The 2017 BBM Japanese B.League Fast Break 2nd Half Set has been out for about a month now and I am finally able to get the checklist posted here.  This stuff was on fire in Japan and sold out within days of release.  I managed to eventually get 3 boxes (1 for Billy over at Cardboard History).  Billy just got his box and I'll let him post his box breaks results, but here is the checklist for everyone's reference.  The numbers start at 073 and continue from the numbering system used in the 1st Half Set.


073 – Zen Maki

074 – Ryota Sakurai

075 – Takanobu Nishikawa

076 – Daisuke Noguchi

077 – Seiya Ando

078 – Kevin Palmer

079 – Kenichi Takahashi

080 – Daichi Taniguchi

081 – Kaito Ishikawa

082 – Ryunosuke Yanagawa

083 – Takayuki Kumagai

084 – Fumiya Sato

085 – Yusuke Endo

086 – Kosuke Takeuchi

087 – Takatoshi Furukawa

088 – Ryan Rossiter

089 – Yuki Togashi

090 – Michael Parker

091 – Fumio Nishimura

092 – Shuta Hara

093 – Joji Takeuchi

094 – Keijuro Matsui

095 – Troy Gillenwater

096 – Taisho Ito

097 – Taishiro Shimizu

098 – Takashi Ito

099 – Yuto Otsuka

100 – Kenta Hirose

101 – Kazutaka Takashima

102 – Masayuki Kabaya

103 – Alexis Minatoya

104 – Kenji Yamada

105 – Ryusei Shinoyama

106 – Hiroki Taniguchi

107 – Nick Fazekas

108 – Takumi Hasegawa

109 – Yuki Sato

110 – Kei Igarashi

111 – Ryotaro Honma

112 – Yuichi Ikeda

113 – Yuta Miyanaga

114 – Takeshi Mito

115 – Naoki Uto

116 – Sam Willard

117 – Olu Ashaolu

118 – Shingo Okada

119 – Tatsuya Suzuki

120 – Junki Kano

121 – Yoshiaki Fujinaga

122 – Tenketsu Harimoto

123 – Toshihiro Nakatsuka

124 – Takaya Sasayama

125 – Kashiwagi Shinsuke

126 – Kanamaru Kosuke

127 – Gavin Edwards

128 – Hasegawa Tomoya

129 – Narito Namizato

130 – Yousuke Sugawara

131 – Jilian Mavunga

132 – Yusuke Karino

133 – Genki Kojima

134 – Shingo Utsumi

135 – Kouki Yabuuchi

136 – Kevin Kotzur

137 – Naoaki Hashimoto

138 – Shun Watanuki

139 – Shinnosuke Negoro

140 – Takuya Soma

141 – Shota Tsuyama

142 – Naoki Tashiro

143 – Shuhei Kitagawa

144 – Morihisa Yamauchi


Here is the On Fire Checklist



OF19 – Takanobu Nishikawa
OF20 – Seiya Ando
OF21 – Kaito Ishikawa
OF22 – Kosuke Takeuchi
OF23 – Yuki Togashi
OF24 – Joji Takeuchi
OF25 – Kenta Hirose
OF26 – Masayuki Kabaya
OF27 – Ryusei Shinoyama
OF28 – Kei Igarashi
OF29 – Takeshi Mito
OF30 – Tatsuya Suzuki
OF31 – Takaya Sasayama
OF32 – Kanamaru Kosuke
OF33 – Yusuke Karino
OF34 – Genki Kojima
OF35 – Takuya Soma
OF36 – Shota Tsuyama



Like the 1st Half Set, there are 72 autograph cards (1 for each player) each numbered to #115.

This was an exciting tournament for sure!  Newly promoted Yokozuna Kisenosato recovered from a late-tournament injury to secure his second championship in a row after a great playoff with Ozeki Terunofuji.  What makes this championship unusual is that Kisenosato won it right after being promoted to sumo's highest rank.  Usually being promoted to Yokozuna means media calls, appointments, and a lot of commitments that leaves less time for training and more distractions and many newly-minted Yokozuna struggle to be competitive in their first tournament after promotion.  In fact, Kisenosato almost set a record for most consecutive wins after Yokozuna promotion.  He set such a hype that all tickets were sold out of the tournament and I was unable to watch any matches in person this go around and I missed the playoff match since I was on a plane heading back from Japan.  Next time.  To celebrate, here are a few BBM cards of Kisenosato.

Here is a fun set from 1957 called Kami Zumo or "Paper Sumo" in English.  Paper figures of sumo wresters, as seen in the photos below, at placed standing facing each other in a ring made of cardboard....the wrestlers are made to stand by bending their legs or folding their arms.  Players then make the wrestlers move by tapping the outside of the ring with their fingers and the winner is the one who forces their opponent out of the ring or to fall over.  This 1957 Kami Zumo Set came with two wrestlers and a cardboard sword...I am assuming for the losing paper wrestler to commit ritualistic suicide if he lost.   Each of the wrestlers in this set are about 2 1/4" tall and they each have an actual photo of the wrestler's head superimposed on the paper body.  Pretty cool.  I also did a review on the 1961 Ito Kami Zumo Set.  Here is a YouTube video of two people playing kami zumo.

I have become enamored by the new BBM.s new B.League cards this year.  I think the relative scarcity of the cards and great design is what appeals to me....not to mention Yuta Tabuse is in the set.  I was able to pick up a few unopened boxes for my collection before they sold out and a few weeks ago I also picked up the 1st and 2nd Half complete base sets as well as a bunch of unopened loose packs...maybe around 30 of each series.  Truth in advertising, the seller did admit these packs probably did not contain any autographs since once he pulled the 5 per box, all the packs that were left he ended up combining and selling in a larger lot.  I am a base card collector so I didn't mind.  It's unopened!

Billy did a great rundown of the 1st half set and once he gets his 2nd Half set box (Currently delayed due to the winter storm up his way) he'll be doing another one.  I'm looking forward to that one.  For those that are interested in some free B.League packs, I am running a contest right now on another thread.  I'll likely end that Giveaway this Saturday and ship the winner some goodies!

Anyway, here is the 72-card 1st Half set in its entirety and a few examples of the packs.  Happy Wednesday!

2017 is well underway and I thought I'd give everyone a quick update on where I stand with my collecting goals.  So far so good with most of my goals.  Here is a quick rundown of what I committed to do this year and what my progress is

1. Finish the 4th Edition of my Sumo Menko & Card Checklist
   - Current Progress - C
   - Future Outlook - A+
   - I didn't plan on starting this until April, but I slowly been whittling away at it.




2.  Collect German Bundesliga cards
    - Current Progress - F
    - Future Outlook - A+ 
    - We are moving to Germany this summer so I plan on collecting German Bundesliga cards of the VfB Stuttgart team.  Hopefully will have progress updates later in the year.




3. Discover 5 new sets, add 3 additional 1973 Calbee cards and complete the base 2017 BBM set
    - Current Progress - A-
    - Future Outlook - A-
    - Finding new sets are tough, but there are a few I have my eye on over in Japan...I've knocked out a few so far.  As far as adding new Calbee cards, I have picked up one more so far this year.  Also, I am close to completing my 2017 BBM set.  Might have to open another box to do so as trading partners are slim to none.




4. Start Collecting Murai Tobacco Cards
    - Current Progress - A+
    - Future Outlook - C-
    - I manages to pick up several of these over the past few months, but the supply quickly dried up.  This one is going to be harder than I thought.


5. Complete the 2017 Topps Heritage Baseball Set through boxes and trading
    - Current Progress - B
    - Future Outlook - C+
    - I'm still contemplating this one and if I want to just buy the set outright. I bought a few packs and may just keep plugging away at it a few packs at a time each time I am in Walmart or Target.




6.  Start a collector interview series on this blog.
     - Current Progress - F
     - Future Outlook - C
     - Another one that I am contemplating, but still not sure if I have the journalist acumen or if there would be enough interest on this.  It is still on the table, but it might fall off soon..

How is everyone else coming along with their 2017 goals?

....I've landed some Bass Fishing Lure Cards.  Yes, you've read that correctly.  Cards depicting bass fishing lures.  These aren't knock offs either....they are made by Takara which is a legitimate company.  This set is title "BassColle '97" or Bass Collection 1997.  How, you may ask, does one end up buying bass fishing lure cards?  When I browse the internet over in Japan it is a lot like Wikipedia.  For example, it is like when you start by reading about the history of Greenland, but you are soon learning about the mating habits of ostriches....all by the virtue of everything being linked.  When I stumbled upon these I knew I had to have them and landed a full sealed box and an opened box with just three of the packs missing.  Some of you know my affinity for unopened boxes so the sealed box is going to stay in my collection.  By now most of you are dying to know what these cards look like so I opened a pack from the open box with the contents show below.


These are pretty cool with a picture of the lure in a simulation of its natural environment on the front and on the back it talks about at what running depth the lure is used at as well as the name and some history of the lure and how to use it at the bottom.  Pretty neat.....

I started sleuthing around to figure out what is up with Japanese Bass Fishing Lures.  It soon became apparent that Japanese fishing tackle is hot stuff.  According to the Japan Lure Shop, "Japanese fishing tackles are high quality [and] your fishing becomes happier."  Bass Pro Shops has a nice article titled "The Japanese Bass Lure Invasion."  The gist of the article is that the Japanese kick bass when it is comes to designing and manufacturing bass lures.  After the short, but informative read, I was hooked and wanted start collecting bass lures....but several clicks later I decided that I would be poor in a matter of minutes as some of the really awesome lures get spendy really quick.



Why 1997 and why only one year...and why is company like Takara printing these cards?  We have Brad Pitt to thank for that....Say what ?!!  According to young cub reporter Steve Glain from the Wall Street Journal, the movie A River Runs Through It (a flyfishing hit), spread a huge Bass Fishing Boom around Japan in 1997, called a Bass Boom (I'm not making this stuff up) and Takara was likely there to capitalize on the boom....it really was All About the Bass in 1997 (cue music).  There is even a magazine called Basser to get your monthly fix when not out fishing.  I'm not lying...here is the cover from October 2011.  The magazine is still in print so the boom lives on.



So there you have it....through the power of clicking and the Japanese internet we are now all a little smarter on the Bass Boom immortalized by the Takara BassColle '97 set.

[Pack Give Away]

I have 7 wonderful kick-bass packs to give away.  I'll even pay for shipping and as an added bonus, I'll throw in 4 packs from the 2017 Japanese B.League Bassketball set (see what I did there?): two 1st-Half packs and two 2nd-Half packs.  Just comment below on the craziest, oddest, or funniest set you've ever purchased.  I'll chose a winner bassed on the best story and soon you will be well on your way to receiving some Japanese happiness.

Maybe I am biased having lived in Japan, but I swear by Japanese efficiency.  I can get an Express Mail Service (EMS) package from Tokyo to southern Alabama faster that it takes for me to ship a package from Alabama to my home state of Wyoming via USPS.  Take for example my latest shipment from Mint Mall.  It left Mint Mall and processed through Narita early in the morning of 28 February Alabama time and was at my doorstep the morning of 2 March.  Reading online posts, most everyone has the same experience.  It seems that EMS skips some steps with customs which would explain the blazing speed.  It is amazing the USPS postal system works that fast with EMS packages on this end when they have a hard time with their own internal packages sometimes.  And my latest shipment of two 2016 BBM sumo boxes only cost around $20.  Simply amazing!

I really wanted to talk briefly about Mint Mall, a sports collectibles chain store in Japan.  There have been numerous blog posts about Team Mint from Dave over at Japanese Baseball Cards, and Ryan at This Card is Cool.  Those two guys have actually been able to go to the stores in person.  I haven't used their online service until now (actually I bought their stuff through eBay), but they have been making a big push in Beckett Magazine to the English-speaking market.  I'm hoping to be able to visit a few of them when I head to Japan in a few weeks.  Navigating their website does take a bit to get used to and you have to keep in mind that you are browsing different stores inventory as well as their web inventory.  They do have overseas shipping information here.  It does look like if you want cards from 3 or more different stores, there will be a $5 fee handling fee.  Here is their latest flyer that has the numerous stores throughout Japan list listed....take a look at Mint Shibuya....they have actually installed a bar so "you can enjoy some alcohol while breaking card boxes."  Whoop, I know where I am going to go first.

I had zero issues with the order and they actually sent some extra BBM Masterpiece sumo cards along with their pretty fancy holographic business card printed on high quality card stock.  Great customer service as always from a Japanese business! 


I walked away with nothing too fancy...just a few boxes of 2016 BBM Sumo that filled in a hole in my unopened collection.  I might open one of them for a box break review at some point.


They are pretty much on par with Rakuten as far as selection (although much more of the singles cards at Mint Mall) and they have a lot more of the American stuff for expats living abroad.  I am excited about picking up some stuff in person and I'll hopefully have some fun stuff to share when I get back.

 A month or so ago, Lynn Chang reached out to me with an awesome idea that she needed some help on.  Since I am definitely not a creative nor crafty person, I was more than happy to help since I admire people who are and can turn ideas into reality.  Lynn's idea is to create sumo pins (see above) with the packaging for the pins as menko (see below).  I threw around some ideas, she threw some back and she is now live with her Indiegogo Campaign to raise the initial funds for production.  Click here to check it out.  The artwork for the menko is all handrawn and each menko will be die-cut.  Even better, all the pins/menko sold during the campaign will have special, gold-signed menko by none other than Lynn herself.  All pins/menko sold after the campaign will be black-inked signed menko.


Right now there are 3 pins/menko with future ones arriving later.  The current checklist is:

YokoNekoZuna FutabaNyaMa
YokoNekoZuna TaiKawaiHo
YokoNekoZuna ChiyoNyaFuji

For those that understand Japanese, you'll get the cute cat references.  Looking at the drawings of each sumo cat, Lynn has definite talent.  She incorporated some traditional menko design features on the back of her menko such as rank, shikona, and rock-scissors-paper symbol (in the shape of a cat's paw).  Her pins are hand-designed pieces of art and done in enamel.  Lynn really created the whole package here.

Raz over at the Raz Card Blog pointed me to Art-O-Mat machines last year and I have been hooked on this type of art ever since.  It is fun, unique, and high quality.

I hope you'll take a look and consider buying 1 or more of the pins/menko from Lynn so we can get more of them in the future!