The website of Pokémon's official Japanese website shows a "404 Not Found" error.

Pokémon, a Japanese media franchise, issued an apology in both Japanese and Chinese on Friday after its website listed an event to be held at notorious Yasukuni Shrine, which has drawn a strong backlash on Chinese social media, pledging to prevent similar incidents from happening again, according to a statement the company released on its official website. 

The Japanese firm has been recently mired in controversy on Chinese social media after netizens discovered that it plans to hold a card game event at the notorious Yasukuni Shrine. The move has drawn criticism from Chinese netizens, with many saying that Japanese companies that profit from China while undermining China's interests shouldn't be tolerated.

The Pokémon said in the statement on Friday, stating that the company will fundamentally revise and strengthen its review and verification processes for event information to prevent similar issues from recurring. 
On the event page of the "Pokémon card trainer website" operated by Pokémon, information was posted about an event listing Yasukuni Shrine as the venue, as individuals who hold Pokémon card game certification are able to post information about events they organize on the website. This particular event was not appropriate to be held, but due to shortcomings in the confirmation process, its information was mistakenly posted on the event page, according to the statement. 

After discovering the issue, the company said it promptly removed the relevant information, and the event has since been canceled. Following the posting of this event information, it said that it received feedback and opinions from various parties, for which the company would like to express its sincere apologies.

The company vowed to fundamentally revise and strengthen its review system and confirmation procedures for event information to ensure that similar issues do not occur again. 

According to a screenshot posted by Chinese netizens, on its official Japanese website, Pokémon said the card game event will be held at the Yasukuni Shrine on Saturday. However, when the Global Times checked the website as of press time, it showed a "404 Not Found" error.

The Yasukuni Shrine is a symbol of Japanese militarism and it honors Class-A war criminals who bear grave responsibility for war crimes committed against the peoples of Asian countries. Many Chinese netizens said any entertainment or leisure activities held at such a site constitute an open affront to historical truth, and staging events aimed at children there is even more egregious.