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A Japanese Pokemon card shop is offering a reward for its own robber, but only if he’s captured alive.
Kaitorip is a small shop in Gifu, a city roughly halfway between Tokyo and Kyoto, and it deals in Pokemon and One Piece cards. Someone tore through its shelves overnight on July 22 and walked off with most of the stock.
Just weeks earlier, a Philadelphia man tried paying for a rare Pikachu with fake cryptocurrency. Even so, Kaitorip wanted its culprit found fast, and it wasn’t shy about the terms.
Kaitorip’s reward only pays out for a live capture
Kaitorip posted security footage of the break-in on X and laid out exactly what it would pay for help. Whoever hands the thief over alive gets 1 million yen, about $6,100 USD.
Anyone with a solid lead earns 50,000 yen, roughly $305 USD, and the shop promised anonymity for anyone who comes forward.
【 犯行動画公開 】
こちらの人物に関する情報を募集開始します。
✅生け捕り ¥1,000,000円
✅有力情報 ¥50,000円
✅拡散 ¥ご協力お願いします情報提供者様の事はもちろん口外しません‼️皆様ご協力宜しくお願い致します。
直接、関警察に情報提供してくださっても構いません。 ☎️… https://t.co/h99tk8w8H7 pic.twitter.com/JHJyDPRSQC— カイトリップ/岐阜カードショップ👑 (@kaitorip_game) July 25, 2026
Japanese X users zeroed in on that one word: alive. Since Kaitorip also runs as a secondhand buyback shop that appraises used goods by condition, some joked that a beat-up thief should fetch a lower price than a pristine one, but Kaitorip shut that down fast, insisting the full 1 million yen stands as long as the man is breathing.
Fuji TV picked up the story on its Mr. Sunday broadcast, which only pushed the post further across Japanese social media. Kaitorip has since urged anyone with information to contact Seki Police Station directly, and it keeps posting updates on X as the search continues.
Japan’s Pokemon card shops have grown used to this kind of chaos. Back in May, two men were arrested in Tokyo for stealing $213,000 worth of cards from a delivery van, using insider knowledge of the driver’s route to pull it off.
Two men arrested for stealing over $200k in Pokemon cards from van in Tokyo
Real-life Team Rocket steals $15,000 worth of Pokemon cards in just 39 seconds
