Japanese Legislator Formulates a Coalition to Promote Popular Collection Cards

The Parliament building in Tokyo, Japan. ANTARA/Anadolu Agency/aa.

JAKARTA - A number of members of parliament from the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party formed a coalition to promote the rapidly growing collectible card industry or "trading card" which is considered to have global competitiveness potential.

The group, which consists of 20 legislators, seeks to perfect the ecosystem of the collection card industry by making rules and addressing related issues such as fake cards and large purchases for resale.

The coalition also wants to increase market transparency to support the industry's expansion to the world level.

Popular collectible cards featuring characters from Japanese games, manga, and anime such as Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! have been increasingly favored by international fans in recent years.

As reported by ANTARA from Kyodo, Saturday, August 1, in the coalition's first meeting at the end of July, Japanese House of Representatives member Seiji Kihara, who was appointed as the coalition's chairman, said the collectible card industry "can compete globally", but a "healthy market" must also be formed.

As a father of a child who also collects playing cards, Kihara said tournaments and related events held throughout Japan emphasize the important role of the card collection industry in encouraging regional development.

At the same meeting, representatives from industry bodies and officials from the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry outlined the market conditions and challenges facing the collectibles card sector.

Meanwhile, according to the Japan Game Association, the domestic collectible card market value reached 338 billion yen in the 2025 fiscal year which started in April.

The figure shows continuous growth since 2017, where the market value of the collection card is at 88 billion yen.

The coalition said the value of the growing collection card assets created new problems such as an increase in fake cards, fraud in card sales, and the use of collection cards in money laundering.

The group also emphasized the importance of establishing an industry framework, given that efforts to improve the practice of trading collection cards have so far depended on the steps of individual retailers and collectors.