As promised, here's the other half of my pickups from Mint Tachikawa, about 30 minutes east of Tokyo. I found these a few months ago, but with my laziness I am just now getting around to posting.
This post brings you the oddballs and team issues that most people probably don't even know exist!
One thing I found were a bunch of Lions team issues. This store is probably the easiest to get to from the Lions ballpark, and possibly serves a good fan base for the team.
The back has a nice collection of statistics and highlights. I'm not sure why this is labeled as a "special" card other than there was probably some other release as well. This is from 2008, obviously.
This card was released in 2011 and has a nice horizontal design.
It's probably a more "regular" team issue release, and has an attractive back design with a large photo and statistics.
These scans aren't in order! This is from 2009, and again is a Lions team issue.
The back of this card uses a QR code for some special offer. There are less lines of statistics (just the prior year and career data).
When I saw this card I thought it was another late-90s BBM issue. The lack of BBM copyrights and its location mixed in with other Lions team issues tells me it was a team issue.
I'm calling this the back of the card, though it could just as well be the front.
This is another "Special Card" from 2009 issued by the Lions.
The back of this one contains a good bit of data on Watanabe's managerial career.
Here is another card from the 2011 set, with a little different front design.
The back is identical, though.
And a 2011 vertical layout.
Again, identical back.
The Lions issued this "Special Card" in 2010.
The backs are similar to prior years' releases.
After all those team issue cards, I also found a couple oddball-ish releases. This is a sticker issued by Lotte and included with some sweets (chocolate wafers, most likely) in 2008. There were a few years of stickers similar to these, with a couple different sets issued each year. This is the gold set, which is a gold foil sticker with a cartoonish line art.
The back design can vary (in some years) but this one has a facsimile autograph. They all have blue backgrounds.
Here's an interesting find. This card has a nice photo on the front with a facsimile signature in the upper corner. The first odd thing about this card is that it is basically laminated. It has a clear plastic border, which you can see in the scans above and below.
Two other odd things about the card are the inclusion of a giant barcode on the back and a hologram sticker over the top. It appears to have been issued in 2000.
My last pickup to show from the Tachikawa store is this postcard apparently issued by the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks to commemorate three Pacific League pennant wins as the Daiei Hawks. If that is the case, it would have been issued in late 2003 or more likely in 2004, as the team became the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in January 2005.
Here's the nondescript back.
I was quite pleased with my haul from Tachikawa, and
as I mentioned in my last post, I plan to return in November when I head in that direction. I should note that while the random value-like box was fun to poke through, I don't remember there being a very good selection of cards for people looking for specific set-building before the past year or so of cards. When I go back I'll be sure to pay better attention to this. Just know that this card store is a good bit out of the way and for short-time visitors it might not be worth the trip.
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