Showing posts with label Pikachu Outbreak. Show all posts

Getting into Yokohama’s Pikachu madness


YOKOHAMA, JAPAN—Tokyo is a quiet city.

 Besides the sounds of trains on railway tracks, the pedestrians stomping on street crossings, employees shouting their oishi menu promos, and even the noise of crickets at night, the city of 13 million people generally lives in serene silence.

But that silence can easily be broken by seven syllables, said by a familiar voice that goes: “Pika-Pika-Pikachuuu!”

 You’ve probably seen viral Facebook videos of Pikachu mascots in droves dressed in different costumes. In their yellow tubby form, with an ever-smiling face and thunder-shaped tail, we see them walking in sync, waving hello and dancing—making them cuter than they already are.

Outside of your screens, these Pikachus can be seen in the city of Yokohama every day of the week starting Wednesday, Aug. 9. The Pikachu shows run until Aug. 15 this year.

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I played Pokemon Go in Tokyo


TOKYO, JAPAN—The week “Pokemon Go” was launched in the country last August, I was all geared up to chase Pikachus during the annual Pokemon summer festival in Yokohama, Japan.

It is a monthlong celebration with Pikachu mascots running around the city every Sunday. Each year, the Pikachu Outbreak has a theme. For 2016, it was “Splash,” a refreshing idea under the 40-degree Tokyo weather.

 The idea of “authentic” Pokemon hunting in the bustling city of Tokyo was a thrill, and the virtual reality game was the best travel buddy you could ask for. The app was on whenever we waited in line in restaurants and as we went around the city so we could clock in some kilometers on our egg incubators.

With a newly downloaded app and a tourist mode on, we easily earned experience enough to level up as much as 11 stages during our 5-day trip.

We easily caught a Pikachu in Shibuya on our first day, saw a Squirtle while we were trying to claw Eevee stuffed toys out of a machine in Ikebukuro, lured a Magnemite as we crazed over gachapons, and finally hatched a 10-kilometer Vulpix egg when we reached the Tower.

Here are some of the Pokemon I caught, taken in @girleatworld style:
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How Pikachu gave me a happy childhood



MOST kids who grew up in the 1990s would say Pokémon was their childhood. When I was six, Pikachu was my best friend.
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