Asian Pokemon Cards | Differences & Similarities

Pokemon as a franchise has enjoyed high popularity ratings since the beginning of the Pokemon anime in Indonesia, but for a long time the country had to wait for its own Pokémon cards and import English cards. However, this has recently changed, and there are now Indonesian maps. The card design hardly differs from that of international cards. For example, the back of Indonesian cards looks exactly like the back of our cards; only the language of the cards is different. Thus, the cards look very similar to international cards and are ideal as cheaper alternative on.

Similar to Indonesia, Pokemon is also in Thailand quite popular. However, even here, you had to wait a relatively long time until you finally got your own Pokemon cards. In Thailand, exclusive sets published, which were available nowhere else, in order to summarize international Pokémon eras and to bring the cards up to date. In terms of design, again quite similar to international cards, only the language of the cards clearly distinguishes them from our cards. Nevertheless, the cards are generally popular, partly because you also as more affordable alternatives can be considered.

Korean Pokemon Cards has been around for a while than, for example, cards from Indonesia or Thailand, as Japan & Korea have collaborated for a longer period of time and, as a result, a branch of the Pokemon Company was opened in Korea relatively early on.

Over time, there have been repeated interruptions where no Korean cards were printed, but currently, Korean cards are quite popular... especially since Pokémon has become quite popular in Korea, as it has almost everywhere else in the world, and because international markets for Korean Pokémon cards are continuing to grow. This is primarily due to the fact that Japanese Pokémon cards have become increasingly expensive, making alternatives essential for many.

Korean Pokemon sets are based on their Japanese equivalents in terms of structure, but they follow international release dates, for example, and the Card design is also very similar to international cards, as only the language differs once again, while the layout and design themselves remain the same. Overall, definitely a great and compared to Japanese cards affordable alternative.

Chinese Pokemon Cards exist of all Asian Pokemon cards so far shortest, however, Pokémon is now also represented in the vast country of China. The first set was a combination of 3 different sets that, from our perspective, are already somewhat older. This is an attempt to summarize past eras (from Sun & Moon onwards) as efficiently as possible and to quickly catch up with international current events. A similar approach is taken in Thailand and has certainly some advantages.

We can once again get wonderful Sun & Moon sets, such as Hidden Fates, quite affordably as Chinese sets and thus enjoy great experiences once more. They are unique, because this time the cards differ not only in their language, but also in their design. For example, all foil cards will feature a exclusive Pokemon logo embossed and generally the cards have a slightly different holo effect.

These Pokemon cards are not the above-mentioned Chinese cards, because here are so-called traditional Chinese Pokemon cards off Hong Kong & Taiwan referred to, which have existed longer than, for example, the new Chinese cards from China itself. In terms of card design, they are similar to our cards, only the language is clearly different. The sets are based on the Japanese sets, but follow international release dates. T-Chinese Pokemon cards are now also enjoying growing in international popularity, especially since the 25th anniversary of Pokemon, as there were special collections featuring Charizard, Venusaur, Blastoise, and others, in which these cards could be found relatively affordable could get.

It all started with Japanese Pokemon cards. To this day, The Pokemon Company is headquartered in the Land of the Rising Sun, and Japanese Pokemon cards are popular since time immemorial huge popularity.

At the beginning of the Pokémon TCG, the design in Japan was different than it is today. Back then, the card back looked different from today's back, which is still distinct from our own card backs. This makes Japanese Pokémon cards unique worldwide, as all other cards, whether from America, Thailand, or China, feature the internationally standard back. Many Japanese cards also have a silver rim, quite unlike the international cards, which all feature a yellow border. Starting with Scarlet & Violet, the international version will also have a silver border.