Japanese government officials have repeatedly approached the Trump administration, urging them to cease the use of popular Japanese franchises such as Mario, Pokémon, and Naruto in political social media content. According to a report from Mainichi Shimbun, these requests have been made by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs as recently as June.
The White House social media team has been criticized for attempting to appeal to a younger, online demographic by incorporating references to Japanese intellectual property into posts promoting various policies. This strategy has been described as the administration making a "How do you do, fellow kids?" impression.
Instances cited include a September 2025 video from the Department of Homeland Security that overlaid the original Pokémon theme song onto footage of ICE arrests. More recently, in March of the current year, the White House X account featured a video of missile strikes in Iran interspersed with footage from Wii Sports. Another post utilized the Pokémon Pokopia text generator for a "make America great again" message.
The Pokémon Company previously responded to similar incidents, disavowing any involvement and stating that the Trump administration had not sought permission to use their content. The latest reports indicate that behind-the-scenes lobbying by the Japanese government is underway, with officials hoping to dissuade the administration from continuing to use these franchises in a manner they believe is damaging to the cultural impact and integrity of these works.
The article suggests that without significant legal action from larger companies possessing resources comparable to Nintendo, the practice of using these IPs for political memes may persist.