Nuclear disaster site Fukushima is infested with Pokémon

Fukushima power plant.
(Image credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

The wildly popular smartphone game Pokémon Go has led people to dead bodies, toward muggers, and off of cliffs, but since launching in Japan, a whole new danger lurks for those trying to catch 'em all: nuclear radiation. Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the reactors at Fukushima, site of the 2011 meltdown, says that virtual Pokémon characters are roaming the contaminated grounds and could potentially lure users into the evacuation zone.

Even though it has been five years since the nuclear disaster, the land around Fukushima is still very dangerous. What's more, Pokémon Go developer Niantic said that the region is supposed to be a dead zone, where no characters appear.

Everyone agrees that you definitely shouldn't enter the contaminated grounds, even if a MewTwo could await; even Tokyo Electric employees are forbidden from playing on site. Some things just aren't worth it.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.