" }, { "label": "Printing identity flags", "value": 0, "basis": "95.46% English" } ] } ], "sections": [ "Two Japanese catalogs, no overlap in text", "How much of the Japanese catalog is the same card twice", "Counterparts across the language line", "Two rarity vocabularies that barely overlap", "What this study cannot show", "What would overturn it" ], "method": [ "Population: every row in the `cards` table on 2026-09-23 after both deduplication rules, identity and marketplace product id, split by language tag: 21,908 distinct physical English printings, as defined in [How Many Pokemon Cards Are There?](/articles/how-many-pokemon-cards-are-there), and 37,948 distinct Japanese rows. The per-source table describes the two Japanese feeds BEFORE the product-id merge, 26,142 and 12,778 rows, because merging them across sources is exactly what the table is about; every other Japanese figure is post-merge. Japanese rows are split by id namespace, `jat-` for marketplace products and `ja-` for catalog rows. Attribute coverage counts a rarity as recorded when the field is non-empty and not the literal \"None\". The species bridge folds accents, case and punctuation on Latin names and resolves kana names through the catalog's species dictionary, with a rule for owner-prefixed vintage names such as \"マグマ団のドンメル\" which takes the text after the final \"の\"; without that rule the un-bridged Japanese rows are not a random sample but the Rocket, Magma, Aqua and Gym-leader sets in their entirety. Printed HP is read from the stored catalog blob and is present on 60.9% of English and 32.6% of Japanese rows; it is used as a filter, required to match only when both sides record one, never as part of the key, because folding it in made every English Gym-era card read as English-exclusive. Set-level agreement compares each catalog set's species-and-number keys against every marketplace set and reports the best coverage of the catalog set's own checklist, and the table prints the twelve largest catalog sets in checklist order rather than a selection. The rarity-vocabulary counts are taken over the Japanese rows BEFORE the product-id merge, like the per-source table, because the merge breaks ties toward the catalog row and that row never carries a rarity, so merging first would delete two Japanese labels that are genuinely printed. A label counts when the field is non-empty and is not the literal \"None\". No price comparison is made in this study." ], "terms": "Figures are moonstone's own recorded measurements, dated as published. Quote them with the population stated beside them. The article at `url` is the human form of this file." }