Poke Temple

Centuries of tradition meets the modern-day world of gaming and culminates in a beautiful display of kindness.

A temple in Kyoto is making headlines with the recent announcement that it had recently become a gym in the augmented reality world of the mobile game Pokémon Go. What’s really got people talking, however, is the amount of kindness shown by the Buddhist temple monks, who are not only happy to join up with the gaming world, but eager to pull out all the stops to help visitors have the best experience possible while battling their Pokémon at their designated gym.

Temple staff first sent out a message on their social media accounts a few days ago, to let people know they had become a gym and were waiting to welcome level 5 players to their grounds. While they initially offered free wi-fi to visitors, they have since been forced to cancel this service, with sincere apologies.

The gym, located at Kaigen-ji Temple in Kyoto’s Fukuchiyama district, offers conveniences to players with washroom facilities and on-site water supplies, which staff are happy for players to use. To top it all off, the temple also offers free use of mobile phone chargers, which have been placed on the steps of the main temple.

▼ The Poké Ball sign on the box lets game players know about the chargers, while minimising interference with the aesthetic of the temple for regular worshippers.

Poke Temple 2

Since the temple tweeted details of their services, they’ve received thousands of likes and retweets, with people leaving comments like:

“This is wonderful!”
“What a great idea! You can pray at the temple first for rare Pokémon to come before getting into the game!”
“This type of support really shows profound compassion.”
“There’s real incense here, just like in the game!”
“Thank you for such a beautiful show of tolerance.”

According to staff, the temple is designed to act as a haven for people in times of disaster, so testing their capabilities in terms of electricity and facilities actually helps them out as well. It’s a beautiful example of people in a community coming together to help each other reach their goals.

Source: ITMedia
Images: Twitter/@ shiba3