In February 2026, a Pokémon card was sold for about $16 million, with the seller being influencer Logan Paul. The incident prompted Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to form a cross-faction lawmakers’ alliance, the “Trading Card Promotion Members League” (“トレーディングカード振興議員連盟” (Card League)). On July 23, it held its founding general assembly inside the Japanese Diet. LDP lawmaker Seiji Kihara said plainly that the three major issues surrounding collectible card trading—counterfeiting, hoarding for resale, and money laundering—have come to the forefront.
Card League founded on July 23: Seiji Kihara names three major issues
According to publicly available information from the founding general assembly, the Card League was chaired by Seiji Kihara. Diet member Masayuki Ishihara reported on the alliance’s operating direction, and Junichi Kanda proposed discussions on regulatory direction. At the meeting, Seiji Kihara summarized the risks in the trading card market into three major issues:
Counterfeit circulation: currently it relies almost entirely on private authentication organizations, with no official standards
Large-scale hoarding for resale purposes: “scalping” affects consumers’ normal purchasing channels
Money laundering being abused: the root cause is that trading cards lack individual identification codes—there is no way to track a card end-to-end from printing to ownership transfer
Japan’s trading card market size: for fiscal year 2025, it reached ¥338.4 billion, and the LDP estimates it is close to the characteristics of financial assets
Based on statistics from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan’s collectible card market size: ¥177.6 billion in fiscal year 2021 → ¥338.4 billion in fiscal year 2025 (about $2.1 billion). Over the four-year period, it grew by nearly double. Internal LDP assessments suggest these cards have long crossed the line from consumer goods; buying and selling cards increasingly resembles operating a financial asset—high unit price, easy to carry, and easily transferable across borders—while also lacking individual identification codes. The structural similarity to the challenges regulators previously faced when handling cryptocurrencies is considered high.
PSA controls pricing power: Japan has the IP, but valuation is decided by U.S. grading firms—structural problem
Based on the pain points identified by the Card League after hearing input from the industry, Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh were both created in Japan. But what price a card can ultimately command depends on the score assigned by PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator), an American grading firm: the score determines market price, the market price determines liquidity, and, in turn, whether the card can be used as asset collateral, split, or settled.
This structure—“the IP grows at home, but the authority over certification and valuation is held by someone else”—was described by Card League members as a phenomenon in which Japan effectively has almost no room to set prices for the assets its own content industries generate.
FAQ
When was the Japanese Card League established, and who chairs it?
According to reports, the Trading Card Promotion Members League (“トレーディングカード振興議員連盟”) held its founding general assembly on July 23, 2026, inside the Japanese Diet. It was chaired by Seiji Kihara as president; Masayuki Ishihara, a member of the House of Representatives, reported on the direction of operations, and Junichi Kanda raised discussions on regulatory direction.
What are the three major issues named by Seiji Kihara?
Based on publicly released materials from the founding general assembly, the three major issues are: the circulation of counterfeit goods (currently mainly safeguarded by private authentication organizations), large-scale hoarding for the purpose of resale, and the abuse of money laundering (the root cause is that trading cards lack individual identification codes, making end-to-end tracking impossible).
What was the size of Japan’s trading card market in fiscal year 2025?
According to statistics from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan’s collectible card market reached ¥338.4 billion (about $2.1 billion) in fiscal year 2025, up nearly double from ¥177.6 billion in fiscal year 2021.
