I always knew how difficult (not to say impossible) it was to obtain the Jap Fury. I guess Wolfgang and others, who share my luck to posess that card, will confirm that it takes an incredible amount of patience and connections to Japan, to get that card.
When I recently visited Japan, I had the unique chance to answer a couple of questions.
1) What is the value of Jap Fury in €/$?
2) How many copies are still available?
and the most important question:
3) How many copies of Jap Fury do exist in total?
When I visited Akira Komachi in Tokyo in late June, I also met Makoto Kobayashi. He is the key to answer the questions because he is the source of almost every Jap Fury which went to Europe/USA during the past years - mainly through Akira, for Makoto does not trade internationally. It is not easy to convince Japanese traders to share their knowledge on these topics, but finally I got some answers. My own copy, as well as Wolfgang's and the Jap Furys which went to Spain, all come from the same source. Makoto Kobayashi.
Answering 1) took me an amazing amount of asking questions like 'Do you think that Jap Ltd. One Ring is twice as valuable as ...' and so on. Everyone agreed that the value of Jap Fury is far beyond 100 €, more likely 150-200 €, but the fact remains that there is no one, offering this card for sale. I know that there are some traders in Europe, willing to pay up to 250 € for a Jap Fury.
As for 2), even more difficult to get an answer here. Let's put it this way, I know how many copies of Jap Fury are left in Makoto Kobayashi's binders and I learnt that except for him, there is no other source left in Japan. If you are still looking for that card, hope to get it is VERY limited. I tried hard to trade one copy and everyone knows I have tons of cards to offer, but it was impossible.
THE KEY QUESTION:
How many? Jap Fury was never officially distributed with MeCCG products, like Black Arrow or Fatty Bolger. For a short period of time, it was given as price to winners of tournaments held by the Japanese distributor. Less than 5 copies went this way. Makoto Kobayashi received approx. 12-15 copies in total, as far as I know, by direct contact to the Japanese distributor. Players knew each other by that time, some complained and no more copies were given after that. Then MeCCG ended, stocks were destroyed, end of the story. Bottom line, both Akira and Makoto are convinced that there are 25-30 copies out there in total, half of them in collections of international traders, the rest remained in Japan - unavailable nowadays.
This being said, I had a suspicion. Maybe anyone knows more about it? Did ICE receive foreign promo cards directly from the local distributors of MeCCG? I always wondered, why some American traders/collectors, who had zero contact to Akira and Co., were able to get a Jap Fury. My suspicion - they got the card directly from ICE, USA. No proof though. If this was the case, copy numbers of Jap Fury might be rather 30-50, but certainly not more. Just speculating.
If you belong to those traders, who still want a Jap Fury: Don't try to bother Akira. There are no hidden treasures left (like the hugh stocks of Spanish Beginners sets which suddenly appeared). Your best shot is 'old collectors' who lost interested in MeCCG. I know of 2-3 collectors who sold all of their cards during the past years. It is much more likely to get a Jap Fury here. But still, both expensive and rare.
Good luck.
![[-me_mp-]](./images/smilies/me_mp.png "Marshalling Points"){kind=small}
Arigatou gozaimasu.
Timo Lutter aka Thrain II
