Pikachu, Meowth, and more are living right in Mickey’s backyard.
One of the most endearing things about Pokémon is how it doesn’t have even the slightest interest in being edgy. In an era where so many entertainment franchises gradually reposition themselves to be grittier and darker to keep pace with maturing fans and their fattening wallets, Pokémon continues to be bright and shiny pretty much all the time, staying kid-friendly first while still occupying a place in the hearts of older teens and adults who grew up with it.
So it’s a little surprising to see that arguably the best place in all of Japan to play Pokémon GO is right in entertainment rival Disney’s backyard.
As you can probably guess, Pokémon GO is a pretty big hit among the RocketNews24 team. So when our Japanese-language correspondent Seiji came back from covering this year’s Summer Wonder Festival, we were all jealous that he’d come home with a huge haul of Pocket Monsters he’d caught on his way back.
Making us even more envious was the fact that Seiji’s isn’t nearly as obsessive about building up his Pokémon GO stable as many of the rest of us are. So how did this filthy casual capture so many specimens? Simple: he had to go through Maihama Station, on the JR Keiyo Line, on his way back from Wonder Festival.
Maihama is about 15 minutes from Tokyo Station, and also just happens to be the closest rail stop to the Tokyo Disney Resort, which includes Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo Disneysea, and the Ikspiari shopping and entertainment complex. In addition, Maihama is also now one of the most Pokémon-populous neighborhoods in the greater Tokyo area, so we grabbed our phones and hopped on the train to see if we could duplicate Seiji’s success.
So, how fertile are Maihama’s Pokémon GO hunting grounds?
Well, in just one hour of play, we caught 20 different types of Pocket Monsters, including:
● Pikachu
● Meowth
● Squirtle
● Ponyta
● Sandshrew
● Clefairy
● Vulpix
● Jigglypuff
● Diglett
● Mankey
● Growlithe
● Machop
● Geodude
● Graveler
● Magnemite
● Voltorb
● Electrode
● Omanyte
And that’s not even counting the other Pokémon that were nearby which we didn’t catch.
To clarify, we found all these Pocket Monsters in the vicinity of the station and Ikspiari, so it’s not like you’ll need to shell out for a Disneyland or Disney Sea ticket to catch them. Really, there’s only one problem with hunting for Pokémon in Maihama, which is that the area around the station doesn’t have any PokeStops. As such, you’ll want to stock up on Poké Balls, Razz Berries, and the like before you go.
Just remember that when looking at your phone’s screen, it’s important to differentiate between the game’s graphics and the real world environment. After all, you wouldn’t want to waste an Ultra Ball by throwing it at a costumed Mickey Mouse performer or Winnie the Pooh plushie.
Images ©RocketNews24
[ Read in Japanese ]
Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s still kind of bummed out that the Pokémon that you can catch at his house isn’t very cute.
[ Read in Japanese ]