Image via Pokémon Center Staff Voice website
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The official “Staff Voice” website for the Pokémon Center retail chain announced through various posts on March 31 that it is canceling nearly all events being held at Pokémon Center stores across Japan for the entire month of April “due to circumstances.” Exceptions to the cancellations include the “‘Pokémon GO’ Division Pokémon Center Qualifying Tournament” and “City League” events.
The cancellations apply to the Pokémon Centers in Sapporo, Tohoku, Tokyo DX, Shibuya, Skytree Town, Tokyo Bay, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kanazawa, Kyoto, Osaka, Osaka DX, Hiroshima, Kagawa, Fukuoka, and Okinawa.
The staff also announced that the “‘Pokémon GO’ Division Pokémon Center Qualifying Tournament” will have some operational changes. The on-site events will not be broadcast, and spectators will not be allowed at the events. Planned gifts for spectators have also been canceled.
The Pokémon Center Mega Tokyo store was going to host some of the tournament’s challenge events on April 18, May 10, May 11, and May 17, but the “Staff Voice” website announced on April 2 that the Pokémon Center Skytree Town will host those events instead.
The Pokémon Center Mega Tokyo store and the nearby Pikachu Sweets café inside Ikebukuro’s Sunshine City shopping complex remain temporarily closed, after a worker was stabbed inside the store on the evening of March 26. The woman, identified as 21-year-old part-time sales clerk Moe Harukawa, died.
ANN’s staff confirmed that the Pokémon Center Mega Tokyo has had security guards stationed around the venue since March 27. Other Pokémon Centers (which have remain opened) have stationed security guards, particularly in their register area.
The man who stabbed Harukawa, identified as 26-year-old Taiki Hirokawa, reportedly also stabbed himself after stabbing Harukawa, and also died. Police investigations found that Hirokawa was Harukawa’s ex-boyfriend, and Harukawa informed police in December she was the victim of a stalker, stating her ex-boyfriend was following her.
Hirokawa was arrested in December on suspicion of violating anti-stalking law and then again in January on allegations of voyeurism. Before his release in January, police officers had Harukawa stay at a relative’s house and installed security cameras at her residence.
Sources: Pokémon Center Staff Voice website, Game Watch (畠中健太) via Hachima Kikō
