Edo Japan Meets Pokémon and the Result Is Beautiful
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet updates, your summer Poké-style, Pikachu soft-serve, and burglary!
The Pokémon Chronicle
The Pokémon Chronicle brings you a weekly roundup of all the latest Pokémon news from Japan, and beyond.
Hi there Pokéfan.
Here’s what’s been going on this week:
🇯🇵 News From Japan and Beyond - Pokémon gold leaf ice cream, summer shirts, and burglaries 🤯😱
📰 The Main Story - breathtakingly cool Pokémon x Ukiyo-e video goes viral.
🧸 New Merch Alert - Eveelution Pokémon card t-shirts.
🥸 Who’s That Pokémon!? - can you figure it out?
🇯🇵 News From Japan and Beyond
Players can link Pokémon Scarlet and Violet with the Pokemon Home App soon, according to the Pokémon Company. If you do, you’ll receive a special version of all three Scarlet and Violet starter Pokémon.
Customize your shirt with your very own Johto region Pokémon embroidery. Original Stitch, the maker of Pokémon Shirts, has added 100 new Johto region embroidery options for you to customize your shirts with, and also Pokémon-themed fabric prints. Check out more pictures here, and yep, they ship to The States and several other countries.
Burglars steal $48,000 dollars worth of Pokémon trading cards from a collector store in Kumamoto, Japan. Crime rates have been increasing recently in Japan, as has the popularity of Pokémon cards. I hope the villains are caught soon.
Ice-cream store in Kanazawa, Japan, launches incredibly decadent gold-leaf Pikachu soft-serve. The store, which is famous for selling ice creams covered in edible gold leaf is partnering with Pokémon to add a charming Pikachu-themed wafer to their already eye-catching ice-creams. Available until June 11th, only in Kanazawa!
📰 Main Story - Breathtakingly cool Pokémon x Ukiyo-e video goes viral
Future x Tradition. Two concepts that Japan blends together masterfully.
If you’ve visited Japan, you’ll know that the nation has a deep respect for its history and traditions, while also being fascinated by futuristic tech and pop culture.
Earlier this week, Feudal Japan met the world of Pokémon and the result went viral.
I’m talking about a special short animation that the Pokemon company released on May 16th via its social media channels. The gorgeous video, which brings together Pokemon and the ukiyo-e art style, is based on a famous print by Utagawa Hiroshige.
In the video, Psyduck is standing on a bridge over a river, caught in a downpour. As people in traditional Japanese dress walk by clutching umbrellas, Gyrados can be seen leaping out of the river while Pelliper fly overhead.
The video blew up on global social media, having so far attracted nearly 150,000 likes and nearly 7 million views on Twitter alone.
The artwork on which the video is based is called Evening Shower on the Ohashi Bridge. It depicts people in the Edo period caught in the rain as they cross a bridge over the Sumida River in Tokyo.
🧸 Merch Alert
The Japanese clothing store Beams launched a lineup of Pokemon-card-inspired t-shirts this week.
The shirts feature cool black and white designs based on Evee, its evolutions, and Pokemon trading cards.
The shirts have been designed in collaboration with Japanese artists Yu Nagaba.
🥸 Who’s that Pokémon?
I’ll share the answer and a new Poké-puzzle in next week’s newsletter. If you think you know the answer, hit reply to this email and let me know.
* the answer to last week’s puzzle is🥁🥁🥁Rayquaza!
That’s all folks
See you next week for another roundup of the latest Poké-news from Japan and around the world.
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