Quirky Japanese Card Sets For Kids

Baseball is my main focus, hands down. That doesn't stop me from looking at some of the other cards available in stores!

 Cards and stickers can be found for popular anime like Pokemon and One Piece. But I saw packs of cats in costumes and had to buy a couple to check them out.

 It looks like these could be used as a game. There are various subsets found for each set.

 I lucked out on the second pack, pulling what must be a pretty rare voice card.

 Except the website doesn't exist. So either it's just a joke or it expired. Oh well! It's still gotta be rare.

Satoru Tsuda is a photographer who takes pictures of cats like you see here. They're fairly funny and the cards aren't expensive. If I find a "box" of these at the right price I might try to put together a set. Finding singles to finish my set isn't easy though!

 There are also lots of small sticker packs. There have been baseball stickers issued in the past, distributed usually with chocolates. This one comes from a super-cute anime I've never seen.

 Stickers are numbered on front and back and there are common and rare stickers.

A little more familiar to American audiences are these Disney princess stickers. I am trying to put this set together, and it's proving to be quite difficult. These, too, have short prints, with a special shimmering coating. The next time I go to Akihabara and/or Nakano I need to check the card shops for singles - I only need four more stickers for the set!

Kids stickers and cards are usually sold in thin paper envelopes instead of packs, which are torn from the display. Many of them come one per pack, though the Disney stickers are a notable exception with two stickers in each envelope. In addition to anime, cartoons, and photos, there are a few games and pop idol sets (AKB48 being the most notable). They are found in traditional-style candy/snack/toy stores that I frequently see in malls, plus in other stores with similar goods. They aren't really found in large markets that often.