I had mentioned a few weeks back that one of the things I was going to be on the lookout for in Japan were the "mini colored paper" or "mini shikishi" sets issued by a company known variously as "Hits", "TIC" or "216 Co., Ltd. These are team sets of oversized (5 1/2 inches wide by 4 3/4 inches high), blank-backed cards. Ryan and I actually found some on my first full day in Japan - the Lions were selling packs of them in their store out at their ballpark. We each picked up two packs which at 700 yen a piece was probably more than either of us really wanted to spend on them. Ryan was generous enough to give me the Takeya Nakamura that he pulled. Here's the Nakamura and the two cards I got:
The only other place I saw these was at Mint Hiroshima - they had several boxes full of singles from various Carp sets. The cards were relatively cheap, mostly 200 yen. I would have picked up a couple but I was going to the Carp game after visiting the store and I wasn't sure if I'd have been able to keep the cards undamaged in the small shoulder bag I was taking with me.
