Hello, everyone! Mr.Bojingles is back, here to bring you some exciting news on yet another awesome Pokémon adventure!
So this past weekend was Buddha’s birthday, so Koreans celebrate it as a national holiday, thus giving us a long weekend. Epic! I had Friday off of work, so I decided to take this opportunity to go to the marvelous Tokyo, Japan! I booked this trip back in March on a whim. I chose the first hostel that I saw that looked good (Khaosan Tokyo Kabuki – one of the best hostels I’ve ever stayed at!), which is in the heart of the beautiful Asakusa, Tokyo. From there I just went with the flow!
I only had one full day of exploring, so I really needed to make it count. Two things that I absolutely had to see were The Pokémon Center and Square-Enix store. I’ve been wanting to experience those places for years, so I couldn’t let up this excellent opportunity.
I Googled the Pokémon Center on Google maps and found the location. After doing a virtual walk from the station, I felt rather confident that I’d be able to find my way. However, I ended up wandering across the street where I got turned around quite a bit. Then, finally it struck me like a heavenly ray of light. It was like the clouds parted and there it was. . .the sign for the Pokémon Center. Pikachu’s smiling face and Snivy’s smug grin were my guide to the building where it resides. They were staring right back at me from across the street, over the subway tracks and through the mesh of power lines. Beautiful.
If you ever go, I do have to say that it’s in an awkward place. The store sits on the second floor above a 711 in a business building, so it’s a bit easy to miss. It’s right next to Hamamatsucho and Daimon stations, so make sure not to stray too far.
Now, I must say, upon entering the Pokémon Center, I was in shock for the first ten or fifteen minutes or so.
I mean. . .seriously? I spent probably an hour just pacing around the store looking at everything a million times. They have everything with a Pokémon face on it; pens, pencils, stationary, plushies, cell phone cases, key chains, notebooks, shirts, bags, you name it, they have it. I was overwhelmed with how much stuff is there. It was complete sensory overload. I didn’t know where to start. I spent most of my time just devouring all of the sights as if I was afraid that I’d forget everything when I left and it never happened. I really took my sweet time sorting through all of the merchandise, checking out the pictures, watching the videos they had on display. . .I really wanted to get the whole experience. As I was taking in the environment, I would hear the distant healing chime that we all know and love from the Pokecenter in the games. . .absolute nerd BLISS.
I was really excited to see the latest Coro Coro magazine as well as pictures and videos of Pokémon XY! There was no new information of course, but what I was really sad about was the absence of XY items for sale. Of course they wouldn’t sell anything this pre emptive to the release, but I was hoping to come back with a Fennekin keychain or something!
After picking through the sale items, I finally went up to the cash register with my basket of goodies. I spent a total of about 6500 yen, or about $63 USD (not as much as I thought!). Below is some of the loot that I picked up minus Tokyo Pikachu socks that I wore to work today. Also, they’ve recently released a keychain series of 8bit Pokémon sprites. I picked up an Espeon sprite that’s currently attached to my obnoxiously large Galaxy phone -_-
I left the store quite the happy camper. It was everything that I hoped for and then some! Next time I go to Tokyo (and there will definitely be a next time), I’ll be sure to hit this place up again to see if there’s anything new. I can’t wait for XY to come out so I can go mental on adorable Pokémon loot! Is there any particular XY item you’d like to see? I’d love to see Pokémon figures similar to Square-Enix’s PLAYARTS figurines (here’s an example). Not as life like of course, but maybe in sweet action poses or something like that.
Also, check out who I got to hang out with on my Tokyo adventure…POKEJUNGLE (who is appropriately wearing green)!
I hope you enjoyed the article, everyone! I had more pictures of the Pokemon Center, but my photos were mysteriously deleted from my computer, so I had to pull the ones I posted for friends/family. As always please feel free to leave comments and feedback. Until next time. . .!
P.S The Square-Enix store was quite disappointing. They moved the location last November so DO NOT follow any directions older than 11-2012. They downsized and took out a lot of their models, particularly the giant life sized Sephiroth sleeping in a transparent coffin in the floor. Epic fail.