¥200 Million in Pokémon Cards Found in a Haunted Property—How a ¥300 Pack Became Worth ¥335,000

A trove of long-discounted cards, hidden away

As Pokémon celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, Pokémon cards (hereafter, “Pokécards”) are experiencing an unprecedented bubble. In February this year, American YouTuber Logan Paul sold a “Pokémon Illustrator,” considered one of the rarest and most valuable Pokémon cards in the world, for approximately $16.49 million (about ¥2.6 billion). The sale was recognized by Guinness World Records as the highest-ever price paid for a trading card sold at auction.

“The ‘Pokémon Illustrator’ owned by Logan is an extremely valuable item, with only 39 copies known to exist worldwide. Early rare cards that have been discontinued are being traded among collectors for astonishingly high prices.”

— Employee at a trading-card shop

It was in May this year that the writer received an unexpected report from Noriyuki Kamezawa, president of Kansai Clean Service, a company specializing in specialized cleanup services: a large number of rare cards had been discovered inside unopened boxes.

“There was a case in which the male owner of a detached house in the Kansai area died accidentally at the entrance of the property. In other words, it was what is known as a stigmatized property. The client who requested the cleanup was his daughter.

We purchased the property, including the household belongings left behind, with the intention of cleaning it and putting it back on the market as a used property. While organizing the deceased man’s belongings, one of our staff members who was cleaning out a bedroom on the second floor came running to me in an excited state.

When I went to see what had happened, I found that a plastic storage case in the closet was packed tightly with a huge number of Pokémon cards.

Apparently, the deceased man had secretly collected them during his lifetime without telling his family, and even his daughter, who had hired us, had no idea they existed. After investigating them, we discovered that the cards were quite valuable, so we had the Pokémon cards appraised separately. We purchased them for approximately ¥45 million, separate from the property itself. In total, there were 9,987 unopened Pokémon card packs and boxes.”

— Noriyuki Kamezawa

At the time, their market value was estimated at ¥50 million to ¥60 million. However, prices continued to rise, boosted by Pokémon’s 30th anniversary. Kamezawa continued:

“After I posted information about the cards on social media, I received a direct message from a trading-card shop offering to buy them for ¥160 million in cash immediately. They also said, ‘It’s a miracle that such a huge quantity of unopened boxes was found.’

Apparently, prices also vary depending on whether the boxes still have their shrink wrap. Boxes with shrink wrap reportedly fetch an average of 1.3 times the price.

Pokémon cards originally retail for around ¥200 to ¥300 per pack, but those packs can now be worth ¥100,000 to ¥200,000. The most valuable item was a shrink-wrapped pack of ‘Pokémon Card neo: Awakening Legends.’ A pack that originally cost ¥300 was valued at ¥335,000. There were 60 packs in total, bringing their estimated value to ¥20.1 million.”

Kamezawa attempted to contact Logan through the auction house Goldin.

“Goldin was the auction house that put the Pokémon card mentioned at the beginning, which Logan owned, up for auction. Since the company had close ties with Logan, we proposed a YouTube collaboration through the auction representative. However, we were told, ‘He’s far too busy to make a trip to Japan.’”

— Noriyuki Kamezawa

Even so, Kamezawa continued to receive what he described as inquiry emails almost every week, including messages saying, “We are confident that our auction is the market best positioned to maximize the value of these cards.”

Pokémon cards have been released in many countries and are available in multiple languages, but among them, the Japanese versions are considered the most valuable. In the United States, the heartland of the trading-card market, their appraised values exceed those in Japan.

“Goldin’s estimated auction value was $1.05 million to $1.5 million, or approximately ¥170 million to ¥240 million. They also said there was a strong possibility that the final price could exceed that amount.

They told us that rather than selling everything as a single lot, we would ultimately get a higher price by splitting the cards up and putting them up for auction little by little.”

— Noriyuki Kamezawa

Kamezawa decided to sell the cards. A representative from Goldin is scheduled to come to Japan in September. The representative will then take the physical cards back to the United States and have them CT-scanned to verify that they are genuinely unopened. The cards are expected to be put up for auction toward the end of this year.

How much will the “¥200 million worth of Pokémon cards” discovered in the stigmatized property ultimately sell for? Their fate is attracting considerable attention.

From the September 4, 2026 issue of “FRIDAY.”