Vol. 3, Issue 3 - Shiori's PokéPark Memories
The memories of a Pokémon fan called Shiori, about the time she attended Pokémon the Park, in Nagoya, Japan, in 2005. Plus, a recap of the latest Pokémon news
Welcome to Vol. 3, issue 3 of Johto Times! This week, we are sharing the memories of a Pokémon fan called Shiori from Japan, who tells us all about her visit to Pokémon the Park in 2005. Shiori went on multiple Pokémon-themed rides, and received some awesome promo cards, which she shares with us in this feature! Plus, we have a recap of the latest Pokémon news. Enjoy!
News
Nintendo has officially introduced Nintendo Switch 2, the successor to Nintendo Switch, which will release later this year. The Nintendo Switch 2 – First-look trailer confirmed that there will be a Nintendo Direct on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2025, to offer further details on the upcoming console. Nintendo will also be hosting a series of ticketed Nintendo Switch 2 Experience events in North America, Europe, Oceania, and Asia, where consumers can go hands-on with Nintendo Switch 2.
The company also confirmed that Nintendo Switch 2 will be compatible with physical and digital Nintendo Switch games, but that certain Nintendo Switch games may not be supported on or fully compatible with Nintendo Switch 2.
Nintendo Switch 2 will likely be the home of several brand new Pokémon titles in the years ahead, and will hopefully be compatible with Pokémon’s library of titles on the Nintendo Switch, including the upcoming Pokémon Legends: Z-A.
The Pokémon Company International has announced that a new TCG expansion will be released on March 28th, 2025. Scarlet & Violet—Journey Together sees the return of Trainer's Pokémon, which were first introduced in the Gym Heroes expansion, back in the year 2000. The Trainer's Pokémon cards include N's Zoroark ex, Lillie's Clefairy ex, Iono's Bellibolt ex, and Hop's Zacian ex. The set will contain 16 Pokémon ex, 11 illustration rare Pokémon, six special illustration rare Pokémon, and three hyper rare gold-etched cards. It also marks the debut of Pokémon TCG in Latin American Spanish!
Source: Pokémon
The Pokémon Center in Hiroshima is to be closed down in late March 2025, reopening on the second floor of Ekie, near the north exit of Hiroshima Station. Ahead of its relocation, a Gyarados Plaza will open on the rooftop of the Soramoa Plaza, the new Hiroshima Station building, which will open on March 24th, 2025. In the square, people of all ages can utilise large play equipment modelled after Gyarados. It will be accessible to advance reservations for a while after its opening.
Source: Pocket Monsters, Pokémon
Niantic has confirmed that Pokémon GO will no longer be supporting 32-bit Android devices, starting from March 2025. The company confirmed this was being done to streamline their development process and focus their resources on supporting newer operating systems and technologies. A non-exhaustive list of affected devices can be found through the source link.
Source: Pokémon GO
Niantic has issued a statement in relation to the Pokémon GO Tour: Unova event, which was supposed to begin on February 21st. This is in response to the wildfires that are currently causing devastation across Los Angeles, where the event is supposed to take place. At the time of writing, the event is still going ahead. However, Niantic gave the following statement:
Our team has been carefully observing the situation in Los Angeles with the well-being of Pasadena, greater Los Angeles, and of course our Niantic community in mind. While we are currently continuing our preparations, any updates regarding the event will be shared as they become available.
Source: eSports.gg
Exclusive merchandise will be available from the Pokémon Center Pop-up Store at the Pokémon Europe International Championships, from February 20th–23rd 2025. Products include a Psyduck Sweater, Psyduck and Wooper Water Bottle, Psyduck Playmat & Playmat Bag Set, and a Psyduck Magnet, as revealed by popular Pokémon fansite, Serebii.
Source: Serebii
Feature: Shiori's PokéPark Memories
Pokémon the Park 2005, also known as PokéPark, was a temporary theme park, which was open between March 18th, 2005 to September 25th, 2005, located in Nagoya, Japan. It was the world’s first Pokémon theme park, and during the six months it was open, it welcomed over four million visitors! A Pokémon fan called Shiori visited PokéPark around the end of July 2005 and has kindly shared her memories of the event, along with some photographs of the merchandise she received that day.
My parents took me and my sisters to Aichi, Nagoya when I was 11 and visited Pokémon the Park just once. It opened temporarily because the Aichi World Expo was held at the same time. I don’t have any photos nor any goods of the park, but my mother would have kept them. I don’t have many souvenirs, but I still have the Pokemon cards which were given [to] those who enjoyed each ride.
I can still clearly remember the day when I visited Pokémon Park, although it was 19 years ago! My mom took me and my younger sisters there on summer vacation. I was especially excited to ride “Mudkip’s Splash Adventure” because Mudkip is my most favorite [Pokémon]!
The park was not [as] crowded as I expected, so each ride had a line of 15-30 mins to wait. But of course, there were a lot of Pokémon-fan kids and their parents. My sister bought a Skitty hat (it’s like a Mickey’s ears hat) and she wore it throughout the day! My mom gave me an ice cream with a Poké Ball-shaped case. (I wish I could have the photo!) I enjoyed three rides:
Mudkip’s Splash Adventure: It’s a water ride [kind of] like Splash Mountain. The shape of the ride was [a] Mudkip and it was super cute!
Pokémon’s Starry Sky Trip: It’s a chair swing ride. I think some Mythical Pokémon like Mew, Jirachi and Celebi were drawn on the body.
Dancing Pokémon Mini-tour! : It’s hard to explain, lol. It’s just a ride for children! It went up and down [to] the music of “Gotta Dance!” (a short film published with [the] Jirachi movie in 2003).
Every time I rode one I would receive [an] original Pokémon card. The event was temporary, [so] it opened for just 6 months. It’s so hard to understand why there is no Pokémon-themed park in Japan nor in the world! Now I’m an adult but I still love Pokémon so much. If you can get a time travel ability, please make sure to go back to one summer day in 2005!
Shiori went on to share her memories of growing up with Pokémon in her home country of Japan, including her thoughts on the franchise.
My first Pokémon game was Silver! My dad and I were into it and spent much time [getting] creatures. We were especially annoyed trying to get run-away Pokémon such as [Suicune], Raikou and Entei because we had to encounter and throw Poké Balls so many times and had to pay attention not to kill them! When I was an elementary school kid, literally all of my friends were fascinated by [Pokémon] and sometimes we got together at a friend’s house and played the game after school.
In conclusion, I can’t say thank you enough [to] those who created Pokémon. When I was a kid I used to think about what Pokémon I should get as a pet in real life. Now I’m an adult, but every time I see new published Pokémon, I get really excited! I hope they keep making such great content and PLEASE MAKE THE POKÉMON PARK AGAIN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!
Additional photographs
I am deeply grateful to Shiori for sharing her memories of PokéPark and giving us an insight into what the attraction was like, twenty years after it first opened. It would be great to see the PokéPark return someday!
That’s all for this week’s issue! If you enjoy what Johto Times provides, be sure to share our newsletter with your friends and loved ones to help us reach even more Pokémon fans. For Discord users, you’re welcome to join our server for the latest notifications from our project. We are still open to sharing your mailbag entries, so if you have anything you would like to share with us, drop us a line by visiting this link to contact us directly!
SWITCH 2!!!!!!! Oh yeah also Pokémon rides, great.
I am all about the 3DS versions of Pokémon games, and the fan made rom hacks. Absolutely love!!! Good post!!