2016 Nipponham BBM Nippon Ham Fighters

I’ve read a lot about food issues coming from the US this year. I’m sure everyone who follows US baseball card blogs knows about the WalMart pizza cards. Well, Japan has its own new food issue this year too.

Actually, including cards, stickers, or other goodies with candy or food has been going on for decades here. Bikkuriman stickers continue to be popular, and there have been some baseball versions in the past. Kanebo Gum included MLB cards in 2002 and 2003, and walking down the candy aisle in the supermarket shows a lot of products usually packaged with a piece of gum.

Of course, Japan has had Calbee Baseball Chips every year since 1973.

But new on the scene this year is an odd-sized oddball set issued by Nippon Ham. It’s smaller than a regular card, similar to Calbee size, and manufactured by BBM.

As you can see the card design is fairly simple. There is a gold facsimile signature on the front, though it isn’t in foil. Note that the card number is found on the front of this set; the number on the back is the player’s jersey number.

Nippon Ham is a food producer which focuses on meat and dinner products. They have ready-to-bake pizzas in supermarkets all over the country.

Right now I’m not sure about any details for the set. But hopefully I’ll be able to find out more in the future. I picked this card up through Yahoo! Japan Auctions.