Photo/Illutration Pokemon cards can fetch high prices. (Provided by the Arao branch of Pokeca specialty shop 'EX')

A young manager had taken theft-prevention security measures at his new shop located in a quiet residential area surrounded by orchards in Kumamoto Prefecture.

But on the morning of May 13, the 26-year-old found that someone had opened a shop window facing an alley by cutting a circle in the glass.

A showcase near the entrance and one facing a wall were smashed, and shattered glass covered the floor.

A cash register containing around 130,000 yen ($928) was missing, but it was clear what the burglars were really after: Pokemon trading cards.

The total damage caused by the theft was around 6.5 million yen, the manager says.

The shop only opened on May 1.

“I can’t believe that cards were stolen within two weeks after I opened the shop,” he said.

Pokemon cards from the popular anime and game franchise have become hot items for collectors, investors—and thieves.

Prices of the cards, particularly rare and limited editions ones, have soared during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The manager’s shop is called the “Arao branch of Pokeca specialty shop ‘EX.’” His shop buys Pokemon cards from customers and sells them.

He said the starting price for the cards is several hundred yen, but some of them are worth up to 600,000 yen.

According to the shop, around 600 cards were stolen, and most of them were the expensive ones.

The manager said he belongs to the “Pokemon generation” of people who grew up watching the Pokemon anime series. He started collecting Pokemon cards around two years ago.

He said he opened the shop to create a place where Pokemon card collectors could socialize.

People from outside the prefecture visited the store, and it became so popular that customers had to queue outside to enter.

The manager had installed four internal security cameras and two external ones. But they did not deter the thieves.

In April, around 1,500 Pokemon cards, worth an estimated 1.15 million yen, were stolen from a card-trading shop in Tokyo’s Akihabara district.

The Metropolitan Police Department announced on June 13 that it arrested a 35-year-old resident of Okinawa Prefecture in connection with the theft.

The suspect traveled from Okinawa Prefecture to Tokyo to steal Pokemon cards on the instructions of someone he had met on Twitter, investigative sources said.

According to The Pokemon Company, more than 52.9 billion Pokemon cards had been produced around the world as of the end of March.

A package of five cards generally sells for about 200 yen. But trading prices for the cards at shops or online have been soaring.

Daisuke Fujii, editor of Toy Journal, a monthly magazine, said the pandemic made people stay at home more, “and adults who played with Pokemon cards as children are enjoying them again.”

They are now buying Pokemon cards to play with or just for collection’s sake, Fujii said.

The rising prices of the cards has created a “Pokeca investment” craze among enthusiasts.

These investors repeatedly buy Pokemon cards on the internet, hoping to sell them after their prices rise.

Cards traded at prices several dozen times their original purchase prices are now common.

Security House Center Co. in Kyoto, a company that designs security systems, said thieves go after trading cards because even a single card could be worth a fortune. The cards are also light and easy to carry.

“It is necessary to keep expensive cards in a safe and move them to another place after the shop closes,” an official at the company said.

(This article was written by Yusuke Ogawa, Daichi Itakura and Yuji Masuyama.)