It's even more interesting than that. Nintendo was created shortly after Japan made it no longer illegal to manufacturer or play card games (seen as something from the West to be banned). They started creating original card and board games, as well as card designs. They focused on playing cards, not necessarily trading cards, though. The entire business was able to exist or started due to government regulations and a partial lift.

Sort of unrelated, but Japanese companies have a history of convincing Disney to do things they'd otherwise never do. Nintendo famously got a license to use Disney characters on their playing cards in the 1950s... something nobody else was able to do, and it was one of their most lucrative lines. Square Enix managed to convince Disney to license their IP for use in Kingdom Hearts, which is bizarre in numerous ways for the Disney MO, and it turned into something incredible. Studio Ghibli famously managed to prevent Disney from destroying it's films when released in the US by pulling a power play (they sent a samurai sword to Harvey Weinstein... yes that Harvey with a note that just said "No cuts.").