CORTLANDT, N.Y. (AP) -- Stephen Langsam prefers Japanese-language Pokemon cards to the English version. But when the 11-year-old plunked down $6 for a pack last month, he was upset to find one that included what he thought was a swastika.
The red mark alongside the Pokemon characters Golbat and Ditto was a "manji," a mirror image of the Nazi swastika. In Japan, where the symbol predates the Nazis by centuries, it means good fortune and can also represent a Buddhist temple.But to Stephen, his friend Marc Specht and their Jewish families, it was a Nazi swastika, the spidery symbol of hate and the Holocaust -- and it didn't belong in a children's game.
"We thought there had to be something we could do because it can be terrible for children," said Marc's mother, Myla Specht.
Nintendo of America, which makes Pokemon products, announced Thursday that the card will be discontinued.
"What is appropriate for one culture may not be for another," the company said.
The Japanese-language cards were not meant for sale in the United States. A licensed domestic vendor that manufactures Pokemon cards in English plans to issue the same card -- without the swastika -- late next year.
Many were imported without company approval to feed demand by collectors.
While the card's Japanese creators continue to believe the "manji" carries a positive message, "they also understand that there is the potential for others to misunderstand the symbol," Nintendo said.
Kenneth Jacobson, a spokesman for the Anti-Defamation League, said, "We recognize there was no intention to be offensive, but goods flow too easily from one place to another. The notion of isolating it in Asia would just create more problems."