Alleged Real-Life Yakuza Member Arrested Over Pokemon Cards

A real-life Yakuza member was arrested after stealing Pokemon cards in a break-in. Crimes involving Pokemon are more common and recurring than one might think.

As a media franchise, Pokemon has expanded beyond games to merchandise, TV, comics, and trading cards. There is a huge market for buying and selling Pokemon cards, with some Pokemon cards and boosters reaching exorbitant prices. However, this popularity has had some unfortunate side effects for aspiring card collectors.

According to a report by Sora News 24, the Tachikawa Precinct of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police announced that they had arrested Keita Saito, who is said to be a lieutenant of the Takinogawa Family. The Takinogawa Family is part of the Sumiyoshi-kai, the second-largest Yakuza syndicate in Japan. Keita Saito was charged with a break-in back in December 2022. On that occasion, he allegedly broke into a house in the town of Ogano and stole 29 items, of which 25 were Pokemon cards. The stolen items were valued at 252,000 yen, about $1,637.

After his arrest, Saito said he wasn't alone in the crime. According to him, the one who orchestrated the whole operation was Hidefumi Kuboshita, a 56-year-old man who doesn't seem to have connections with any Yakuza syndicate. Kuboshita denied all of Saito's accusations but was still arrested. It's believed that two other suspects also participated in the alleged robbery.

Crimes involving Pokemon cards are hardly new, unfortunately. It's becoming common to see accusations and crimes related to various Pokemon products in Japan. Last year in Tokyo, a man allegedly stole 1,500 Pokemon cards worth over 1 million yen, around $6500, from a store in the Akihabara shopping district. The man, Masaki Omori, said he was hired for this «dark part-time job» to steal the cards after losing all his money on gambling. In recent years, however, it hasn't been just Japan suffering from a wave of thefts involving Pokemon cards.

In 2022, a man was accused of stealing $2,000 worth