The Pokemon Company has issued an apology and canceled an event advertised to take place at a controversial shrine.
The TCG event, organized by a third party, appeared on the official Pokemon website. It was scheduled to take place at the Yasukuni Shrine.
While holding an event at a shrine may already seem disrespectful in itself, it’s actually the shrine that caused some concern.
According to reports, The Yasukuni Shrine honors Japanese citizens who died in wars between 1869 and 1954. That includes soldiers who fought for Japan as part of the Axis powers during World War II, among them over 1,000 individuals later convicted of serious war crimes.
Because of that history, the shrine remains one of the country’s most politically sensitive landmarks, often drawing backlash at home and abroad whenever high-profile figures visit.
Pokemon company pulls event at controversial shrine
The event sparked controversy, including backlash in China, prompting an apology and statement from the Pokemon Company.
In a notice published on its official website, The Pokemon Company said an upcoming event tied to the Pokémon Card Game had been mistakenly listed on its trainers portal.
According to the statement, the event search page included details for a gathering planned at Yasukuni Shrine, which the company described as an oversight caused by insufficient internal checks. It added that the listing should never have been approved in the first place.
“We deeply apologize for the results of this posting, which resulted in various responses and opinions,” they said.
The company said the event was pulled as soon as it was identified. Furthermore, TPC said it plans to overhaul and reinforce its vetting and verification procedures for event listings to ensure similar mistakes do not happen again.
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