Trading card games in Japan - statistics & facts
Japan is the home of internationally renowned trading card game series, including the "Pokémon Trading Card Game" and "Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG". The Japanese trading card game market crossed the 100 billion Japanese yen mark in 2022 and was the major driver of growth in the domestic toy industry. The stay-home period during the pandemic allowed consumers to rediscover old passions, among which card games were a hobby young parents, who grew up during the boom of collectible card games in the 90s, could share with their children. While video games have long surpassed analog games in Japan, physical trading cards remain highly popular, supported by an estimated collector base of 430 thousand people and giving birth to dedicated card shops, a flourishing secondhand market, and tournaments on national and global levels.
