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Japanese Gymnastics Champion Catches $5,000 Pokemon Go Bill At Olympics
- Source:
- Kyodo News
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Only 27 years old, Japanese gymnastics champion and general favorite for the 2016 Olympics Kyohei Uchimura was hoping to catch another gold medal during his trip to Rio, but instead he's ended up collecting a staggering phone bill--thanks to the mega-popular Pokemon Go.
The reigning champion may have been trying to play catch up to the rest of the world (the game has only been out in Japan for a couple of weeks) while training in San Paolo before the Olympic games, but after checking his first phone bill since getting hooked on the hit game, he may want to pocket his phone for a bit. His phone bill listed data roaming charges totaling 500,000 yen (($5,000 USD), as the Olympian was unaware of not having a standard rate for data use while abroad, Kyodo News reports. Uchimura was understandably dejected:
It wasn't all bad luck, however. His mobile phone company (Softbank) tossed out the fee after he explained the situation to them, and as typical of Japanese customer service, reducing it to a flat rate of 3,000 yen. Hooray!