Kristofer Purnell – Philstar.com
December 22, 2023 | 2:07pm
MANILA, Philippines — The first-ever permanent Pokémon theme park will be set up in Japan’s Kanto region in Yomiuriland, Tokyo’s largest theme park.
The theme park will be called PokéPark Kanto, borrowing its name not just from the region it will call home but from the fictitious area where the first Pokémon video games, “Pokémon Red” and “Pokémon Green,” were released. Kanto was also one of the settings of the anime.
In a press release, the upcoming PokéPark Kanto will be “a theme park where visitors can enjoy the Pokémon experience in a lush natural environment through various events.”
The project is a collaboration between the Pokémon Company, Yomiuri Land Co. and The Yomiuri Shimbun, forming Poképark KANTO LLC.
“Pokémon fans from all over the world will gather in this place rich in nature, feel Pokémon and create a space that can be enjoyed together beyond the walls of countries, regions and languages,” the statement added.
The Pokémon Company has a partnership with Universal Studios. Some fans believe that a Pokémon theme park would have been set up at Universal Studios Japan (USJ) where several Pokémon characters can be seen.
Yomiuriland and the Pokémon Company previously collaborated for the limited-time Pokémon Wonder outdoor adventure attraction, a nature area where guests could search for several Pokémon species made of acorns and leaves.
No official date has been given for the creation and launch of PokéPark Kanto. For comparison, it took Nintendo five years to build Super Nintendo Land in USJ, though it was partially because of the pandemic in 2020.
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