From Toy to Priceless Asset! LDP Concerned: Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh Are Japanese, So Why Does the U.S. Hold Pricing Power?

As the birthplace of globally popular anime such as Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!, Japan is now confronting the explosive growth of the trading card market and its resulting financial chaos. Card prices have skyrocketed over just a few years, reaching astronomical figures of millions of dollars per card, leading to serious risks including counterfeit production, theft, and money laundering. In response, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has officially established a task force to develop a formal regulatory framework for this rapidly expanding market.

The LDP task force issued an official statement emphasizing that trading cards are no longer mere consumer goods. With the global market rapidly expanding and the 'asset value' of cards surging, significant social and financial issues have emerged that cannot be ignored.

What began as a pastime among schoolchildren has evolved into a global asset market with high liquidity and profit potential. Frenzied demand has driven rare cards to astonishing prices. For example, an extremely rare Pokémon card owned by American influencer Logan Paul sold at a public auction in February for a staggering $16 million (approximately NT$520 million).

According to statistical data, Japan's domestic trading card market grew by 90% over the four-year period leading up to 2025, reaching a scale of ¥338 billion (approximately NT$66.78 billion).

Influencer Logan Paul decided to sell his 'one-of-a-kind' PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator card. (Screenshot from Guinness World Records official website)

Is Pricing Power Falling into American Hands?

For the Japanese government, the 'over-financialization' of the trading card market raises serious regulatory and national security concerns. A further point of concern for Japanese policymakers is that, although top-tier anime franchises like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh originate in Japan, the global 'pricing power and authentication standards' for rare cards are largely controlled by prominent U.S.-based third-party grading companies such as PSA.

Seiji Kihara, the LDP member of parliament leading the task force, believes the government's future discussions should focus on expanding support for Japanese-origin intellectual property (IP) and enhancing the global influence of related content industries. At the same time, he warns against repeating the mistakes of the cryptocurrency era, where conservative thinking and overly strict regulations stifled domestic innovation and caused capital to flow out to Western countries.

Pokémon GO became available for download in Japan on the 22nd. (AP)

The current mission of this task force is to develop concrete policy recommendations regarding appropriate rule-making and industry promotion strategies.