Pokemon cards — which sell for ¥180 a pack — have grown far beyond being collectibles featuring cute characters like Pikachu. Rare cards can now be traded for more than ¥100 million, and shops carrying them have become the target of burglaries.
In May, a 25-year-old man was arrested for allegedly stealing ¥2.2 million worth of Pokemon goods from a trading card store in Yamanashi Prefecture, and a 34-year-old man was arrested earlier this week by the Toyama Prefectural Police for allegedly selling five fake Pokemon cards in March.
Between August 2022 and May, 11 trading card stores have been targeted in Tokyo alone.