The Chinese group that took over the Yasukuni Shrine's gym in Japan told BuzzFeed News that it was an impromptu move as they were exploring the newly-released Japanese server.
Japan, the original home of Pokémon, finally released the wildly popular Pokémon Go on Friday morning. But players from China, where the game isn't out yet, have flooded the servers.
Toru Yamanaka / AFP / Getty Images
This screenshot of a Dragonite — named "Long Live China!!!!" was posted on Reddit and immediately caused a huge stir.
It wasn't just the name that got people riled, but the location of the gym it was placed over: the Yasukuni Shrine.
The controversial location is where anyone who died while serving in past wars — including 14 A-Class war criminals who served in World War II, where China was invaded by Japan — are enshrined. The user who posted the screenshot to reddit said the offending Pokémon belonged to a group of Chinese players, who faked their GPS location to access the Japanese server, taking control of the gym as an act of patriotism.
Toshifumi Kitamura / AFP / Getty Images
BuzzFeed News reached out to the group of Chinese Pokémon Go players, who confirmed that they were accountable of the act and spoofed their GPS to explore the Japanese server.
"We were just trying out the new Japanese server, and some in the group spotted Yasukuni Shrine by accident," said a main group member, a 26-year-old Shanghai-based player named Yang. (Yang was only willing to be identified with his surname.) He went on to deny that taking over the gym was a patriotic act, saying it was a spur of the moment decision.
"We just wanted to play, we didn't imagine the result" Yang said, referring to the explosion on social meadia, as thousands of Chinese people commented on Weibo. "You know what Yasukuni Shrine means to China," added Yang, a foreign company post-sales representative, during the interview conducted in Mandarin over voice chat.
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