Background
Japanese Pikachu 173/165 is an Art Rare from SV2a Pokémon Card 151, dated 16 June 2023. The number past 165 marks a secret-art slot in a set staged around the original 151 species.
Naoyo Kimura’s full-art foil puts Pikachu on a busy festival street with other Generation 1 Pokémon and trainers, so the card reads as a crowd scene rather than a studio mascot shot. Desk talk treats it as a personal-collection Pikachu first.
As a Basic with 60 HP it is not a table engine; the pull is the illustration and the 151 over-number. Collectors file 173/165 as the Japanese art-rare Pikachu on that ladder, distinct from the regular-number prints in the same expansion.