Tokyo police have arrested four men over the robbery of 14 Pokémon cards worth an estimated ¥26.9 million from an Ikebukuro card shop, a haul that reflects the soaring prices the cards now command.
The four, aged 24 to 44, include Riku Honma, 32, a company employee from Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture, and suspect Akari Mori, 24. They were arrested on suspicion of robbery and trespassing on a building, the Metropolitan Police Department's Ikebukuro station said.
Mori emerged from the station at exactly 8am on Oct. 29, a young man with a mushroom cut who looked docile at first glance. He turned a sharp stare on the press cameras. As he turned away to board the bus for the prosecutors, a small crown tattoo was clearly visible beside his ear.
Hammer, threats and a pinned shopkeeper
The four entered the shop in Toshima Ward at about 8:30pm on Dec. 31 last year posing as customers, according to the investigation. They smashed a display case with a hammer.
They threatened the owner, a man in his 30s, telling him he did not know what would happen if he moved, and held him down. They then took the 14 Pokémon cards from the case, one of which was worth ¥4 million.
Footage from security cameras and other evidence pointed to the four, leading to the arrests. The stolen cards have not been found, and police have not disclosed whether the suspects admit or deny the charges.
One suspect told investigators he applied for the job after seeing it on social media, and police are investigating whether someone gave the orders.
The shop confirmed the arrests on its official social media account on Oct. 29. “All four New Year's Eve thieves have been caught, but please give the cards back, they're worth far more now than they were then!! Well, they won't come back, but…” it said.
A market that keeps climbing
Pokémon cards boomed during the coronavirus pandemic and became an investment asset around the world, driving prices sharply higher. Robberies targeting the cards became frequent from late 2022 into 2023.
Ikebukuro has the second-largest concentration of card shops in Japan after Akihabara. In December 2023, an intruder broke into a different shop in the district late at night and smashed a display case, stealing 400 Pokémon cards worth about ¥15 million.
The shop robbed on New Year's Eve had already been hit by theft twice, in October and November 2025. More than 1,000 items were taken from its warehouse in November, with losses put at over ¥20 million.
The shop had added security cameras and otherwise tightened its defenses after those thefts. The robbery came shortly afterward.