2021 Topps Japan Edition Baseball Features Cards from Series 1,2

The season is over, but work in Topps’ new office in Japan is just getting started.  The company is planning to distribute a version of its 2021 flagship set specifically for the Asian market.  2021 Topps Japan Edition will be sold through the company’s recently launched Japanese website.

Last March, Topps announced the opening of a new office in Japan and launched its website there in September.  They also recently struck a deal with Nippon Professional Baseball to make trading cards for the country’s top pro league. 

The 2021 Topps Japan Edition set is a scaled down version of its regular product, with 220 cards from Series 1 and 2, similar to what it does with Topps Chrome each year.  

Boxes will contain 24 packs with 10 cards per pack and there’s no specific release date in place yet.  If you want one, you’ll probably need a contact in Japan to buy and ship to you.

Last year, Topps released a similar product in the United Kingdom.

There will be parallels for the base set including:

• Cherry Blossoms-#’d to 99
• Jade Greed-#’d to 75
• Purple-#’d to 50
• Gold-#’d to 25
• Red-#’d to 5
• Platinum-#’d 1 of 1

An insert set will include MLB players who are natives of Japan as well as highlights of MLB events in Japan.  Those cards will include three parallels including Gold (# to 25); Red (# to 5) and 1/1 Platinum versions.  There will also be a manufactured patch parallel that is numbered to 10.

Topps does plan to randomly insert autographed cards in the product including past greats, current stars and rookies with Red (# to 5) and 1/1 Platinum versions.

About Rich Mueller

Rich is the editor and founder of Sports Collectors Daily. A broadcaster and writer for over 35 years and a collector for even longer than that, he’s usually typing something somewhere. Type him back at [email protected]