Japanese Sumo Wrestling Cards and Menko: Calbee

Showing posts with label Calbee. Show all posts

Thursday, July 1, 2021

2021 Mid-Year Report Card

Well, with the year half over I thought I would do a quick review of where I stand on my 2021 Collecting Goals. Not going to lie, this has been a tough year with work and COVID-19. Oddly, my time to even blog has been drastically reduced due to inefficiencies of teleworking and having to spend more time "at work" to make up for the time lost trying to coordinate everything virtually.

I know there are a fair amount of collectors that don't like to do collecting goals...However, I'm one that likes to lay out the year to help me focus and to generally guide my collecting habits. I seldom vary from my larger collection so I don't have a ton or random collections that are half-started...just expanding my normal collections and then maybe tackle one or two more. Anyway, let's see how I am doing.

Goal #1: Blog 60 posts this year! - (26 as of this post) - Current Grade - "C"

This goal has been a little rough these past few months, but I feel like I should be able to catch up and get in a rhythm as things have quieted down at work some. I think I stand a good chance of getting to 60 and maybe a few more as I have a stack of blogging material waiting....really it is stuff to catalogue for my book and some eye candy for the blog.

Goal #2: Publish the 5th Edition of the Sumo Menko and Card Checklist. - Current Grade - "C"

I am making some good progress on the 5th Edition and really do think I can get it finally published and out the door. Work should slow down for me later this year for a little bit and if I can get 2-3 hours a week devoted to this goal I should easily crush this. We'll see how the next few months goes though.

Goal #3: Get to the halfway point with my 1973 Calbee set - Current Grade - "D"

Ugh, I have not focused on the Calbee cards too much this year so far. Prices for the high-numbers are expensive and I have focused my efforts on the other goals thus far. I think I can pick up 3-4 more and really get back on track to 50% completion by the end of the year. It all takes money and that would solve a lot of my problems here. Ha!

Goal #4: Relabel my Binders/Sets and Pass Along Excess "Stuff" - Current Grade - "C"

I'm getting there are relabeling binders and tidying up...it seems like it is a never ending process. I seem to clean up two piles and another one appears. I am getting a small stack of cards and menko ready for eBay too which will be great to put a bit of extra money in my pocket!

Goal #5: Expand my 1980s/1990s Japanese Telephone Card Collection - Current Grade - "B"

This goal is part of my alt-collection and something fun as I am browsing for sumo auctions. I have picked up a decent amount of telephone cards so far and am waiting for them arrive from Japan shortly.

Goal #6: Do Something with my Yukata Card/Bolt Collection - Current Grade - "F"

Still have no idea what I am going to do with these......but they are cool!

Goal #7: Continue Giving my Non-Sumo Collections Some Love - Currrent Grade - "C"

Amada Nintendo (NES)/Famicon Mini Cards

No real progress here.....

1983 Myojo Noodle Mechanical (Meca) Cards

I have picked up a crap ton of these cards and lost count how many new ones I now have.

2014-2020 Airport Trading Cards

Still haven't found one of the "Dirty Five" yet. Although I missed out on one recently as if flew under the radar before I saw it.

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

No joy here....

Radio Shack Zip Zap Cards

I have managed to get a few more of these....not too shabby.

Brandon Laird and Yuta Tabuse Cards

Not really making any progress here as new cards rarely pop up that I need.

Goal #8: Get out at least 1 Care Package a month - Current Grade - "F"

Ummm, I suck...sorry everyone!

Goal #9: Get to The National! - Current Grade - "A+"

VIP tickets purchased, plane tickets in hand, and hotel booked. Here we go!

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

- Current Grade - "A+"

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 think I am doing well on this one and hopefully my hiatus these past few months doesn't hurt my metrics.

Thanks for being loyal readers and I hope everyone had a safe 2021 so far and I hope your collection keeps growing.

Friday, January 1, 2021

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!

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

2020 Mid-Year Report Card

Well, with the year half over I thought I would do a quick review of where I stand on my 2020 Collecting Goals. Not going to lie, this has been a tough year with work and COVID-19. Oddly, my time to even blog has been drastically reduced due to inefficiencies of teleworking and having to spend more time "at work" to make up for the time lost trying to coordinate everything virtually.

I know there are a fair amount of collectors that don't like to do collecting goals...However, I'm one that likes to lay out the year to help me focus and to generally guide my collecting habits. I seldom vary from my larger collection so I don't have a ton or random collections that are half-started...just expanding my normal collections and then maybe tackle one or two more. Anyway, looks see how I am doing.

Goal #1: Blog at least once a week - 52 posts this year! Current Grade - "F"

Oh boy, this has been the toughest to do and I am likely not going to get to the magical 52 posts. Right now I stand at 23 posts and feel like I am on the struggle bus to even hit 40 let alone post more times than I did in 2016! I'll keep working at it and hopefully I can find a little bit more time this fall.

Goal #2: Publish the 5th Edition of the Sumo Menko and Card Checklist - Current Grade - "F"

Yikes, I doubt this is going to happen this year. I have a ton of newly-discovered sets that still need checklisted and entered into my book. I need about 40 hours between now and the end of the year to somehow squeeze in to get the sets tidied up, entered, published, and the .pdf sent off to the printer. I can't see this happening this year unfortunately, but I will still whittle away at updating the draft as often as I can.

Goal #3: Add 5 more Sumo World magazines from 1973-1999 to my collection - Current Grade - "F"

I definitely have not nailed this one either and still need only 28 more to complete the entire run from March 1973 - November 1999. New auctions for these things have dried up and they are harder and harder to find. Ugh....so far I am batting .000.

Goal #4: Attend three card shows this year - Current Grade - "F"

Son of a.....well COVID-19 did happen so it is not my fault, right?! I really was hoping to hook up with Fuji for some Del Taco and cards. Crap...here we go...0 for 4 at the plate....still at .000 batting average.

Goal #5: Add three more 1973 Calbee cards to my set - Current Grade - "A"

Finally, I am on base. Not doing bad here...I think I added 3 already and I am easily going to get another 3 or more this year. Have some orders lined up too that should make this a homer. Plus to earn me some extra credit, I did discover that this 36-card set was broken up into two series. (Series 1: Cards #1-18 and Series 2: Cards #19-36) For some reason, Series 2 are much harder to find which makes that much more expensive too! I did pick up the really hard-to-find binder as well so doing well with Goal #5. Now batting .200!

Goal #6: Keep rounding out my Japanese yukata fabric bolt & card collection - Current Grade - "A+"

If you would have asked me 6 months ago if this would have been the one goal that I would be overachieving in, I would have laughed at you....but here we are 6 months later and my yukata bolt/card collection is on fire. I cannot believe all the product that is out there and no one is collecting this stuff. Unknown sumo wrestling cards, Unknown Japanese baseball cards, Unknown famous singers and actor cards. And to boot, the material and patterns are so fascinating. Anyway, this goal has been a grand slam and I can't wait to keep sharing all the bolts that I pick up. I would love to write a book on these someday! Now batting .333!

Goal #7: Publish at least 6 BBM Card Set reviews - Current Grade "F"

Well.....this one hasn't had any progress and I am likely not going to have any time this year to do this one. Plus COVID-19 has reduced the number of sets a bit, so....sorry Goal #7.... dropped to .286.

Goal #8: Add 20 more cards to my Non-Sport Collection - Current Grade "A"

This is another goal that has been on fire! I have been faithfully working on my Bruce Lee Yamakatsu sets, Myojo Noodle carfds, Zip Zaps, and Airport Trading Cards. All it all I am well at 20 if not a bit higher. I am hoping to show case some of my gatherings once I can get some of my international packages from Japan shipped. Back up to .375

Goal #9: Send out 10 care packages - Current Grade - "C"

I have gotten 2 or 3 of these out this year...not bad, but I need to step it up and somehow stock up my reserves to shoot some more of these out. I'll call this one a bunt....to bring my average up to .389.

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

Still #1 on Yahoo!
Dropping on Google....uh oh!
Now #1 on Bing!

Final Batting Average = .425

Thanks for letting me walk through my current progress. I definitely have a little bit of work to do and if I can get my average over .500, I would call that a success.

How is everyone else doing on their 2020 goals?