Japanese cards enjoy a higher demand in Japan and other Asian countries, where the Pokemon franchise originated
Unfortunately, the actual card quality here is fairly lackluster, with none of these cards being relevant to any highly competitive Constructed decks in any format, save maybe some niche inclusions like Baral, Chief of Compliance in Modern storm combo
As for why, well, there are a lot of reasons: lots of chase cards in this set, alt art galore, and lots of high-value singles
The follow cards are all permanents with abilities attached to them that allow you to counter a spell
In any spell-dense Izzet or Dimir shell, that condition is almost always live by turn two or three
In an official first look live stream yesterday, we just got an early look at Star Trek from Wizards of the Coast