Fans will need to be residents of Japan in order to buy these items from the Pokémon Center Online.

Scalping is becoming an increasingly large problem for the Pokémon franchise, and the latest move by the Pokémon Company to clamp down on the practice is a new system that requires a Japanese government-issued ID card for making certain purchases through the Pokémon Center Online store. As unveiled last month, the system works in tandem with the Digital Identification App, an app created by the Digital Agency (part of the prime minster’s cabinet) and the My Number Card, a government-issued ID card that’s also used in the administration of social services such as health insurance and social security/national pension payments.

The Pokémon Center Online has now announced the first items which will require shoppers to prove their identity through the Digital App, with four Pokémon Card Game items designated for such protection, all of them part of the Pokémon Card Game’s 30th Celebration series and scheduled to go on sale next month. The restricted items are:

● Pokémon Card Game Mega Expansion Pack 30th Celebration Box (7,200 yen [US$46])
● Pokémon Card Game Mega 30th Celebration Futuristic Box (27,500 yen)
● Pokémon Card Game Mega 30th Celebration Espeon and Umbreon Premium Deck Set (6,200 yen)
● Pokémon Card Game Mega 30th Celebration Card Set (9-type complete set) (10,800 yen)

▼ The Futuristic Box is a bundle that includes two guaranteed Pikachu ex promo cards, card shields, a deck case, and a play mat, and a display case, among other items.

▼ The Pokémon Card Game Mega 30th Celebration Espeon and Umbreon Premium Deck Set features two ex cards of Espeon and Umbron each, part of two separate decks with a grand total of 60 cards.

Now, if you’re wondering how non-residents of Japan can get a My Number Card and use the Digital Identification App, the answer is that they can’t. So in requiring verification through the app, the Pokémon Center Online is effectively restricting sales of the affected items to Japanese residents only.

That’s an unhappy side effect, but odds are the Pokémon Company imagines that legitimate foreign fans aren’t likely to be getting shut out of making the purchases. While visiting tourists do indeed drop a lot of cash on Pokémon stuff in Japan, merch such as Pokémon plushies, T-shirts, and even Happy Meal toys are the big draws for fans from overseas. Pokémon cards sold in Japan explain the card’s capabilities in Japanese text only, so the language barrier makes them of limited appeal or utility for foreign fans who’re actually interested in using them to play the game, which would suggest that foreign shoppers who are buying and limited-edition cards/card sets are doing so for some other purpose. On the other hand, it could be that the Pokémon Center Online’s decision to require use of the Digital Identification App is simply because it’s Japan’s most extensive domestic platform for electronic identity verification, thus making it the most easily available infrastructure for tracking repeat/bulk purchases by the same person, regardless of nationality.

▼ The Pokémon Card Game Mega 30th Celebration Card Sets come in nine versions, with a guaranteed set of cards representing a single generation’s starter Pokémon, a display stand, and two packs of cards.

It’s not clear whether physical Pokémon Center stores in Japan will also require buyers to use the Digital Identification App/a My Number Card in order to make purchases. No other retailers currently have any such requirements in place, but may enact their own sort of anti-scalping methods.

Pre-orders for the restricted item open on August 10 for the Pokémon Card Game Mega Expansion Pack 30th Celebration Box, 30th Celebration Futuristic Box, and 30th Celebration Espeon and Umbreon Premium Deck Set with a slated shipping date of September 15, with the respective dates for the Pokémon Card Game Mega 30th Celebration Card Sets are August 28 and October 15.

Source: Pokémon Card Game official website, Pokémon Center Online via Oricon News via Livedoor News
Top image: Pokémon Card Game official website
Insert images: Pokémon Card Game official website (1, 2, 3)
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