#Man Attacked for Buying Pokémon Cards at Hiroshima 7/11

(Photo: Daryl Harding)

Early morning on September 24, a 22-year-old man in Hiroshima, Japan was attacked coming out of a 7/11 convenience store after buying a box of Pokémon cards for a set that was released at midnight earlier that night. The 22-year-old was punched in the face, fell to the ground, and had his box of new Pokémon cards stolen whilst the attacker escaped in a Kei car.  

The victim suffered heavy bruising to the face and claims that he was attacked over the Pokémon cards, saying that the attacker complained about the victim’s purchase to him before punching the victim a few times and stealing the cards. The Hiroshima police are treating the case as an assault and robbery, with investigations aimed at finding evidence for both charges.

Police already have a 24-year-old man in custody for questioning over the case. 

Pokémon Card related crimes are becoming more and more common around the world as the re-sale and sculpting of cards are becoming more and more prevalent to the increase of the value of trading card games during the pandemic. Measures have been put in place around Japan to try and weed out those trying to make money off the cards, including 7/11’s and Yodobashi’s asking buyers questions about Pokémon to see if they’re fans, and Pokémon Centers moving card pre-orders online “for customers to be able to purchase them safely” because of both COVID and the current incidents that keep popping up.

In the United States, Target and Walmart have moved card sales online for similar reasons after incidents have occurred, while in the state of South Australia, five people were arrested for stealing older Digimon cards to then resell (though they tried to resell to the same store they robbed earlier that day).

Source: RCC News

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Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.