Tokyo Card Shops - Vintage Japanese Pokémon Card Hunt in Ikebukuro - Card Hunting Tips and Tricks

We're checking out some Pokemon card shops in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. In this series, I try to complete an age-old collection goal by buying vintage holos from Japanese card shops to fill the holes in my binder. Even better, I give you some tips and tricks on where to find the best Pokemon deals in Tokyo, Japan.
Thank you so much for watching, I hope you enjoy the video. Don't forget to leave a thumbs up and a comment. Thank you so much!
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Make sure to follow me on Instagram: / dark.ibex

[@miccomia]

Thank god you exist. I've been watching lots of these videos and they always try to show viewers prices while moving and not letting the camera focus before they move to another! It honestly gives me so much motion sickness. I appreciate the screenshots! Thank you! subbed for awesome content

[@magicainlove]

nice shops, thank you for showing us

[@Dark_ibex]

My pleasure, excited to go to more places soon. Thanks for watching!

[@CookieCutter]

i wanna visit!

[@franciscopadilla5653]

Do you know of any shops or places that do trades?

[@0wned14]

pikachu v max for 54,000 yen was a steal! 33 bucks

[@Dark_ibex]

Depends on the condition ^^

[@fujisancardshop]

I dont think anyone could have expected the metapod haha

[@Dark_ibex]

Haha I figured 🤣

[@NoRushpk]

I actually guessed Caterpie or Pidgey 🤣🤙💯

[@steelducktg]

thanks for the video, i left a sibscribe. Can you recommend me some shops where i can buy good vintage stuff in played condition? Inside of tokyo the shops are expensive, it seems like that

[@Dark_ibex]

Thank you! Most of the shops are about the same these days.

[@judeau8608]

were they english friendly? i was one time in Ikebukor at BookOff and they refused to sell me anything because of that 😅

[@Dark_ibex]

I doubt it was because of that. No shot BookOff has a store policy like that. Mayyyybe a rogue employee on a bad day. I hear stuff like this from time to time from non-Japanese speakers, and it is almost always a misunderstanding, miscommunication, or a language barrier issue. Having that said, there are plenty of card shops with not-so-friendly employees, but they are usually not exclusively unfriendly to foreign customers. There are so many negative Google reviews in Japanese for these stores, haha. But again, BookOff would be the last place to have a "no foreigner" or "Japanese language only" policy.

[@ShiningBlastoise]

Impossible. Certainly there was a language barrier and misunderstanding. Especially Bookoff, a chain retailer, would never refuse. Tourists visit everyday so the staff is used to it.

[@judeau8608]

@@ShiningBlastoise What happend was that I tried talking to a employee about me checking some cards behind the glass cabinet, he first told me ``wait there``, then he came after 2-3 minutes and I pointed out the cards I wanted to check out, then he just froze up for 5 seconds, looked at me and said ´´I dont know´´ and just walked away.

[@baska-]

I'm going to Osaka next month and I think I'm going to go broke. I don't have a lotta money and I only like vintage, so I will need to choose between buying a handful of big hitters or 20 vending machine/promo cards.

[@Reggicyde]

Bought a Gym Heroes Sabrina’s Gengar from Card Secret in February and was surprisingly the cheapest place I saw it for. But no doubt a lot of stuff there was out of my budget

[@Dark_ibex]

That's awesome! I love that card, still need one for the binder challenge 😬 Good to hear that you find it on Card Secret. Tells me it's worth going again.

[@Multi2794]

😊😊

[@alexandrum44]

I swear I can smell the cards through the screen wtf 😂

[@EpicTubeHD]

Great video. I was in Tokyo back in January but couldn't make it to Ikebukuro then. Will definitely have to on the next trip.

[@Dark_ibex]

Thanks for checking out the video! Always more to explore!

[@Ronan-g7s]

Whats the 3rd shop called?

[@WeebInvestments69]

I know they are not your games of choice, but do you have shop recommendations for Wixoss or Zillions of Enemy X ? 😅😊

[@Dark_ibex]

I'm sorry, but I've never even heard of these 😅

[@WeebInvestments69]

@@Dark_ibex haha, no problem, thanks anyways 😊

[@NebulosoPrime]

i'll be in japan this summer, do you have any advice for someone getting there for the first time? I'd really like to buy lots of cards honestly and maybe also some booster boxes

[@Dark_ibex]

Hmmm, my advice would be to treat card shops like museums. They're not the best place to buy cards. Everything they have you'll find cheaper online. I like going for this challenge since it is fun, but I am definitely overspending on cards compared to online prices. Cool to pick up a few cards during a trip for the memories, but financially speaking, it doesn't make a lot of sense to travel to Japan to buy cards in card stores. Biggest advice? Make sure to enjoy everything else in Japan and don't spend all your time in card shops haha

[@AB1indmoose]

F card secred. Worst shop in tokyo period. Deal in bad faith and hide damage on cards

[@Dark_ibex]

I'm not sure what you mean by hiding damage. I mean, you always inspect the card before buying it. Can't really hide anything there

[@AB1indmoose]

@darkibex600 take a look at my Google review for them. They used a "sticky note tab" perfectly placed on the back of a penny sleeve. Was a card worth over 1k that I didn't want to remove from the penny, they just happened to perfectly place the sticky right ontop of the damage and never mentioned it to me. And also priced it as LP.

[@Dark_ibex]

Your reply was somehow held for review and I approved it but don't see it here anymore. I wanted to reply. The stickers are always somewhere on the sleeve. If there happens to be damage underneath then that could have easily been a coincidence. LP is veeery subjective and should never trust card shop condition ratings. That's true for literally every card shop I've ever been to. Not only is it subjective, but they handle hundreds, if not thousands, of cards each day and miss damage all the time. Then also, for that kind of money, why would you not take it out of the sleeve to properly inspect it????

[@wantsomecoffe]

Whats the difference reverse holo master ball and reverse holo?

[@Zurgreth]

Great video! Some really cool shops.

[@Dark_ibex]

Thanks for checking out the video!

[@ShiningBlastoise]

Tourist trap is the prefect description for Card Secret.

[@Dark_ibex]

I wouldn't go that far. Locals love Card Secret for the tournaments and events, as well as the ability to find foreign cards and other TCG items/merch not available in Japan. They also have one of the best play spaces imo. A true "tourist trap" would be a place that locals avoid at all costs. It's just that their sealed and raw prices are too high compared to other places, and I guess a lot of tourists don't bother to find better deals elsewhere. Importantly, please note that the only single I bought that day was from Card Secret, albeit not a Japanese vintage holo. The other places I checked out were also too expensive relative to the condition.

[@ShiningBlastoise]

@@Dark_ibex The tournament space is great (for Tokyo standards). But even if locals go for events, that's different from purchasing cards. I feel like Card Secret caters to 2 audiences: Japanese locals for events and foreigner tourists for sales. Prices are too high - sometimes so crazy high that they must be trying to scam a tourist. I often hear this selling point of selling cards in multiple languages. But most collectors buy English or Japanese. If foreign language cards were popular, other shops would sell them too. Tourists buy from Card Secret because the staff can speak English and it was promoted by several KZbinrs. Time is limited so tourists buy in a rush. I agree that other card shops in Ikebukuro are also expensive. Fukufuku is good, but way too small. Ninnin has vintage cards, but too expensive for the condition. Generally, I prefer Akihabara. Anyways, love your videos. I also focus on vintage cards and go to many of the shops you featured. Great content.

[@Dark_ibex]

@@ShiningBlastoise Good points, but in a city with millions of people, it only takes a tiny percentage of those people to be interested in foreign cards for it to be worth it. I mean, if it wasn't worth it, why would they give up valuable store space for foreign cards? They'd have stopped a long time ago. I believe it works for them precisely because they are the only ones doing it and because they've made a name for themselves as THE store with foreign cards. It's not just cards, though; it's sleeves, coins, playmats, etc. That stuff probably sells better than the cards. I went there the day they started selling London Worlds merch. You should have seen the line, it was wild. But yeah, like you said, there's definitely a tourist tax for most products.

[@ShiningBlastoise]

@@Dark_ibex Yea, somebody must be buying those foreign cards since they keep selling it. There's definitely a good selection of cards and other merchandise. I have bought cheap items before (but not usually). I just don't like that some prices are absurdly high. It feels like they're trying to scam an unsuspecting tourist. There's reasonable profit and then there's scams. 4x or 5x market value feels wrong. For example, Pokemon Center sells those Babanuki (Old Maid) cards for 660 yen per deck box, which are still in stock. But Card Secret prices them out as singles for 480-780 yen. I've never seen any card shop do that. That's targeting tourists for sure. I wonder how much Card Secret buys cards for when they sell for such high prices.

[@AB1indmoose]

Fully agree with @shiningblastoise. Was in tokyo last week and visited card secret. They scammed my out of ~1k by hiding damage on a shining charizard and pricing it at LP. They also refused a return after acknowledging they hit the damage and said it was on me.. I left a google review with photos of the card. 100% a tourist trap and deal in bad faith