Pokémon Company apologizes after TCG event listing at Yasukuni Shrine

The Pokémon Company has apologized after a listing appeared on its official site for a Pokémon TCG event said to be taking place at the Yasukuni Shrine. The Yasukuni Shrine commemorates Japanese people who died in conflicts from 1869 to 1954, and thus includes soldiers who fought with Japan in World War II — many of whom were later charged with serious war crimes.

The site is highly controversial both inside and outside Japan, and visits by political figures or publicized visits have repeatedly caused backlash; the company itself faced criticism when employees from Creatures visited the shrine for hatsumōde in 2019. According to the report, live events are added to the company’s site by organizers who hold an official Pokémon Play certification rather than by The Pokémon Company directly, and it appears someone with that certification in Japan added the listing.

In a statement on its corporate site (via machine translation) The Pokémon Company said, "On the event search page of the 'Pokémon Card Game Trainers Website' operated by our company, information about an event scheduled to be held at Yasukuni Shrine was posted." The company called allowing the listing the result of a "lack of due diligence," added that it "should not have been held in the first place," and said the event was canceled.

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