Leon / Nessa / Bea / Raihan Trainer Collections With Autographed Promos!

[Charmaster:)]

No we don't? It's a Japanese series, we should all know it comes from Japan. It's inextricable from the series. Monster designs take inspiration from Japanese folklore and fiction/sci-fi more than any other source, stories reference Japanese religion/etc. Why whitewash it?

You said it yourself; it takes INSPIRATION from Japan. And yet Kanto and Johto, the regions that resemble Japan closest, are part of a continent. The real world is an INSPIRATION for much of the culture in the Pokémon world, but to say that every country in the Pokémon world is literate in a language which originated in an island country that, in the real world, wasn’t even in contact with the rest of the world for most of its history is, you must admit, a stretch. In the same way, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth was INSPIRED by many different real world mythologies, such as Beowulf (as well as from his interests in languages and literature, his personal experiences, and Christianity (with many Christian themes being found throughout the story)), but there were many, MANY original elements, most notably Hobbits and THE LANGUAGE OF MIDDLE EARTH. Fantasy worlds are inevitably going to have fantasy languages... it’s just up to the developer of the story to what extent the written and spoken languages are automatically translated into the first language of the reader, gamer, or movie-er. It’s not an act of whitewashing culture; it’s a step in the right direction towards making Pokémon feel more authentic.
That being said, I can completely understand why they started out using Japanese characters and why some people are upset about or annoyed by the change. You are most certainly right when you say that every region seems to take some amount of inspiration from Japan.

(P.S. I had originally said "In the same way, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth was INSPIRED by many different real world mythologies (with many Christian themes being found throughout the story)", but I then realized how easily that could be misread as a statement that Christianity is a mythology. I myself am a Christian and do not believe that Christianity is mythology, which is why I am making this statement in addition to correcting the J.R.R. Tolkien analogy. I apologize for any misunderstandings that my poor wording may have caused and ask for the forgiveness of those who have been negatively affected by that same poor wording.)

 

[Geodude]

As I understand it, the entire reason for that fake language is due to 4Kids, the dubbing company that originally handled the English version of the anime. They consistently went to ridiculous lengths to remove any possible reference to Japan from the episodes. So finally the Japanese animators agreed to stop using text in one language that non-Japanese kids don't understand and replace it with a fake language...that non-Japanese kids also don't understand. It makes no sense at all, I know, but it's what happened.