Japan is indisputably the homeland of video gaming. While video games flourished overseas it is Japan that has defined the shape of contemporary video gaming as we know it. Without Japan we wouldn’t have Pokémon, Shenmue and of course N-Europe, as Nintendo are a Japanese company. I have recently returned from a trip to the East in which I explored several aspects of Japan I find fascinating including of course gaming. Over the course of several articles I shall discuss my gaming related experiences while in Japan, from the weird to the wonderful.

The Pokémon Centre is located somewhat discretely within Hamamatsuchō. The obvious parallel to draw with the Pokémon Centre is the Disney Store and they are similar in ways. However, while you can often spot a Disney Store a mile away (particularly the one in Shibuya which is shaped like a lilac castle) the Pokémon Centre could be easily missed as its on the first floor of a group of buildings and it is possible to walk past without noticed…not that I did that of course.

Upon entering the store I was quite surprised with just how quiet it actually was. While I suspect my choice in visiting the Pokémon Centre had some affect on this, the middle of a Wednesday is hardly a busy shopping time for kids, it still seemed almost eerily quiet. Regardless, as you enter the store you are greeted by a large Pokémon logo and a few Pokémon crafted out of plastic that were about a meter tall. Around this are a few small half-spherical baskets containing random bits from within the shop; various toys, stationary, gifts etc.

The store itself sells quite a range of Pokémon related memorabilia, from pencils to sponges everything you could want is there. However, being located in Tokyo means that these things do not come cheap. If I had all the money in the world I would have came back with a lot more, however with items such as a replica Ash cap costing around �20 I had to make sacrifices (good thing I do not cosplay). However, it was still entertaining window shopping in itself, and of course the joy of trying to figure out what some of the items were.

Throughout the store were several, immensely cheery of course, employees who were available to play the trading card game with if you so choose, but for obvious reasons I did not. However as I went to pay for my goods I encountered a wonderful lost in translation moment as the cashier spoke rapidly in Japanese. Considering I’d been up for over 30 hours at the time and had just arrived in the country I wasn’t even trying to follow so I just smiled and nodded. Then she pointed to something on the till and I politely declined, presuming it was an up-sell. She then proceeded to offer up “say ‘well done’,” which I did and she gave me a free fan with Lucario on. It was a nice change from countless experiences of cashiers trying to force more money out of me, a practice I’ve never been fond of.

Overall the Pokémon store is something I would definitely recommend if you find yourself in Tokyo, but be prepared to spend a lot of money if you’re a huge Pokémon fan who wants to surround themselves with goodies. Stay tuned to N-Europe though as I did not come away empty handed and we will be giving you the chance to get your hands Pokémon goodies not available outside of Japan.

Show everyone how much you love Vulpix and Goldeen.
More images can be found in the gallery.

After my visit to the Pokémon Centre I hopped back on the Yamanote Line and headed to Akihabara, or as it is often referred to; “electric town”. I feel Akihabara could quite easily be described as a maze in which you will happily get lost. While the layout is not particularly confusing you can easily get lost amongst the huge buildings filled with everything electrical, anime and gaming related you could possibly desire. Several stores, and quite possibly the JR station too but I did not check, have a map of Akihabara which highlight some of the larger stores and attractions so be sure to pick this up.

While wandering around is once again a visual treat after a while the shops all begin to look the same (although for all I know I could have been going into the same branded shops in slightly different locations) however there are a few I would recommend for anyone who may be visiting. As you exit the JR station you will come across a market area, one of a few in Akihabara, and these are worth exploring for the odd little bits and pieces. For anime fans there are two stores I particularly recommend, but by no means are they the only stores you should visit for your anime goods; the Tokyo Anime Centre (which also acts as a mini museum/information point) and Kotobukiya, which offers a lot of anime (or to quote my thoughts at the time; "yay Ghibli!") and gaming goods. In addition to these large shops such as Yobodashi Camera and BIC Camera stock everything you could want but are endurance tests in themselves. Both stores are about eight floors high, have a huge range of everything you could imagine, from calculators to pianos, and feature excitable sales staff who possess megaphones. While this may annoy some people (and I’d imagine it would annoy people who could understand what is being said to them…) its part of the Japanese culture I feel shouldn’t be missed.

If you’re looking for the videogame shopping mecca then you’ll need to head away from the very centre a bit until you find Super Potato. The building is laid out in a manner that you’ll only really find in Japan; the first two floors are residential flats, then the store occupies three floors, and then more floors of residential flats. Within those three floors you have two dedicated to retro games, accessories and memorabilia and the top floor is full of retro arcade units. While the retro games are certainly a pull to anyone who has the hardware and linguistic know-how to use them an ignorant gaijin such as myself can still take in the weird and wonderful things you won’t see anywhere else. Within this one store I had my first play on a Virtual Boy (playing on a Wario game and yeah…not that great), saw a shelf full of ROB units and bizarrely enough a cuddly Famicom pillow. Then right beside the till something caught my eye, a 64DD. It bought back memories of when I was young and it seemed like an awesome machine and I was crushed it never came out over here.

Overall Akihabara lived up to its nickname as the “electric town,” both due to the high amount of neon signage and the plethora of electronic equipment available, proving you have the Yen to match your spending yen. I definitely recommend a visit if you are planning to go to Tokyo, but if you’re a gamer or anime fan with less self-constraint than me it might be best to take a lot of money.

They look so angry yet so cuddly.
More images can be found in the gallery.

I hope you enjoyed the first instalment of “Nihon Go!” (kudos if you get the pun, quickly followed by apologies for how lame it is). Three instalments are planned and they should be on the following two Sundays so stay tuned to the site. During my visit I also picked up a few little trinkets that are not available (to the best of my knowledge) in the West and these shall be given away in a competition soon. If anyone has any more questions or things they would like to see addressed in the next article feel free to mention in the comments or PM me on the boards.