Last April, Japan’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that a Pikachu character card from the popular animation ‘Pokemon’ was sold for 7 billion won . When the auction was held for 10 days on the global commerce platform eBay in February at $480,000 (approximately 630 million won), there were no bidders, but two months later, it was finally sold for $5.275 million (approximately 7 billion won), making it a hot topic. done. The buyer was Logan Paul, a YouTuber and avid Pokemon card collector. In particular, this card is a gift given to the winners of the ‘Pokemon Card Illustration Contest’ held by a Japanese magazine in 1998, and only about 10 out of 39 cards currently exist, making it highly rare.
In Japan, the craze for so-called ‘trading cards’ printed with animation characters such as Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh or photos of athletes is in full swing.
According to the production team of KBS’ ‘Correspondent’s Report, The World Now’ broadcast on the 23rd, in Japan, cards, which used to be children’s play and collectibles, are now attracting attention as a means for adults to make money.
The production team said, “One Pokemon card is traded for about 7 billion won, and a trading card market worth over 2 trillion won in Korean money has been formed in Japan alone.”
In fact, in Japan, where interest rates are negative, the trading card market has recently been attracting attention as an investment destination along with stocks. In Tokyo’s Akihabara, known as the ‘mecca of animation’ among enthusiasts, trading card prices are revealed in real time, like stock tickers.
A college student met by the production team said that the price of cards he purchased for 50,000 yen (about 450,000 won) two years ago has risen more than 20 times. “Cards with high scarcity are objects of collection and investment, while those with low scarcity are used in card games.” “I’m using it,” he said.
The most popular trading cards are definitely Pokémon cards. This is a card using various monster characters that appear in the popular animation ‘Pokemon’, and was first produced in 1996 for collection and games. As those who grew up watching animation became adults with economic power, it became a financial investment tool for ‘kidults’ (a compound스포츠토토 word of ‘ kid ‘ and ‘ adult’ ). ‘Yu-Gi-Oh’ cards, which gained popularity through animation, are also popular.
As the popularity of credit cards grows, high-value card thefts and robberies are occurring one after another. This year, a gunman broke into a card store in Kumamoto, broke the display case and stole 600 cards (worth 58 million won), while about 1,000 trading cards were stolen in Akihabara and about 12,000 trading cards were stolen in Yamanashi.
Last month, the Yomiuri Shimbun said, “The key factor that determines the price of Pokemon cards is ‘rarity.’” “Pokemon card specialty stores located in Tokyo are crowded with domestic and foreign visitors who want to purchase cards with high levels of scarcity.” This store has a lot of expensive Pokemon cards,
each costing 80,000 to 100,000 yen (about 740,000 to 920,000 won). A basic pack of 5 cards can be purchased for around 1,000 won, but the ‘ransom price’ varies greatly depending on popularity and rarity. As with luxury goods, limited editions are more expensive.
According to public opinion research firm Global Information, the global trading card game market is expected to grow to approximately $5.09 billion (KRW 6.7529 trillion) by 2028, a 46% increase from 2022.
Some companies are quickly embarking on related projects. eBay has launched a card warehouse service that stores cards in optimal conditions by strictly controlling temperature and humidity. Additionally, Japanese bookstore franchise Tsutaya created a trading card game room. Card transactions are also carried out here.
