Pokémon Events

I am a big fan of the Pokémon Franchise since I am a kid. I played Pokémon red in elementary school and have loved the games and characters since then. Of course, this hasn't changed after I moved to Japan. No, it even got worse. In Japan, you can basically get Pokémon related merchandise everywhere, even in the supermarket.

And then there are events. In the Pokémon Centers almost every weekend some kind of event is held. Most of the time some people dressed up as Pikachu appear in the entrance area and do a little dancing and posing. Recently Eevee also started showing up for events. Although these events are mainly aimed at children a lot of adults come to enjoy them, too. Same goes for me, so by now, I have a pretty good collection of all kinds of Pikachu photos.

Based on the occasion the Pikachu costumes are dressed up, too.  At Halloween Pikachu wears a spooky costume, at Christmas, it wears a Santa Outfit.The Pikachus that appear in the Pokémon Café, of course, wear waitress and chef outfits. And they come up with new ideas all the time.

For special events like the anniversary, they do Pikachu dance shows, where several Pikachus appear on a stage and perform. Recently there was a big event in Sunshine City Ikebukuro for the 20th anniversary of the Pokémon Center where 20 Pikachus dressed up in ponchos celebrated the anniversary.

The biggest of all Pokémon events is the annual Pikachu parade that is held in August in Yokohama every year. For a whole week the whole area around Minatomirai-station is decorated with Pikachus and several shows are held on several stages in shopping centers and other places. On one day there is a big parade where several Pikachu parade along a street with music and dancers. For this year they even announced that there will be a night parade with light up, too.

I am really looking forward to that and to what they will come up with next.