A number of burglaries at trading card stores have been reported in Tokyo, Japan, as a result of the rising popularity and value of Pokémon cards. Since last summer, Japan Times reports that damages from these burglaries are estimated to be around tens of millions of yen.
According to an investigative source, there have been unprecedented five cases where the main target has been trading cards — and the Pokémon Trading Card Game is usually involved. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has reported on one specific case, where 60 cards — worth a staggering ¥8.5 million — were stolen from a store in Machida, a city located in the western part of Tokyo.
The Pokémon Trading Card Game market has been rapidly growing, and in 2021, the popular game expanded for the fourth straight year (valued at ¥178.2 billion, says the Japan Toy Association). The value of many rare cards increased during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result, it's seen many people rush to try and get their hands on the rarest cards — either for their own collection or to sell. We've reported on a number of Pokémon card-related incidents over the past few years in particular — some involving big-name YouTubers, and others just members of the public.
Another case involves a 25-year-old man from Sapporo who managed to 'buy' 1,000 Pokémon using someone else's credit card details online. The man later sold the cards to another card store. Many of the affected stores commented on the game's growing popularity, while sources told Japan Times that it's hard to trace the cards because "they are not uniquely numbered...".
Let's hope the TMP can get these incidents resolved, soon.
[source japantimes.co.jp]
Comments 15
We really have reached an age of gluttony, when people steal just to do the thing that the place they stole from does (selling) so they can get money to buy more useless things. It's an empty cycle. Hope the police catch these people and the stores get some type of money back.
Damn, Japan was spared from that kind of things before
I'll never understand why people get so obsessed with something like this, that they just steal to hoard/sell them.
Dang, Team Rocket is invading our world now. Hopefully some kid can stop them with his own Pokémon cards. Perhaps Detective Pikachu can help too.
Very shocking since any crime in general is rare in Japan.
@Ryu_Niiyama The world has always worked that way. We didn't start the fire.
governments protect criminals more than businesses.. oh insurance is suppose to be good enough, yeah that's sustainable
@ComfyAko Not quite. The modernity of easy production, supply chain, somewhat empty value of our money due to late stage capitalism means that we are behaving on pure empty greed and less on supplying needs.
@SmileMan64 "i'll stop you, team rocket! i bet you didn't expect me to send out... Claydol (Supreme Victors 22)!!!"
@Ryu_Niiyama Empty value of our money? One can argue that with the amount of goods and services we can exchange our money for, it's worth more than ever. Well, stealing in middle ages, the victorian age or 1960's was just the same as it is now. Supplying needs via stealing and pure greed come hand in hand. No matter how you look at it, the most expensive goods were never the most practical ones. Pretty clothes, exotic pets, huge buildings. It was all for show.
Was it during the day? A sawed-off 12 gauge behind the counter is an effective deterrent.
@SpeedRunRocks Yeah except Japan isn't Texas and civilians can't own guns.
@Pokemaniacal Yes, largely spared from crime. It's in the top 10 lowest rate in the world
Maybe it's time to uniquely number the cards.
This Ocean's Eleven reboot sucks.
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