Pokemon theme park opens in Tokyo

The first permanent Pokémon theme park opened in Tokyo on Thursday, featuring cute rides and a woodland area where visitors can try to “catch ’em all.”

It is Japan’s latest tourist attraction catering to a record influx of overseas travellers, and tickets are already sold out for the next two months.

Visitors to PokePark Kanto, within Tokyo’s largest amusement park, Yomiuri Land, are greeted by statues of the electric mouse Pikachu and other creatures from the franchise.

Pokémon, one of Japan’s top cultural exports, began in 1996 with video games on Nintendo’s Game Boy console.

Inspired by the Japanese summer childhood tradition of bug collecting, players catch and train hundreds of “pocket monsters” in battle.

The phenomenon has since evolved to become wildly popular worldwide, spawning anime series, movies, a trading card game, and the augmented-reality smartphone app “Pokémon Go.”

PokePark Kanto has two areas: a hilly outdoor zone nearly half a kilometre long (1,600 feet), filled with Pokémon figurines, and a town modelled on those in the games for shopping and rides.

To access the woodland area, visitors must be able to climb 110 steps without assistance, the park’s website says.

A record number of tourists entered Japan in 2025, despite a steep fall in Chinese visitors in December due to a diplomatic row between the nations.

Another major theme park, Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, said last month it was also planning Pokémon-themed attractions, without giving details.