Japanese vs Italian Pokémon cards: printing, prices and what to collect

A Japanese card and the same card in Italian are not the same object, and the market knows it. Japanese cards have sharper printing and larger print runs, so they often cost less and get a PSA 10 more easily. Italian cards are scarcer, and for some cards the gap is enormous: Umbreon ex is worth between €250 and €320 in the Japanese SAR version and between €1,000 and €1,700 in the Italian Special Illustration Rare, according to the Pokechrono catalogue, October 2026. Let us see where this difference comes from and what to look at before buying.

Japanese printing: why collectors praise it

Japanese cards are produced in Japan to a standard collectors recognise at a glance: more regular centring, cleaner cut, more saturated colours, a more uniform holo surface. It is not a myth. Anyone who grades cards sees it in the results: for the same card and the same care, a Japanese copy reaches a 10 more often than a Western one.

For those who collect graded copies this has two effects. The first is that a Japanese PSA 10 is more common, and therefore worth less relative to the same card raw. The second is that the raw card, if well kept, has a very good chance of getting the top grade if sent for grading.

Exclusive sets and rarity codes

Japan has sets that do not exist in the West, or that arrive broken up and redistributed across different expansions. Terastal Festival ex is the best-known example of recent years: a Japanese celebratory set released at the end of 2024, from which the West took many cards to build Prismatic Evolutions (Evoluzioni Prismatiche).

On Japanese cards the rarity is written in plain sight, with a code at the bottom:

• AR, Art Rare: the equivalent of the Illustration Rare (IR);
• SAR, Special Art Rare: the equivalent of the Special Illustration Rare (SIR);
• SR, Super Rare: the classic full arts;
• UR, Ultra Rare: the gold cards.

Knowing these codes avoids the most common mistake: paying SAR money for a card that is only an SR, or confusing an AR with a SAR because the illustration is beautiful on both.

Umbreon ex: the same Pokémon, two prices

The case of Umbreon ex 217/187 SAR from Terastal Festival ex explains the whole market. It is the same illustration that in Italy became Umbreon ex 161/131, the most sought-after card in Prismatic Evolutions.

The Japanese one, October 2026: between €250 and €320 raw, about €440 in PSA 10 according to PriceCharting, down 4% over twelve months. The PSA 10 is worth about 1.5 times the raw card and just 1.3 times a PSA 9.

The Italian one: between €1,000 and €1,700 raw, about €4,600 in PSA 10, up 26% over twelve months. The PSA 10 is worth about 4.4 times the raw card and 4.1 times a PSA 9.

In short: the same illustration in PSA 10 costs about ten times more in Italian than in Japanese, October 2026.

The explanation is simple. Terastal Festival ex was printed in large quantities for a domestic market used to opening a lot of packs. Prismatic Evolutions in Italian has a smaller print run, and the whole of Italy is looking for it. The scarcity of the language weighs more than the scarcity of the card.

What is worth collecting

It depends on what you are after. Those who want the beauty of the object, the best printing and a reasonable price often choose Japanese: with the budget of one Italian SIR you can build a small collection of SARs. Those who collect for the language, for the memory of packs opened as a child or for absolute scarcity choose Italian, and accept paying for that scarcity.

There is also a practical side. The European market for Japanese cards is smaller than that for cards in Western languages: reselling a Japanese SAR in Italy takes more time and more patience than reselling the Italian SIR. It is not a flaw, it is a feature to know about beforehand.

What to check when buying Japanese

The checks are the usual ones, with three extra points of attention. First: on a PSA slab the label states the language, and the card inside must match the photo and the certificate number, to be verified on the grading company's website. Second: reproductions of Japanese cards are plentiful, because the market is large and Western buyers know the printing details less well. Third: a price far below market, on a Japanese card, is not a bargain but a warning sign.

On Pokechrono every listing shows the print in the language of the copy on sale, with the certificate given in full. Our expert checks every card before publication, Japanese or Italian, and the method is explained on the how we verify page. For any doubt about a specific card you can write to us from the contact page.