{"id":66421,"date":"2026-05-11T14:00:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T05:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=66421"},"modified":"2026-05-11T14:00:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T05:00:42","slug":"the-pokemon-company-issues-warning-to-tcg-players-in-japan-following-harassment-of-staff-and-judges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-pokemon-company-issues-warning-to-tcg-players-in-japan-following-harassment-of-staff-and-judges\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pok\u00e9mon Company issues warning to TCG players in Japan following\u00a0harassment\u00a0of staff and judges\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The&nbsp;official&nbsp;Japanese portal of the&nbsp;<strong>Pok\u00e9mon&nbsp;TCG&nbsp;Trainers Website<\/strong>, run by The Pok\u00e9mon Company, published a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pokemon-card.com\/info\/005474.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a>&nbsp;on May 8&nbsp;asking players to refrain from&nbsp;harassment and inappropriate behavior&nbsp;at&nbsp;in-person&nbsp;events and&nbsp;via social media.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the announcement, the company has&nbsp;\u201cobserved instances of harassment\u201d&nbsp;of its employees,&nbsp;judges&nbsp;and&nbsp;other&nbsp;event staff;&nbsp;including slander, threats, physical aggression, and obstruction of business.&nbsp;Noting that such behavior can potentially harm the physical and mental&nbsp;well-being&nbsp;of its staff as well&nbsp;as inconvenience other players and eventgoers,&nbsp;The&nbsp;Pok\u00e9mon Company reiterated on a list of no-nos,&nbsp;requesting&nbsp;that players refrain from:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"background-color:#eaeaea\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Aggressive behavior toward employees or event staff, whether verbal or through attitude\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Comments or discriminatory remarks that damage the character or dignity of employees or event staff\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Unreasonable demands that deviate from social norms\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Inappropriate behavior involving the personal information of employees or event staff\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Acts that cause harm to the physical well-being of employees or event staff, or to event facilities\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dissemination of\u00a0malicious information<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Acts that hinder the smooth provision of services or cause inconvenience to other customers\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The company warns that&nbsp;in accordance with&nbsp;its&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/corporate.pokemon.co.jp\/en\/customerharassment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Customer Harassment Policy,<\/a>&nbsp;it reserves the right to eject players from event venues or suspend their accounts in cases where these guidelines are violated.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While The Pok\u00e9mon Company&nbsp;hasn\u2019t&nbsp;disclosed&nbsp;the specifics being the incidents that prompted this statement,&nbsp;Pok\u00e9mon TCG\u2019s rising popularity in recent years&nbsp;has&nbsp;led to an&nbsp;influx of&nbsp;new players&nbsp;and card collectors, giving&nbsp;rise to issues like&nbsp;poor tournament etiquette and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20240227-27712\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">aggressive&nbsp;scalping&nbsp;practices<\/a>.&nbsp;During the major 2026 Pok\u00e9mon Yokohama Champions League held last September,&nbsp;The Pok\u00e9mon Company&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pokemon-card.com\/info\/005238.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>&nbsp;multiple instances of cheating, such as players using stand-ins&nbsp;and&nbsp;falsifying their ages to enter&nbsp;brackets&nbsp;they\u2019re&nbsp;not&nbsp;qualified for, leading to suspensions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To make matters worse,&nbsp;the Pok\u00e9mon Center Mega Tokyo knife attack from March, which took the life of&nbsp;an employee,&nbsp;has made The Pok\u00e9mon Company extra vigilant when it comes to customer harassment, with Pok\u00e9mon Center events&nbsp;<a 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\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">being cancelled nationwide<\/a>&nbsp;throughout all of April,&nbsp;and&nbsp;tournaments being held without audiences.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The official Japanese portal of the Pok\u00e9mon TCG Trainers Website has posted a warning to players regarding customer harassment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":61004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17,70],"class_list":["post-66421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news","tag-pokemon-series"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Pok\u00e9mon Company issues warning to TCG players in Japan following\u00a0harassment\u00a0of staff and judges\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The official Japanese portal of the Pok\u00e9mon TCG Trainers Website has posted a warning to players regarding customer harassment.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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