2021 Hobby Goals

Happy New Year!  As I have mentioned several times in the past, I love reading about how collectors did with their past year's collecting goals and their goals for the upcoming New Year.  I like to do them to help me focus my purchases and hobby time to help give me focus.  2020 was good hobby year for me, but just like everyone else I had to overcome all the challenges living under a pandemic.  I have a feeling most of 2021 is going to look like 2020 and am hopeful we can get back to normalcy by the end of the summer.  Thanks to all my readers and here are my 10 collecting goals this year:

Goal #1: Blog 60 posts this year!

I barely hit my blogging goal last year with posting on average once a week, but this year I want to challenge myself to get 60 posts.  Blogging is more therapy than anything and I hope I can provide a brief bit of information, knowledge, and entertainment as well to the larger collecting community.  I won't be short of things to blog about and am hoping the rest of my life can cooperate.  

 

  

Goal #2: Publish the 5th Edition of the Sumo Menko and Card Checklist.

This is it!  This is the year to get the next edition of my book self-published.  The 4th Edition was completed way back in 2017 and there have been numerous updates and additions ready to be captured in the 5th Edition.  To help me get motivated, I created a draft of the cover already....let's hope this is the year.

Goal #3: Get to the halfway point with my 1973 Calbee set

The 1973 set is a monster in terms of cost to complete.  With cards ranging anywhere from $50-$200 or higher, this 36-card set is a monster to put together.  It takes time and definitely resources to whittle away to completion.  Crazy enough, this is the most expensive sumo set in existence....it even eclipses the sets made in the 1890s....yes 1890s not 1980s...as well as the ultra-rare pre-war sets.  Because of supply and demand, prices have been elevated for a while now, but I am feeling lucky this year to get to the 50% completion mark.  

  

Goal #4: Relabel my Binders/Sets and Pass Along Excess "Stuff"

The majority of my Japanese card collection is in binders, but needs a bit of TLC to properly relabel each of my sets and relabel my binders.  Since my collection has grown from when I first started, I am continually organizing the sets within the binders but wanted to wait until it had settled out a bit before I went back in there and put more permanent labels on everything.  I also need to get into my misc. cards and make sure everything is tidied up and pass along some of my excess in care packages.  Not to mention I need to get my desk stacks incorporated into my collection.  This is the year I'd like to get that done.  Speaking of organizing, look at this binder carousel!  I have my binders on shelves, but this carousel is no joke.

Goal #5: Expand my 1980s/1990s Japanese Telephone Card Collection

I have been totally enamored recently with holographic cards.  Doing some browsing on Yahoo Japan Auctions, there are some legitimate and awesome looking Japanese holographic telephone cards.  I plan on picking up some here and there to complement my sumo wrestling telephone card collection.  Speaking of which, my sumo wrestling telephone card collection was sadly put on the backburner for the past several years, but this is the year I am going to start expanding it.  I used the word "expand" since I don't know which direction I want to take both the hologram and sumo telephone cards yet, but defining them and growing them will be this year's goal.  The real question is, how do I take good quality photos of holographic cards since scanning does not do them any justice?  

Goal #6: Do Something with my Yukata Card/Bolt Collection

I spent a good amount of energy this past year collecting Japanese indigo yukata bolts with their attached cards....so much in fact that there are very few left out there that are coming up for auction.  It's weird...you used to be able to find them on every street corner, now they are almost non-existent.  Anyway, I need to take the 40 or so I have to the next level.  I'll probably try and establish some sort of catalogue system for them and publish them on my blog.

Goal #7: Continue Giving my Non-Sumo Collections Some Love

I'm collecting specific non-sumo sets and want to continue working towards completion of them.  Each one is in a different stage of completion so I have specific goals this year of inching ever closer to 100%.

Amada Nintendo (NES)/Famicon Mini Cards

This 360-card set was issued in 6 different series and is so much fun to chase down.  These cards depict game art as well as actually screen shots from different NES games that were popular in the mid-1980s.  Right now I have only 170 of the cards leaving me a little over 47% complete.  My goal is to see if I can bump the total up by 10% to around 57% which means I need to add about 35 cards to my collection this year.

1983 Myojo Noodle Mechanical (Meca) Cards

Back in 1983, Myojo issued 9 different series of cards depicting different types of mechanical machines: Series 1 - World Steam Locomotives, Series 2 - World Racing Cars, Series 3 - World Classic Cars, Series 4 - World Ships, Series 5 - World Jets, Series 6 - World Motorcycles, Series 7 - World Space Machines/Meca, Series 8 - World Dream Cars, Series 9 - Star Wars Machines/Meca.  Each of these series has 30 cards for a total of 270 cards.  I only have 55 of the cards at the moment (20%), but am looking to boost that total up to 33%, or another 35 cards.  I have confidence that I can do that this year, no doubt!

2014-2020 Airport Trading Cards

I first heard about this set while I was flying through Chicago back in 2015.  I was instantly hooked and have made it my goal to try and collect them all.  No one knows how many there actually are in the master set.  I have it pegged at 156 cards, but I am likely a few short.  Back in October I talked about the "Dirty 5"....these are the 5 toughest cards to get out of the set and my goal this year is to get at least 1 of the Dirty 5!

1974 Japanese Yamakatsu Bruce Lee "The Way of the Dragon"

In 1974, Japan was going crazy over Bruce Lee and to capitalize on his popularity and promote his movies, Yamakatsu issued a three-series set covering 144 cards (48 per series).  Series 1 was focused on the movie "Enter the Dragon", Series 2 on "The Way of the Dragon" and Series 3 on "The Green Hornet".  Each Series gets progressively harder to complete and I was finally able to finish Series 1 back in September.  Right now I am down to needing only 4 more card for Series 2.  My goal for 2021 is to finish Series 2 "The Way of the Dragon" and then turn my focus to Series 3 "The Green Hornet" and add 5 more cards there.  Even something more cool about Series 2 is that it also captures the very first trading cards of Chuck Norris on them!

Radio Shack Zip Zap Cards

Some of the very first miniaturized radio control cars that came to market were the Zip Zap cars marketed by Radio Shack.  These were a huge hit and millions were sold.  All sorts of accessories, upgrades, body kits, and motors were available to customize each of the cars.  Included along with the cars and some of the accessories were trading cards.  Right now, I have been able to track down 82 cards in the master set, but I think there are more than that out there....I have 51 of the 82 (62%) cards, but would like to get that number close to 70% by the end of the year.  I need to go in and update the checklist too and try to get it reflected on the Trading Card Database.

Brandon Laird and Yuta Tabuse Cards

My three PC guys are Nolan Ryan, Brandon Laird, and Yuta Tabuse and my only goal this year is to continue adding to each of the PCs.  I don't have a specific number goal, but at least for Brandon Laird my goal is to start building up his Japanese-issued cards.

Goal #8: Get out at least 1 Care Package a month

I love sending random care packages....I actually enjoy shopping for things to put in them because of the challenge of trying to help fellow collectors out.  I am hoping I can get out at least 12 care packages this year!

Goal #9: Get to The National!

Assuming it is still on this year, my goal is to get out to The National.  Two scenarios: 1) I can hop on a redeye from LAX, land in the morning in Chicago and then hit up the show all day and fly home late that evening, or 2) spend a couple of nights in a hotel and then I can spend a few days at the show.  It all depends on my work schedule and how much time I can take off. 

Goal #10: Maintain/Improve Google/Yahoo/Bing Search Engine results for Sumo Card(s) & Menko

As a repeat from the past four years, my goal has been for this blog to be the #1-at-the-very-top-of-your-browser result when you go search up Sumo Card(s) and Menko.  In 2019, I was the #1 on Yahoo, almost the #1 on Bing, and the #1 to #6 on Google.  Now I am in the top 3 all around!  Here is where I currently stand, let's hope I can maintain that this year!

Sumo Card: Bing #1, Google #2, Yahoo #1

Sumo Cards: Bing #1, Google #2, Yahoo #1

Sumo Menko: #1, Google #1, Yahoo #1

Sumo Wrestling Card: Bing #3, Google #3, Yahoo #3

Sumo Wrestling Cards: Bing #2, Google #2, Yahoo #2

I hope everyone has great luck, fortune, and health in 2021!  Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!

Japanese カルビー Sumo Wrestling Cards - 3 More Down for 2019

I've written several times before on this beast of a set: the 1973 Calbee Sumo Wrestling Set.  Calbee issued sumo cards only one year in 1973 alongside their baseball sibling.  After that, they disappeared while the baseball sets flourished and are still thriving today.  Why the one year?  No one knows for sure, but an unopened pack on Yahoo Auctions is leading me to believe that these might have been packaged in the same package as baseball cards...meaning that the purchaser wouldn't know if they were getting a baseball or sumo card.  Right on the pack it says 大相撲かーどもあるよ meaning "There also is sumo cards."  The mystery deepens.

 

 

 

And recently an empty box showed up for auction with the same sort of writing 大相撲カード入　meaning "Sumo Cards Inside", but the box is clearly marketed towards baseball.  The mystery deepens further.

 

 

As part of my 2019 Collecting Goals, I planned on picking up 5 more cards from this set this year.  I snagged these two beauties for a great price on 2 January to come barreling out of the gate and they also happened to be under my budget: #1 Ozeki Kotozakura and #3 Ozeki Daikirin.

 

 

Ozeki Kotozakura was promoted to Yokozuna in 1973, shortly after this set was made.  He was arguably a better Ozeki than a Yokozuna as he only won one tournament as a Yokozuna before retiring.  In retirement he trained 4 Ozeki and was highly successful.

 

 

Ozeki Daikirin held the Ozeki rank for 4 years, but was never a formidable opponent and he failed to be much of a contender outside of a few tournaments.

 

 

This one stumbled in my shopping cart on 13 January, but it does have a decent corner ding: #12 Sekiwake Hasegawa.  Hasegawa actually won the championship right before this card was printed, but struggled to go any higher than Sekiwake and ultimately retired a few years later instead of getting demoted back down to Juryo.

 

 

 

Sorry for these poor pictures as they are from the auctions and I won't have them in hand for a few months.  Thanks for stopping by! 





2017 Collecting Goals

Happy New Year Everyone!  I'm assuming if you are reading this your survived all the festivities and are ready to clean the slate as we enter another year.  As everyone knows, 2016 was a tough one in the collecting community as many of our childhood idols passed on this past year.  In the sumo world, we lost one of the best modern Yokozuna the sport has seen with the passing of Chiyonofuji who won 31 national tournaments.  A simply amazing wrestler that drove the popularity of the sport to new heights in the 1980s.

Yokozuna Chiyonofuji (June 1, 1955 – July 31, 2016)

This year will bring change again as my family faces an impending move from Alabama to some unknown destination, but likely overseas.  As last year, the move will probably kill my blogging chances throughout the summer and hopefully we'll be back up and running sooner than later.  But in the meantime, I'll have 5 months of uninterrupted blogging opportunities with a short break as we head to Japan for Spring Break.  With that, I wanted to lay out some goals as many have done on the board.  In order of priority, here are my goals:

1.  Finish the 4th Edition of my Sumo Menko & Card Checklist.  I'm about 1/3 the way done with the 4th Edition update.....which is about 25 pages of new sets and updates to existing sets.  The 3rd Edition was published in December 2014 so it is time for an update.  Looking at my schedule, I think I should be complete with it in the late April, early May timeframe. 

2. I'm hoping we end up over in Europe or Australia.  If we do, this goal focuses on branching out of the sumo world and collecting cards of the local sports team and hopefully the main sets of the entire league.  I could see myself getting into the German Bundesliga or Premier League for soccer or cricket or rugby down in Australia.

3. As far as sumo menko and card collecting, my goal is to "discover" and catalogue at least 5 vintage sets (pre-1960), add at least 3 of the 1973 Calbee cards to my set, and complete the base 2017 BBM set from opening boxes and trading.  Finding new sets is becoming harder and harder as most of the material out there I have already documented.  Likely, any new set is going to be from the 1930s or earlier.  The Calbee cards have always been a fascination to me and buying the entire set at one time is out of my price range.  So I am forced to pick up singles from this set and occasionally I think I can nab one for under $50 per card.  If I could ever complete this set, it will be a highlight of my modern collection.  And the BBM sets I have woefully ignored in order to focus on the vintage stuff, but there is a good group of collectors that focus only on the modern sumo stuff and I need to as well.

4. I've always had a fascination with old Japanese stuff and the old Japanese tobacco cards have been intriguing to me for a while.  I'd like to start collecting Murai Tobacco Cards, but I am very ignorant on what sets were produced, prices, and availability.  Just adding a few to my collection this year would be fun to see if it would be worth pursuing any further.  Lots more research to do in this area.

5. I think most of us are collecting now because we had such fond memories of collecting in our youth.  I was a big baseball card collector in the late 1980s and early 1990s (along with all the other kids) and the strike of 1994 along with college killed my baseball card passion.  I still pick up a pack now and then, but it's not the same.  One set that I think can change all that is the 2017 Topps Heritage set and I plan on trying to complete that set through boxes and trading.  Plus the fact that the 2017 set is based on the 1968 design is a bonus, as Nolan Ryan is my favorite player and his 1968 rookie card is a must have.

Image from Beckett.com

Image from Beckett.com

6.  The last goal isn't really last on my list, but it is one that I haven't been able to think through all the details so I put it here.  But I'm thinking about trying to do an interview post 4-6 times a year where I'm able to interview fellow collectors and blogging the details and transcript.  Its goal is not to dig up embarrassing facts, but an opportunity to get to know fellow collectors a little better and focus on collecting, their collections, and blogging life.  I've even thrown the idea of maybe trying to organize a round-table discussion with 2-3 other collectors where a relevant topic is discussed.  Lots of hurdles to make it fun, readable, and relevant.  Again, I haven't thought through this one as much, and I'm not sure blogging is the right venue for it.....but it seems like there could be some potential or opportunities.  Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Good luck to everyone else on their goals and I'm looking forward to 2017!

Fellow Collector's Request! Why it matters and card history is important.

Now that I've settled into the new job and life in Alabama (at least for the next 10 months until we have to move again) I've started purging out excess material and doubles onto the Bay and gathering a few material to fill in holes to focus my collection.  I think we all go through this at some point....or will....as we try to streamline our collections.  Plus, the excess material is better suited in new homes where another fellow collector can enjoy.  One purchase recently, however, really got me thinking about the history of our collections, where stuff came from, and ultimately where it goes when we are done with it.  The purchase of the following cards came with an amazing note; one where I had to stop and reread it to really understand the impact of what I had just bought  The cards and note are as follows:

Dear Ryan,

Thank you again!  I case history is important, these cards were purchased new near Kanto Mura Housing Facility/Yokota Air Base, Japan between 1973 and 1976 when I was a child.  They moved to Colorado Springs, CO and lived in a small areas south of town.  They remained in storage at my parent's home until a couple years ago.  I retrieved them from storage and brought them to my home where they have stayed until now.

One favor.  If you ever sell them, please be sure to pass along their history.

Thank you again.

Here was a childhood collector letting go of some of his Japanese memories which obviously meant enough for him to add the note and pass along their history.  As a fellow collector, I am honored to pass along the history of these cards if I do end up selling some of them...even if I don't, I've passed along some of that history here already.  Fortunately, most of these fill in some big holes in my collection so they will likely be staying put for a while.  I have a request out to the seller to do an interview to understand what it was like to collect menko and mini cards in Japan in the mid 1970s.  And hopefully get a better background on these specific sets.  I'm hoping it all works out where I can share that with all of you.

But more importantly, these few short sentences have verified and confirmed what us Japanese card collectors have had to deduce from countless hours of research.  It nails down timeframes, locations of sale, and even the mini card prize system.  It doesn't get any better than that!  Most of these sets are destined for the blogosphere so stay tuned.

Has anyone else ever had a similar request or a good story on the history of cards in their collection?  I makes me want to be a better seller and pass along any info I have as the cards change hands.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of the weekend!

1973 Calbee Sumo Set

I'm usually a player at most sumo menko and card auctions when there are items that I don't have or I see something unique.  However, one set that I am far from completing and will likely not complete anytime soon is the 36-card 1973 Calbee Sumo Set.  Baseball Card collectors are probably envious as this is the one and only Calbee set ever printed of sumo wrestlers.  And for some reason that I'm still trying to figure out, this is THE MOST expensive sumo menko or card set in existence.  The average price for one of the more common cards is over $100 and the Yokozuna cards can bring easily $300-$400.  I can pick up 1800s menko for fractions of the cost that these cards command.  Additionally, there are menko sets from the 1930s and 40s that are much rarer than the Calbee set, but they don't come close to what collectors are paying for this 1973 set.  And these cards are always up for auction, although some more often than others.  I think it has to do with supply and demand as there are a lot of collectors that remember these from their childhood and are building the set now that they have more expendable income.  This set, like most of the cards at the time, are aimed at the older crowd and weren't marketed as menko or mini cards, which were really aimed at the kids of the day.  I've read on some Japanese blogs that the Calbee sumo card sales were a huge failure and that is why you didn't see any further sets produced.  I'm not sure why they wouldn't have been popular, but baseball cards were also sold the same way and must have been much more popular and profitable.  

These cards were issued in bags of potato chips and came one per bag and measure 2.25" x 3.25".  The rank at the time of printing represented the Nagoya 1973 basho.  Perhaps the most significant cards of the set are the #11, #32 and #33 cards of then- Maegashira Takamiyama (American Jesse Kuhaulua) who was the first foreigner to win a tournament.  Although Takamiyama has other 1970s cards, these are by far some of his earliest.

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Front and Back of #11 Maegashira Takamiyama

There is also an album that accompanies the set and is meant to hold all 36 cards.  It is unknown how to acquire this set, but likely from sending in payment as a special offer.

Front, Middle and Back of the Album

 Here is 36-card checklist:

36 – Ozeki Takanohana vs Ozeki Kiyokuni
35 – Yokozuna Kitanofuji
34 – Yokozuna Kitanofuji
33 – Maegashira Takamiyama
32 – Maegashira Takamiyama
31 – Sekiwake Kaiketsu
30 – Ozeki Daiju
29 – Ozeki Daikirin
28 – Ozeki Takanohana
27 – Ozeki Takanohana
26 – Ozeki Kiyokuni
25 – Yokozuna Kotozakura
24 – Yokozuna Kotozakura
23 – Yokozuna Kitanofuji
22 – Yokozuna Kitanofuji
21 – Yokozuna Wajima
20 – Yokozuna Wajima
19 – Yokozuna Wajima
18 – Yokozuna Kitanofuji
17 – Yokozuna Kitanofuji
16 – Yokozuna Wajima
15 – Yokozuna Kotozakura
14 – Maegashira Washiyuyama
13 – Maegashira Owashi
12 – Maegashira Hasegawa
11 – Maegashira Takamiyama
10 – Komusubi Kitanoumi
9 – Komusubi Yutakayama
8 – Sekiwake Asahikuni
7 – Sekiwake Kaiketsu
6 – Ozeki Takanohana
5 – Ozeki Daiju
4 – Ozeki Kiyokuni
3 – Ozeki Daikirin
2 – Yokozuna Wajima
1 – Yokozuna Kotozakura

Someday when I have "conquered" the older stuff, I plan on completing this set along with other modern BBM sets.  Hopefully the supply will still be there when I decide to jump in and invest my time and money.