Pokemon Center Tokyo

Pokemon is Japan's most popular amusements; it is a landmark in Japanese animation. The video game manufacturer introduced Pokemon, the Pocket Monsters to Japan in 1996.Pikachu is king of anime and he is omnipresent in Tokyo. Pokemon was originally a Nintendo Gameboy video game but has since been seen in film, TV series, music recordings, books, magazines, more games and basically any other merchandise able and willing to pay the royalty fees. He adorns everything from toothbrush holders to electric guitars. He is seen on baby bottles, cell phone straps, beach towels, magazines, potato chips, clothes and of course the whole range of action figures and soft toys. Pokemon trading cards are popular world wide.

The Pokemon shop, which opened for business in April 1998, attracts around 1,500 visitors daily during the weekdays and anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 on the weekends. It is so popular that it sometimes has to limit the number of people entering the store at one time. Over summer vacation customers waited for up to two hours for a chance to shop. The store sells some 1,500 products that include game cards, stationery, and even confectioneries. Some of its most popular items are original goods, unavailable elsewhere, designed with images of Pokemon characters Pikachu, Charmander, and Poliwhirl#the store's mascots.

While the majority of visitors to Pokemon Center Tokyo are children accompanied by their parents, many local businesspeople also frequent the store. Most of these older consumers come to buy gifts for their children, but a few say that they have been asked by colleagues based overseas to purchase Pokemon items for use as gifts for clients.

The store is also popular with foreigners, who make up 30% of its clientele. Since many of its products are sold domestically, it is a treasure house for Pokemon fans visiting from abroad. There's little doubt that Pokemon has taken the west by storm, but despite its popularity abroad, Japan is still the trend setter, offering the best merchandise from trading cards to toys.
Some people have gone so far as to call Pokemon the greatest Japanese product of the twentieth century. And in Japan, whenever new Pokemon video-game software is released, stores carrying the products attract huge lines and sell out in no time. Therefore the Pokemon Centre is a collector's paradise. Given some more time the Pokemon animation will take over the world.
Pokemon Center Tokyo's most popular items:
(1) Pokemon Card Game
(2) Pokemon Center's original confectioneries
(3) Pokemon Badges
(4) Pokemon Videogames