Yokohama, host city for this summer’s Pokémon World Championships, wants everyone to see the amazing art of the collectible card game.

This summer, Yokohama is the place to be if you’re a Pokémon fan. Following a three-year break from its annual Pikachu Outbreak, the port town 30 minutes south from Tokyo is becoming the first Japanese city to host the Pokémon World Championships, and it’s getting into the spirit early with a massive public art event shining a spotlight on the art of the Pokémon collectible card game.

As one of the most popular collectible card games in history, there’s a huge catalog of art to choose from for the Pokémon Card Art Walk in Yokohama Minato Mirai, as the overall event is called. Over 1,000 Pokémon cards will be on display inside and outside the Grand Mall Park and Mark Is, Landmark Plaza, and Queen’s Square shopping centers in Yokohama’s harborside Minato Mirai district. Another 1,000-plus cards will be exhibited in the central plaza area on the 10th floor of the Sky Building, located near Yokohama Station, which also houses the Pokémon Center Yokohama megastore.

A Pokémon card exhibit that’s big in a different sense of the word will be going on inside Landmark Plaza, where a section of the center’s third floor will become the Pokémon Card Legendary Corridor, with jumbo-sized versions of Legendary Pokémon cards. These are faithful recreations of the originals, right down to having the same shiny, glossy quality as the special cards they’re based on.

Other person-sized Pokémon cards will be waiting in Yokohama’s Yamashita Park, Yokohama Park, Marine and Walk open-air shopping center, Motomachi neighborhood, and, outside Yokohama City Hall (which also has a pair of Pokémon mailboxes). These cards, called the Pokémon Art Card Photo Spots, let you step inside and insert yourself into the scene, making it look like you’re part of the card’s artwork.

Old-school fans will want to stop by the Pokémon Card 151 Illustration Collection at Mark Is, and they’ll immediately recognize the reference to the 151 original Gen-1 Pocket Monster species from Pokémon Red and Green, the first two games in the series, who are the focus of this gallery.

And last, if you don’t want to just look at Pokémon art, but help make some too, Landmark Plaza and Mark Is are also the venues for the Pokémon Card Flower Carpet events, where fans are encouraged to come and place artificial flowers, colored sand, and wood chips to create giant mosaics of past Pokémon cards of Pikachu (at Landmark Plaza) and Charizard (at Mark Is).

The timetable for the various parts of Pokémon Card Art Walk in Yokohama Minato Mirai are:
● Pokémon Card Art Walk (card exhibition inside/outside Grand Mall Park, Mark Is, Landmark Plaza, Queen’s Sqaure): July 15-September 30
● Pokémon Card Art Museum (card exhibition at Sky Building): July 15-September 40
● Pokémon Card Legendary Corridor: July 15-September 40
● Pokémon Art Card Photo Spots: August 1-September 30
● Pokémon Card Flower Carpet Landmark Plaza: creation event 11 a.m. July 22, display until September 30
● Pokémon Card Flower Carpet Mark Is: creation event 11 a.m. August 19 11 a.m., display until early September

And if you’re in the mood for even more beautiful Pokémon art, don’t forget that the Pokémon Colors interactive digital art exhibit is also going on at Landmark Plaza starting in late July.

Related: Pokémon Card Art Walk in Yokohama Minato Mirai official website
Source: PR Times
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: PR Times, Pokémon Card Art Walk in Yokohama Minato Mirai
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