Pokemon Go was used recently in Japan as an excuse for a man to stalk a woman. The 51-year-old man in Japan’s Kobe city was arrested for violating Japan’s stalking law. However, he said that he was only playing Pokemon Go near his victim’s house.
Kobe Shimbun , the city’s newspaper, reported that the criminal was loitering around the 33-year-old female victim’s house between May 31st and June 12th. Police had caught the man in front of the victim’s house via security camera’s that they had installed. When the police arrested the man, who works at a local school, he said that he was “only playing Pokemon Go” near the victim’s house. What’s even worse is that the police had warned the man since 2009 for following the woman. All in all, it seems like a pretty poor excuse to use when you are caught stalking someone. Especially when you have been known to be doing as such for nearly 10 years.
This is not the first time Pokemon Go has been put in hot water. The game has received numerous complaints about its PokeStops being put in culturally insensitive positions such as a 9/11 memorial or at an Auschwitz museum. Additionally, the game has also courted much controversy for causing multiple injuries. However, this is not the first time the mobile game has been connected to crimes like this as in the state of New York, sex offenders who are on parole are not allowed to play the game.
No official comment has been made by Nintendo or The Pokemon Company about this particular incident. It also seems that there might not be that much uproar about this incident any time soon.
So what do you guys think? Was what the stalker said a stupid excuse or a ridiculously stupid excuse? Give us a comment to tell us what you think!
