I am living in Japan and recently got back into the hobby of collecting Pokemon cards perhaps from nostalgia of losing all of my old cards as a child.
Anyways, I noticed a lot of talk about Mitsuhiro Arita signing events. I hear that he signed a lot of cards in Florida, Hawaii, and Norway recently. Recently I found out that Arita is attending a Magic the gathering event in Tokyo and got super excited. But when I went through the website registration and read the fine print it said that he won’t sign Pokemon cards only merchandise bought at the event.
So my question is, does Arita do any Pokemon card signing events in Japan? Has anyone ever attended a signing event here in Japan?
Im not sure about japan itself, but some artists have legal ties to just sign autographs when TPCI gives the green light at sanctioned events. Im sure if you can check/find his socials he’ll be available eventually.
I have actually been following Arita’s website and Facebook page for almost a year. He has done 5 or 6 small events in Japan during that time, but all of them seem to say no autographs. Or no autographs for Pokemon cards
Arita almost always posts events where he will be signing as well as the information about it on his website, at least some of which it seems, you already have:
You can also see the art cards that he sells at his booths and usually uses for signings. There’s some pretty cool stuff, TBH, but were I to get a sig, I’d definitely want it on a card and my book, so I feel your frustration there.
Yeah I actually registered for the current event. It’s free “entry” but to actually meet Arita you have to pay $200 for a small sketch or $600 for a 15 minute sketch. Both cool but nothing to do with Pokemon. And he won’t sign any Pokemon items.
I think I remember reading that he did a signing event in Nagoya back in 2016. But I don’t remember seeing any other Pokemon signings events here in Japan. I’m sure if he did an event here people would freak out
Its possible he may do an event, but so many pokemon artists these days are constantly harassed by people who just want their autograph to then later resell that I feel kinda bad for them. Its probably the main reason they delegate cards with owners names and dates on them which was a smart move. Id love to actually get some art drawn by my favorite artists if I had the money.
Judging by how he has been focusing heavily on his original work and the fact that that Arita has featured very little in the SV block. I wouldn’t hold my breath on another Pokemon signing. However this is purely speculation and I hope i’m wrong lol
I saw on Arita’s event page that he will soon be visiting Malaysia to do a trading card event. I am debating whether it’s worth it to fly to Malaysia to get his signature. However, I was wondering if someone can clarify what a “personal item” includes?
Per the event page, it says that you can get 3 personal items signed and 2 sketched for 4000 ringgit (about $1000). However it does not specify whether this includes Pokemon cards. I would love to have my favorite cards signed but that is a very steep price. I tried contacting the event contact email but they haven’t responded after 2 days. Does anyone know whether Pokemon cards are typically included in “personal items”?
“Personal item” typically is a euphemism for “Pokemon cards” because often the artists and the event organizers don’t want to make it appear like a “Pokemon event”.
So for every event I’ve ever been to, “personal item” includes Pokemon cards.
So does that mean no foreigners are allowed? If so that would be pretty strict.
If anyone could go and get in and you have the disposable income to spend, I would do it. It might be a fun memorable trip. Plus if you saw Arita’s last event in the States he didn’t do any Pokemon Card autos and before that event he only did a signature and no sketch.
But I have to admit his autograph prices have been increasing a lot. I get how it helps cut the line of people and maybe he can get the same amount of money with less work…but it hurts when you want a lot of things signed by him
Ah I just saw. I didn’t bother to scroll down that far the first time. Haha I was thinking that was pretty bold of Malaysia if they had it only for locals
Yeah I have heard that in some events in America he didn’t do Pokemon card autos. But this is literally a trading card game event. Surely that means…
If I spent that much money and I wasn’t allowed to get my Pokemon cards signed, I’m pretty I’d just start weeping right there on the spot
Am Malaysian, to my knowledge pokemon cards are allowed to be signed at this event (although I am not associated with the event itself and cannot 100% confirm this information, and am not sure on how the organisers managed make this happen with the Pokemon Company).
Travel between Japan and Malaysia is great, not too long flight length & Malaysia is a beautiful place to visit. This event is supported by our government ministry of tourism/arts/culture too, so a focus of the event is also to attract international visitors and vendors too - ticket/signing sessions are not restricted to Malaysians.
As other users have mentioned, the ticket price for signing and sketch sessions is extremely steep however - the highest priced package for 2 sketched and 1 non-sketched item is approximately 950 USD.
Thanks for your comment. It’s a huge price to pay and I am surprised that the organisers will not respond by email or Instagram comments. Various people on Facebook and Instagram have also brought up this issue. Someone also mentioned that other artists like Kouki Saito refused to sign Pokemon cards last year.
For 950 dollars plus another 500 dollar flight it is worth it to get my favorite cards signed. But I really don’t like the lack of transparency and it’s very hard to take that kind of risk. Maybe I will just wait to see if anyone posts about getting their cards signed and plan for next year
Just keep in mind that Arita does have the final say on things and it can always change at his discretion. At the 2nd Arita event in Hawaii, the organizer said he was going to do sketches with his autos but on the morning of the event he changed his mind. Honestly, a lot of people felt robbed and cheated. But at least we got something rather than nothing.
This event sounds more transparent than the Hawaii one and at least they mentioned beforehand in writing that he would do a sketch. Hawaii’s last event didn’t have anything in writing about a character sketch on a personal item.
Yeah that does sound like somewhat of a let down but I would still be happy with just a signature.
How much did they charge for a signature at the Hawaii event? At $300 per signature at the Malaysia event, it’s an incredible amount when you don’t even know if he will sign Pokemon merchandise or not. It also says that this is not the artist’s fee, it is merely a slot to get a signature. So in reality it will be $300 per card plus whatever Arita himself charges
At Arita’s last event in July it was $239.79 (that’s including tax) for 1 signature with no sketch but came with a shikishi piece. At Arita’s Hawaii Pop Con event in January it came to $225.13 for 2 signatures one sketch. It seems like his prices have been steadily increasing.
