{"id":64573,"date":"2026-04-02T13:15:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T04:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=64573"},"modified":"2026-04-02T16:45:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T07:45:27","slug":"the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/","title":{"rendered":"The\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Company cancels\u00a0scheduled\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Center events\u00a0across all\u00a0nationwide locations in April.\u00a0Tournaments to be held without spectators\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On March 31, The Pok\u00e9mon Company announced that all events scheduled to be held in Pok\u00e9mon Center stores across Japan from April 1 to April 31 would be cancelled, with the exception of two tournaments (source: GameWatch)<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announcements were made for each Pok\u00e9mon Center location simultaneously through the official Pok\u00e9mon Center Staff Voice<\/a> portal. While Pok\u00e9mon Centers normally host regular events like Pok\u00e9mon Greetings (featuring costumed mascots) and Pok\u00e9mon TCG Classrooms, all such events have been cancelled, citing \u201cunforeseen circumstances.\u201d The exceptions are the domestic City League TCG Tournament and the Preliminary Tournament for the Pok\u00e9mon GO Japan Championships 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, likely due to safety reasons, the tournaments will be run differently. Matches will not be broadcast, and no spectators will be allowed. Consequently, the previously planned commemorative gifts for spectators will not be distributed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These announcements follow the temporary closure of Pok\u00e9mon Center Mega Tokyo announced on March 27, which was\u00a0directly\u00a0related\u00a0to the\u00a0fatal stabbing incident<\/a>\u00a0that took place within the store\u00a0and resulted in the death of an employee. The Pok\u00e9mon Company\u00a0stated\u00a0that it would prioritize\u00a0the mental well-being of its staff and cooperation with the police, which is\u00a0possibly the\u00a0reason for the\u00a0new string of\u00a0cancelled events. While the new announcement only affects events\u00a0scheduled during April,\u00a0it’s\u00a0still not known when Pok\u00e9mon Center Mega Tokyo will reopen its doors.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This follows the indefinite closure of Pok\u00e9mon Center Mega Tokyo announced on March 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":64574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17,70],"class_list":["post-64573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news","tag-pokemon-series"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Company cancels\u00a0scheduled\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Center events\u00a0across all\u00a0nationwide locations in April.\u00a0Tournaments to be held without spectators\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With the exception of\u00a0two\u00a0tournaments, all events planned in Pokemon Center stores across Japan during April have been cancelled.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Company cancels\u00a0scheduled\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Center events\u00a0across all\u00a0nationwide locations in April.\u00a0Tournaments to be held without spectators\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With the exception of\u00a0two\u00a0tournaments, all events planned in Pokemon Center stores across Japan during April have been cancelled.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-02T04:15:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-02T07:45:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260402-64573-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1274\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"780\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Company cancels\u00a0scheduled\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Center events\u00a0across all\u00a0nationwide locations in April.\u00a0Tournaments to be held without spectators\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"With the exception of\u00a0two\u00a0tournaments, all events planned in Pokemon Center stores across Japan during April have been cancelled.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Company cancels\u00a0scheduled\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Center events\u00a0across all\u00a0nationwide locations in April.\u00a0Tournaments to be held without spectators\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"With the exception of\u00a0two\u00a0tournaments, all events planned in Pokemon Center stores across Japan during April have been cancelled.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-04-02T04:15:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-02T07:45:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1274,"height":780,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260402-64573-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"The\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Company cancels\u00a0scheduled\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Center events\u00a0across all\u00a0nationwide locations in April.\u00a0Tournaments to be held without spectators\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-04-02T04:15:24+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-02T07:45:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/"},"wordCount":288,"commentCount":11,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260402-64573-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)","Pokemon Series"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/","name":"The\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Company cancels\u00a0scheduled\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Center events\u00a0across all\u00a0nationwide locations in April.\u00a0Tournaments to be held without spectators\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260402-64573-header.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-02T04:15:24+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-02T07:45:27+00:00","description":"With the exception of\u00a0two\u00a0tournaments, all events planned in Pokemon Center stores across Japan during April have been cancelled.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260402-64573-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260402-64573-header.jpg","width":1274,"height":780,"caption":"Pokemon Center Nagoya"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-cancels-scheduled-pokemon-center-events-across-all-nationwide-locations-in-april-tournaments-to-be-held-without-spectators\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Company cancels\u00a0scheduled\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Center events\u00a0across all\u00a0nationwide locations in April.\u00a0Tournaments to be held without spectators\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9","name":"Amber V","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","caption":"Amber V"},"description":"Editor-in-Chief since October 2023. She grew up playing Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein with her dad, and is now enamored with obscure Japanese video games and internet culture. Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64573"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64583,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64573\/revisions\/64583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}