From our special correspondent in Yokohama (Japan),
Honoka starts running: “Mommy, mommy, it’s Pikachu!!!” In a sweat, the mother of the 7-year-old girl follows. Honoka wants to be in the front row of the parade. A few moments later, while giant Pikachu are dancing on the esplanade in front of the Yokohama Museum of Fine Arts, Ichika catches his breath: “I promised him that we were going to devote the day to Pokémon, but I didn’t think that there would be so many things to see and do. »
Yokohama is all decked out in the colors of Pikachu and Pokémon for the World Gaming Championships. From August 11 to 13, the best players in video games, card games, Pokémon Go and Pokémon Unite compete , in different categories. This is the first time that this competition, created in 2002, has been hosted by Japan. And so Yokohama was chosen.
Pikachu Tourism
Since 2014, Japan’s largest port has hosted a Pokémon Festival every year. This year’s event is special because the World Championships attract an even bigger audience. A million people are expected over the weekend alone, and only for the competition. Ichika and her daughter decided to come on Wednesday to avoid the hordes of Pocket Monsters fans.
“It’s great that foreign tourists like Pokémon. You are not seen often in Yokohama and you are welcome. But my daughter loves Pokemon so much that she doesn’t want to share them,” laughs Honoka’s mom.
Yokohama on Pokémon H24 time
However, even two days before the start of the Championships, the places dedicated to Pokémon are taken by storm in Yokohama. Pikachu fever has invaded metro stations, where you can collect special stamps, the streets – with creations by street artists -, shopping centers… An exhibition of giant Pokémon cards showcases the visual creations of artists Japanese. A 15-meter Pikachu card, made of yellow flowers adorns the lobby of the Queens Mall…
Wherever you look, Pikachu appears. On the big wheel, “Cosmo Clock”, in the port of Minato Mirai, in the instant noodles museum (which has a temporary exhibition dedicated to it), on the sidewalks… Queues are created almost everywhere to take pictured with reproductions of different Pokémon.
Tokyo? Well…
“Yokohama is, historically, the first port in Japan to open to foreigners, in 1859,” says Riku Watanabe, event manager at the city’s tourist office. The city was built on international trade but most foreign visitors who come here do so for business. Tokyo is less than an hour away but we have infinitely fewer tourists. So the Pokémon Championships are a great opportunity for us. »
In the streets of the city, in fact, an overwhelming majority of tourists are there to follow the competition. To the point of denigrating the visit to Tokyo… “There is already so much to do here, comments Bénédicte, who came from Lille to encourage the French champions. We will probably go to Tokyo for a day or two, but no more. The other five days of family visits, before leaving for Kyoto, are therefore devoted to Pokémon animations in Yokohama.
The museum or the cruise?
Jürgen, a German Pokémon fan and competitor of the competition, will spend a little more time in Tokyo: “There is a symphonic concert of music from the Pokémon video game. And then I want to see the ethnography museum, visit temples too. I seek to understand and immerse myself in certain aspects of Japanese culture to better detect the winks present in the games. »
For this he will have to agree to leave the port of Yokohama where a spectacle of drones drawing Pokémon above the water, hypnotizes him… He will also have to avoid the outdoor representation of an open-air Pokémon musical, and give up the Pokémon cruise on an ocean liner, reserved for “trainers” like him.
Grab them (goodies) all!
Wednesday evening, for the opening of the Pokémon Center – the place where the competitions take place – a privileged crowd was able to enter the ephemeral Pokémon store 24 hours in advance. “Most visitors come for that, thinks Sam, an American loaded with stuffed animals, play mats and other giveaways Pokemon. Plus, it’s in Japan, so everyone expects one-of-a-kind merchandising. »
The sums spent at the shop – to which access was made by drawing lots as the demand is high – are sometimes staggering. “It’s more than the cost of my four nights in a hotel,” Sam laughs. Not all Pokémon fans are satisfied with a selfie with a Torchic or a video of a dozen Pikachu dancing in the street …