Amazing scenes over the weekend show hordes of trainers catching Pokémon in two well-known parks, and one of those parks has a Fountain Tower area shaped like a Poké Ball.
With the long-awaited release of Pokémon Go in Japan on Friday, the mobile augmented reality world has finally cast its spell over the nation, and these images from the first weekend since its release show just how many trainers are joining the call to catch ’em all. Two parks in particular proved to be a hive of activity for spotting the otherworldly characters, and one of them is being dubbed the “Holy Land of Pokémon” due to its unusual water feature, which, when seen from above, looks exactly like a Poké Ball.
▼ Tsuruma Park in Nagoya, established in 1909, has become a coveted destination for players of the game, with its Poké Ball-shaped feature.
A huge number of people turned up to the park on Saturday night, following false reports that the elusive Mewtwo had been spotted in the area.
▼ This was the crowd in the park at midnight.
Another park to make headlines around Japan on the weekend was one that we’d visited on Friday, the “Pikachu Forest” where our Japanese reporter picked up three Pikachu and 15 other types of Pokémon in just thirty minutes.
▼ Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, welcomed a huge number of gamers to its grounds on the weekend.
There were long lines at the ticket gates to the park, with admission year-round costing 200 yen per entry.
With the park only open until 4:30 p.m., trainers spent every last moment they could here, capturing Pokémon before they went off to sleep for the night.
▼ And one of the most popular finds at the park was Dragonair.
Thankfully, despite the huge crowds, there were no reports of any injuries, which remains a concern for the Japanese government and the creators of the game. Let’s hope trainers in Japan continue to heed safety warnings from the government as they head outdoors to play the game around the country.
Source: Hachima Kikou (1, 2)
Featured Image: Twitter/@0dake