Japan Opens First Permanent Pokémon Theme Park

The world’s first permanent Pokemon theme park, PokePark Kanto, has officially opened within Tokyo’s largest amusement park, Yomiuri Land, offering fans an immersive experience into the beloved franchise.

The park features two main areas: a sprawling, hilly woodland zone nearly half a kilometer long where visitors can hunt for hidden Pokemon figurines, and a town modeled after the classic video games complete with rides, shopping, and attractions.

Greeted by statues of Pikachu and other iconic creatures, fans can live out the “gotta catch ’em all” fantasy in a real-world setting, though accessing the woodland requires climbing 110 steps.

Reflecting Pokemon’s journey from a 1996 Game Boy game to a global multimedia empire, the park’s launch is perfectly timed, catering to a record number of tourists in Japan and demonstrating such high demand that tickets are already sold out for the next two months, with Universal Studios Japan also announcing plans for future Pokemon attractions.