Nintendo Osaka will have a super-convenient location for locals, travelers, and Pokémon fans.
On a freezing cold late autumn morning in 2019, a long line of people stood in the Tokyo rain for hours, and they were happy to do it. Why? Because they were waiting for the opening of the first ever Nintendo shop in Japan.
It was an awesome experience, and now it’s going to be one that video game fans in central Japan can have, hopefully with better weather, as Nintendo has just announced it’s opening a second shop called Nintendo Osaka!
Though it’s sometimes mistakenly thought of as the second-largest city in Japan, Osaka actually ranks behind beneath Tokyo and Yokohama on the population list. However, with Tokyo and Yokohama located only about half and hour from each other, Nintendo has chosen to open its new store inside downtown Osaka’s Daimaru Umeda department store/shopping center, right next to Osaka Station.
▼ Opening day at Super Nintendo Tokyo
The new Super Nintendo World section of Universal Studios Japan, which is also located in Osaka, also likely played a part in the decision, since a lot of the park’s visitors these days are there specifically to check out the Mario Kart roller coaster and other Nintendo-themed attractions. Osaka’s Kansai International Airport being one of the largest gateways into Japan for international travelers also makes the city a natural choice for a company with as passionate a global fanbase as Nintendo enjoys.
Nintendo Osaka opening at Daimaru Umeda specifically also feels like a smart move, since the shopping center is already home to a Pokémon Center megastore, which should make for some convenient one-stop-shopping synergy of the kind between the Nintendo Tokyo and Pokémon Center Shibuya shops, which are on the same floor of the Shibuya Parco complex.
▼ Pokémon Center Osaka
Fans are, obviously, ecstatic about the announcement, with online reactions including:
“Nintendo Osaka? Yep, I’m going!”
“I’m right next door in Hyogo Prefecture, so I’ll be there.”
“Now I’ve got even more reasons to take a trip to Kansai!”
“I hope they have a Link statue too!”
“I went to the one in Tokyo, and I was so happy about how much Yoshi stuff they had.”
Really, the only rumbling seems to be in relation to the timetable for Nintendo Osaka’s opening. Right now, Nintendo isn’t saying anything more specific than that the store will open “at the end of 2022.” That does seem like an awfully long prep time, especially considering that they’ve already got the successful Tokyo shop serving as a pretty clear blueprint they can copy. Then again, with all the unexpected delays the Super Nintendo World USJ expansion had to deal with, you can’t really blame Nintendo for giving themselves more time than they might actually need, and we’re willing to bet fans will find the store to be worth the wait.
Sources: Nintendo, Twitter
Top image: Nintendo
Insert images: SoraNews24, Pokémon Center
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