Yesterday dozens of Hong Kong protesters marched to the Japanese Consulate in Central, demanding Nintendo change the name of a Pokémon.
You're probably wondering what the problem is. Well, Nintendo recently announced Pokémon Sun and Moon for Nintendo 3DS, and these will be the first games in the series which are available in traditional and simplified Chinese.
While this might seem like good news, Nintendo is attempting to unify naming of its imaginary creatures across China which, according to angry fans, disrespects local language tradition.
As QZ reports: "Pokémon in Greater China will be officially called 精靈寶可夢, or Jingling Baokemeng in Mandarin (Jingling means "spirit" or "elf," and Baokemeng is a transliteration of Pokémon).
"Earlier in Hong Kong, it was 寵物小精靈, Pet Little Elves (or Spirits), while in Taiwan, it was 神奇寶貝, Magic Babies."
Basically, Hong Kong wants its Pet Little Elves back. This change also tweaks the names of some of the actual Pokémon. Take Pikachu - the yellow fan-favourite used to be called 比卡超 (Bei-kaa-chyu), but is now 皮卡丘 (Pikaqiu).
"Pikachu is 比卡超, not 皮卡丘, I hereby vow I will never buy from Nintendo again, unless you finally understand what is Cantonese and the correct Chinese usage," said one gamer, according to QZ.
The photos show one of the protesters holding two microphones, which is a scientifically-proven way to get your voice heard, as it shows exactly how serious you and your massive 20-person group really is.
Protesters are even going as far as to threaten to boycott Nintendo over the change, though this seems to stem from wider political implications.
"Our culture [and] language is threatened by the Beijing government, Mandarin, and simplified Chinese," said Wong Yeung-tat, founder of Civic Passion, a radical localist group which seeks independence from China, via QZ. "We're afraid Cantonese may be disappearing."
