When a pastime becomes a billion-dollar asset class, it inevitably inherits the vulnerabilities of one. Japan's ruling party lawmakers, watching a trading card market that has grown fourfold since 2017 to reach $2.1 billion, have formed a parliamentary task force to impose order before the ecosystem's own success undoes it. The move reflects a broader truth about cultural exports: the moment they acquire serious monetary value, they require the same institutional scaffolding as any other market worth protecting.