Epoch One Cards

Along with the trip overview posts I also wanted to post (brag) about the cards I picked up while I was in Japan.  I'll start with the Epoch One cards I got.

Epoch One is Japan's version of Topps Now.  Epoch makes cards available on their website for purchase for three days.  Each card costs 500 yen which includes shipping.  Like the Topps Now cards, the print runs for the cards depend on how many orders they get for the cards.

I learned two new things about the Epoch One cards while I was in Japan.  The first is that unlike Topps, which appears to put all the new Topps Now cards they are selling up at once at I believe noon Eastern time daily, Epoch doesn't have a set time they announce their cards.  They announce them at apparently random intervals.  This is difficult to notice from the US East Coast since the cards get announced in what for me is the overnight hours when I'm asleep but you can tell this is the case by looking at the time remaining for cards on their site - the cards don't all expire at the same time.

The second (and much more interesting) thing is that Epoch One cards are relatively easy to find in card shops in Japan, especially Mint stores.  I remember seeing them for sale at Mint Shinjuku, Coletre, Mint Ikebukuro, Nagoya BITS, Mint Hiroshima and Mint Chiba but other stores had them as well.  "Commons" are generally 600 yen but cards that are in more demand run higher.  The most I personally paid for one was 1000 yen (Akira Neo) but I'm pretty sure I saw some in the 2000-2500 yen (although off hand I couldn't tell you what those cards were - it wouldn't surprise me if one of them was for Kotaro Kiyomiya).

I brought home 14 Epoch One cards, 8 from 2018 and 6 from 2019.  I bought all of the 2018 cards and one of the 2019 in shops.  Ryan Gluesing had ordered the other 2019 cards for me directly from Epoch.  Here are the 2018 cards:

#73/YG-011

#580/CM-065

#675/CD-079

#676/CD-080

#677/CD-081

#678/CD-082

#679/CD-083

#680/CD-084

I picked up the Sakamoto and Yasuda cards for the uniforms in case I ever update my uniform posts again.  The Dragons draft pick cards I picked up just to have the absolutely first cards for these players - they came out two months earlier than BBM's 2019 Rookie Edition set.  Each card was 600 yen except the Neo (1000 yen like I mentioned) and the Umetsu (800 yen).  I saw the Neo selling for 1200-1500 yen at other stores but I got it relatively cheaply at Coletre.

Here are the 2019 cards I got:

#002/SL-002

#143/HC-018

#148/YG-020

#157/SH-018

#181/HC-019

#193/SH-024

The first Batista card and the Sakamoto card commemorate the last home run of the Heisei Era and the first home run of the Reiwa Era respectively - this Batista card I bought at Mint Hiroshima for 600 yen.  The Akashi card shows him in the middle of his backflip after hitting a sayonara home run against the Buffaloes on April 25th.

Ryan gave me the second Batista and the Kawashima cards in their original packaging direct from Epoch.  They were delivered to him in an individual big black envelope for each card.  Each card was packaged in a penny sleeve which was then placed in a top loader and finally wrapped in a clear bag.  Here are photos I took of the two envelopes and their contents (and hopefully I've obscured Ryan's address):

UPDATE - I remembered something I wanted to mention after I posted this.  I was expecting that there'd be several Epoch One cards issued for games I attended in Japan as all but one of the games I went to featured at least one team that Epoch was issuing these cards for (everyone except the Buffaloes, Eagles and Baystars).  I was kind of disappointed to discover that there were only three cards issued, all of which featured Tiger players!  I've asked Ryan to get them for me.

Trip Overview Part 1 - Days 0-1

I apologize for not writing much in the week and a half since I got back.  I've been busy with work and other things (been to two more baseball games since I've been home) and I've been struggling to figure out what and how I want to write about the trip.  I think the posts will end up falling into three categories - an overview of the trip (which will take several posts), posts for each card shop I visited and posts on the cards I brought back.  I'll start the overview here.

On Thursday, May 23rd I flew from Baltimore to Toronto and then on to Tokyo.  I arrived at Haneda Airport on the afternoon of May 24th and after waiting in several different lines at the airport (going through customs, picking up my rental wifi device and picking up my JR Rail Pass) I headed to my hotel.  I was staying at the Nippon Seinenkan Hotel which is located across the street from Meiji Jingu Stadium.  I got to my hotel almost 24 hours to the minute after leaving my house.

There was a game between the Swallows and Dragons going on at Jingu that night and if I had gotten a room on the "Jingu side" of the hotel I'd have been able to watch it.  Unfortunately my room was on the other side of the hotel.

After checking into my room and freshening up a little I went out to look around a little and get something to eat.  I walked down the street to the Swallows team store to see if they were selling any baseball cards.  They weren't but the Family Mart on the ground floor of the hotel had this display of Calbee packages up:

These were all Series One packs and since I already had the complete set I didn't buy any chips.  Still it was good to see they were available.

I checked out of the hotel relatively early the next morning.  The lobby of the hotel is on the eighth floor of the building and has a great view of Jingu Stadium:

There's actually four stadiums visible in this shot.  From left to right is the Olympic Stadium (still under construction), Jingu Seconday Stadium, Jingu Stadium and Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium.  There was a Rugby game with the Japanese National Team scheduled for the next day and apparently a number of the players were staying at my hotel - I had briefly spoken with one the night before.  He was from Fiji originally and had attended college in New Zealand so he spoke English very well.

I had some running around to do that morning.  I was planning on attending the two Tokyo Big 6 college games at Jingu starting at 10:30, going to Shinjuku for a little bit after the games and then taking the Shinkansen up to Sendai that evening.  I needed to do something with my suitcase for the day.  I considered leaving it at the hotel while I was at the college games but I didn't want to schlep it to Shinjuku afterwards, especially since I'd have to find a locker for it in Shinjuku which might be difficult in the late afternoon.  I decided to go to Tokyo Station and store it there, since I'd be catching the Shinkansen from there.  Going to Tokyo Station would allow me to take care of getting my tickets for the Shinkansen as well.

I had an unpleasant surprise when I got to Tokyo Station however - all of the storage lockers were unavailable.  The President was going to be visiting in the next couple days and as a security precaution no one was allowed to store luggage at Tokyo Station or any of the nearby stations for the duration.  I decided that since I'd be going to Shinjuku later I'd head over there now and find a locker which is what I did.  I then headed back to Jingu Stadium - my running around took me roughly 90 minutes to get back to where I had started from.

The first Tokyo Big 6 game was between Meiji and Hosei and was one of the best games I saw the entire trip.  Meiji built a 3-0 lead over the first six innings.  Starting pitcher Masato Morishita didn't allow a hit until the top of the sixth.  Hosei tied the game in the top of the eighth though on a three run pinch hit home run by Seiichi Nakamura and went ahead 4-3 in the top of the ninth.  With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Meiji first baseman Makoto Kitamoto hit a solo home run to tie up the game at 4.  Since the Swallows were scheduled to play at 6 that evening the college games were not allowed to play extra innings so that's how it ended.

The second game was between Rikkio and Tokyo and wasn't nearly as interesting.  Tokyo has traditionally been the doormat of the league and this year was no exception - they went 0-10 on the spring season.  Rikkio starter Seiya Tanaka threw a complete game, defeating Todai by a score of 4-0.

Meiji defeated Hosei the next day to clinch the Tokyo Big 6 championship.  Morishita ended up being voted MVP of the league and Tanaka came in second.  I was pleasantly surprised to realize that both of them appeared in the Japanese Collegiate All Stars cards from the 2019 Panini Stars & Stripes set:

2019 Panini Stars & Stripes Japanese Collegiate All Star #5

2019 Panini Stars & Stripes Japanese Collegiate All Star #7

After the games were over I headed for Shinjuku.  I stopped off at Mint Shinjuku, my first card shop of the trip.  I'll write about them in a separate post.  After leaving the shop there was a landmark there I needed to see:

Despite the poster this is not a promotion for the new movie - it's a permanent fixture.

I had a scary couple minutes when I went back to Shinjuku Station to pick up my suitcase - I couldn't find the locker I had stored it in!  I had a receipt that told me the locker number but I couldn't find it.  After wandering around for about 20 minutes I finally asked the man who was running the left luggage stand who explained to me that the locker I wanted was in the South Concourse while I was in the East Concourse.  He showed me how to get to the other Concourse and I was able to quickly find the correct locker.  Once reunited with my suitcase, I headed back to Tokyo Station in time to grab some dinner before catching my bullet train to Sendai.  It was about 10:30 that evening before I checked into my hotel in Sendai, putting an end to a long first day in Japan.

Card Of The Week June 16

Daisuke Shioya had a kind of interesting career.  He was a pitcher in high school but became an outfielder when he went to Asia University.  He dropped out of college and signed with the Johnstown Steal of the independent Frontier League in the US in 1998.  He both pitched and played outfield in a total of seven games with the Steal, hitting .000 and running up an ERA of 5.14.  He returned to Japan and eventually declared for the NPB draft in 2002.  He was 26 years old when he was drafted in the seventh round by the Orix BlueWave and apparently was already married and had a child.  I've always gotten a kick out of the fact that his baby appeared on his 2003 BBM Rookie Edition card with him (#89):

He made a couple appearances with the ichi-gun BlueWave in April of 2003 but despite pitching reasonable well (no runs, no hits and only one walk in two innings over three appearances) Orix sent him back to the farm team where he remained for the rest of his career (which ended after the 2005 season).  If I'm reading the translation of his Japanese Wikipedia page correctly he switched to being an outfielder and then back to being a pitcher after his appearances with the top team.

Happy Father's Day to Shioya and all the other fathers out there.

Shikoku Island League All Stars 3

For the third time in five years an all star team from the Shikoku Island League is going to be playing in the CanAm League.  Starting tomorrow night and continuing for the next three weeks this team will play 19 games in the league that will count in the league's standings.

The roster for the team is not available on the CanAm League's website yet but there's a pdf available from the Shikoku Island League's website for the roster - although there's been one change - Kagawa pitcher Akifumi Matayoshi stepped down due to injury and was replaced by a pitcher from Ehime named Yudai Hayashi (I think).

As I did with the 2015 and 2016 versions of this team, I took a look at the roster to see which players and coaches had NPB cards.  The answer is not many.

2000 BBM Preview #P125

The only player on the roster with NPB experience is Ehime Mandarin Pirate pitcher Itsuki Shoda.  Shoda is the only player on the roster to appear on the previous CanAm league squads.  Shoda was the first round pick of the Nippon-Ham Fighters in the fall 1999 draft and was the Pacific League Rookie Of The Year in 2003.  He was traded to the Tigers following the 2006 season for Takehito Kanazawa and was released by Hashin after two seasons.  He spent the next two seasons in Taiwan with the Sinon Bulls before making an attempt to join the Red Sox in the spring of 2011.  After being released by Boston he joined Niigata Albirex of the Baseball Challenge League.  He spent the next two seasons with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, then started the 2014 season back in Taiwan with the Lamigo Monkeys but he was released after two months.  He then joined Ehime where he's been ever since.  TradingCardDB.com has a list of NPB and CPBL cards for him - this may not be a complete list.

2005 BBM Fighters #F38

Teppai Komai is the hitting coach (I think) for the team.  He was a sixth round pick of the Fighters in the 2000 draft.  He spent his entire career (2001-08) with the Fighters, almost entirely with their farm team.  He had one at bat in one game at the ichi-gun level in 2003.  He was the bullpen coach for the Fighters for three years after he retired and became a coach with the Tokushima Indigo Socks starting in 2016.  Besides a card in the 2001 BBM flagship set all of his cards are from BBM's Fighters team sets.

2002 BBM Fighters #031

Team manager Testsu Yofu has had an interesting career.  After graduating from Asia University, Yofu spent several years playing for Nissan Motor in Japan's corporate leagues.  He made the move to professional baseball in 2001 at age 27 when he joined the Brother Elephants in Taiwan.  He won a Gold Glove that season and was named MVP of the Taiwan Series.  He decided to try his luck in NPB after that and was a seventh round pick of the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in the fall 2001 draft.  He spent all of 2002 on the Hawks farm team and was released at the end of the season.  He signed a minor league deal with the Chicago White Sox and split each of the next two seasons between their AA Birmingham and AAA Charlotte teams.  The highlight of these two seasons was the no-hitter he pitched for Charlotte against Durham in 2004.  Things fell apart for him in 2005 though when he was suspended for testing positive for a banned substance and subsequently released by the White Sox.  He signed on with the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League but never got into a game.  He returned to the Brother Elephants for the 2006 season and retired afterward.  He returned to Taiwan and the Brother Elephants (now called the Chinatrust Elephants) to coach for the 2015-16 seasons and was the manager of the Tokushima Indigo Socks in 2017.  I'm not positive but I think the league hired him to manage the All Star team as opposed to having one of the managers of the league's teams manage them.  Yofu only has two NPB cards that I know of (2002 BBM 1st Version #239 and BBM Hawks #031) but he had a number of cards during his time in the White Sox organization (including any number of Bowman parallels in 2005) and a couple CPBL cards in 2016.

Ready To Come Home

I have spent 16 full days in Japan on this trip.

I attended 16 baseball games in 13 different ballparks.  10 NPB games, 3 NPB ni-gun games, 2 Tokyo Big 6 collegiate games and a Japan Women's Baseball League (JWBL) game.

I went to 2524 different baseball card shops across ten different cities.

I rode the Shinkansen, JR region rail, subways, streetcars, light rail, buses, courtesy shuttles and monorails.  Plus one car ride.

I stayed in eight different hotels in five different cities.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's been quite a trip.  I'll have a lot to write about - I expect that I'll be doing posts about this trip throughout the entire summer.

To whet your appetite, here's a photo of pretty much everything I've acquired since I arrived on May 24th (which includes cards I got from Ryan and Dan):

I don't know the exact total number of cards but I have two 500 card boxes and two 400 card boxes pretty much full so roughly 1800 cards.  I completed my 1997 BBM set, got the 1998 and 2000 sets down to needing just one card each, got the 1994 set down to just two cards and completed my run of Rookie Edition sets.  I picked up three sets that came out while I was here and got a bunch of team issued and food related cards.

My flight home is tomorrow evening.  I'll try to start getting my head around posts later this week.  Of course there are other things going on as well - the Shikoku Island All Stars have arrived in the US for their couple weeks of play in the Can-Am League and there's several sets that have been announced while I've been here so I'll be back to the usual business as well.

Card Of The Week June 9

Today is my last full day in Japan as I'm catching a flight home late tomorrow afternoon.  I spent today at the Fighters' farm team facility in Kamagaya watching Nippon-Ham and DeNA's ni-gun squads play.  Here's a card (#18) showing the Fighters' farm team mascot Cubby from the 2011 BBM Future Icon set that was supposed to be sold or given away at Kamagaya in March of that year but might not have been due to the earthquake:

I'll be doing a lot of posts about the trip in the next few weeks - there's a lot to talk about.

Card Of The Week June 2

I'm in Fukuoka today, watching the Hawks take on the Eagles in the Fukuoka Dome (yeah, I know it has a corporate name - I'm not using it until I get a check).  Here's a card of the Dome (#FD85) from the 1998 BBM Hawks set: