'Pokémon Go' is getting political in Japan
The world of Pokémon Go got political in Asia this week.
On the day the worldwide hit game finally came to Japan (which is incidentally the home of Pokémon), players in China started using GPS spoofers to take over Japanese gyms, according to a post on Reddit.
The move has been described on the site as a "patriotic movement" on the side of China between two countries that have often been at odds with each other.
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The thread has sparked fierce debate on the site, with hundreds of comments discussing the prank.
One of the gyms is seemingly a shrine to Japanese war dead and numerous commenters are using the opportunity to discuss events from the Sino-Japanese War of the late 1930s and 40s. One Chinese player taking over the space is apparently called Long Live China.
A university student in Japan, meanwhile, was reportedly rushed to hospital Friday after taking a tumble down some stairs in real life, hours after the game launched.
Seems like the Pokémon madness isn't confined to one side of the globe.
Topics Pokemon
Tim Chester was Senior Editor, Real Time News in Los Angeles. Before that he was Deputy Editor of Mashable UK in London. Prior to joining Mashable, Tim was a Senior Web Editor at Penguin Random House, helping to relaunch the Rough Guides website and other travel brands. He was also a writer for Buzzfeed, GQ and The Sunday Times, covering everything from culture to tech and current affairs. Before that, he was Deputy Editor at NME.COM, overseeing content and development on the London-based music and entertainment site. Tim loves music and travel and has combined these two passions at festivals from Iceland to Malawi and beyond.
