If you’ve spent any time on social media lately, especially in the political space, you might have noticed an odd trend. Official US government accounts are dropping political posts filled with memes from Pokémon and Mario to Naruto. But as it turns out, officials over in Japan are not exactly thrilled about their most famous gaming and anime icons being used this way.
According to a report by Kotaku, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly reached out to the Trump administration, asking them to stop using beloved Japanese intellectual property in their political social media posts.
A steady stream of gaming and anime mashups
For the past year, White House and government social media accounts have regularly leaned into gaming and anime references to appeal to online audiences, using recognizable icons to promote various policies and announcements.
Some notable examples include:
- September 2025: The Department of Homeland Security posted a video pairing the iconic original Pokémon theme song with footage of ICE arrests.
- March 2026: The official White House X (formerly Twitter) account shared a clip blending
- footage of missile strikes in Iran with Wii Sports visuals.
- Pokopia text generators: Official accounts also used a fan-made Pokémon Pokopia text generator to broadcast “Make America Great Again” messages.
Brands worry about potential damage
The heavy use of these characters hasn’t gone unnoticed by the companies that created them. The Pokémon Company previously clarified that it had no involvement with the posts and that the administration never requested permission to use their assets.
“We are aware of recent social content that includes imagery associated with our brand,” Pokémon spokeswoman Sravanthi Dev said in the statement. “We were not involved in its creation or distribution, and no permission was granted for the use of our intellectual property.
The company had to release the statement after the Trump administration’s official accounts used a fan-made Pokémon Pokopia text generator to broadcast “Make America Great Again” messages in March.
The Japanese government is responding
Behind the scenes, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stepped in to prevent any potential damage to one of its country’s biggest brands. Japanese officials, as recently as June, are lobbying their U.S. counterparts and urging officials to consider the potential damage these posts could cause to the reputation of iconic Japanese works.
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs is arguing the possibility of copyright infringement while stating that “it’s inappropriate even for public institutions to reproduce copyrighted materials without the rightsholders’ consent.”
Legal battle may be needed for a change
The report doesn’t mention whether Japanese officials actually got a reply to their latest request. However, given how long this drama has been dragging on and how many times they’ve been ignored, it doesn’t look like things are wrapping up anytime soon.
For now, unless big companies with huge legal resources like Nintendo decide to take formal legal action, these pop-culture political memes are likely to keep popping up on your feed.
Sources: Kotaku, ScreenRant