Traveling to the Birthplace of Pokémon Was a Real Trip

I will never forget the 2023 Pokémon World Championships. I’ve attended the event several times before, but since its inception, it’s always been held in North America, save for last year's in London. This year, they kept the competition international and, for the first time, it was hosted in Japan, the birthplace of Pokémon, making it quite the momentous occasion. I’d never been to Japan before, but The Pokémon Company International offered me a trip to cover the championships, and nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.

What you’re about to read is a travelog covering everything that happened on this once-in-a-lifetime trip, pulling back the curtain and detailing what it was like to be a member of the press being taken around on a Pokémon tour of Japan. Our week-long itinerary was packed with an insane number of activities from sunrise to sunset – and little did I know, the sun rises at 5:00 am in Japan.

I’ll be covering the full, eight-day trip in eight chapters, so you might want to get comfy. Curl up on the couch, grab a snack, and put on those Snorlax slippers that you got last year for Christmas. If you read my mini-travelogue about my Pokémon Sleep-over, then you know it’s about to get overly personal and real weird up in here. If not, may Arceus help you. Here we go.

Pokemon Takes Over Yokohama

Day 1 - The Birthplace of Pokémon

9:00 am - The rideshare I called to take me to the airport pulls up and I heave my giant suitcase into the trunk. It has a week’s worth of clothes, plus an empty duffle bag to bring back all of the Pokémon merch I can’t afford but am totally going to buy.

While we’re en route to the airport, I check into my transpacific flight online and change my seat to a bulkhead seat. Once that’s settled, I catch up on the press group chat started by our Pokémon rep that includes all six of us North American journalists going on this trip together. The rep texts that she got stuck with a bulkhead seat and is dreading having to fly that way to Japan. I innocently inquire as to what’s wrong with a bulkhead seat. Everyone weighs in on how you can’t conveniently store your travel accessories and how the food tray and TV are cumbersome. It’s basically torture. I quickly try to switch my seat back on the app but it’s too late. I voluntarily chose a bulkhead seat like a fool. Embarrassment overwhelms me. The trip is off to a great start.

10:27 am - I arrive at the airport, check my bag, and have an easy time getting through security thanks to good ol’ TSA Pre-Check.

Walking to the gate, I bump into a familiar face from the Pokémon TCG competitive scene, Sam Chen. We decide to grab breakfast, and while we’re standing in line he tells me he once got 8th place at Worlds. My highest accomplishment is 10th place at an Expanded format regional. We are not the same. He says he’s still deciding what deck to play but there’s one in particular he’s been working on in private that’s a new spin on an existing archetype. I list off decks trying to guess which one it is. Lost Box? He says no. Arceus/Giratina? No. Gardevoir? No. He says even if I guessed it right, he wouldn’t tell me because he doesn’t want to leak his group’s strategy. Fine then, keep your secrets.

10:45 am - I get my breakfast, a soggy egg sandwich and mushy potatoes with too much pepper that cost 20 bucks. Never change, airport food. We walk over to the gate and I eat while Sam does some work on his laptop. We talk about how last year was the first time Worlds was held outside the US, in London, and he says he’s glad that TPCi is continuing to bring the tournament to international locations because it’s great for representation in the Pokémon community. He says most of his travel is usually to attend Pokémon tournaments, so he’s glad to get to visit a place like Japan. I ask if he’s playing Fusion Mew. No.

11:47 am - We board the plane and part ways. I sit in my bulkhead seat devoid of a place to tuck away my bag, perfect for a dunce like me. I have one of those “What is my life?” moments where I realize I’m about to fly 11 hours to the other side of the world to write about Pokémon. It’s a hard job, but someone has to do it.

12:30 pm - I scroll through the in-flight movie selection and decide to watch Hunt for the Wilderpeople because it’s an early Taika Waititi movie before he went on to make Thor: Ragnarok.

1:30 pm - Lunch is served. BBQ chicken, mashed sweet potatoes, salad, and a bread roll.

Airplane food, never change. (Photo by Joshua Yehl, IGN)

Dessert was a chocolate pretzel cookie crumb cake, which, true to its name, looks like someone scooped up all the crumbs left behind after eating a pretzel and a cookie mushed it into a chocolate ball. Delicious.

It looks like dirt but it tastes like magic. (Photo by Joshua Yehl, IGN)

2:30 pm - I finish the movie (so funny!) and drift off to sleep.

5:00 pm - I wake up and have some kettle chips and brownie brittle as a snack, then fire up Weird, the biopic where Harry Potter plays Al Yankovic.

6:52 pm - Somehow I never knew that Weird Al dated Madonna and went on a murderous rampage through the jungle. The things you learn when you watch completely accurate and nonfictional movies!

10:16 am, Japan time - We’ve almost arrived and I look out the plane window and see Japan for the first time. I’m super disoriented from the time change and can’t tell if I’m supposed to be awake or asleep right now, but seeing that we’re actually here, IN JAPAN!!!, gives me a boost of adrenaline and I feel super hyped. The plane lands at Haneda International Airport.

10:36 am - I disembark and as I make my way to the luggage claim area, I see the monitors in the hallway are showing ads for the Pokémon World Championships. That’s not something I’d ever seen arriving at other Worlds destinations, which tells me this is going to be a big event, indeed.

Fuecoco welcomes Pokémon Trainers from around the world. (Photo by Joshua Yehl, IGN)

11:00 am - All of the other journalists are arriving at the airport at different times, so I’ve got several hours to kill while I wait for everyone else. I see Sam Chen get in line for a Suica card, which are used to pay for trains, and decide to join him. Will I even need a Suica card? I don’t know, but it seems like everyone else is getting one, so I decide to, as well.

5:00 pm - After a few hours of waiting and enjoying some noodles in the airport food court, the whole group of press has arrived in Japan. We take a bus to our hotel in Yokohama, the city where the championships will take place. We see a Gundam far off in the distance.

7:00 pm - We arrive at the Kahala Hotel and Resort and head up to the 14th floor to check in. The view from up here is gorgeous, and down below we can see the massive Pacifico Convention Center where the tournament will take place. The hotel staff gives us each a cardboard Pikachu visor, and one of them compliments my Psyduck and Slowpoke t-shirt (“It’s very kawaii!”).

One of many, many Pikachu-themed souvenirs from this trip. (Photo by Joshua Yehl, IGN)

We meet our Pokémon reps and they give us a welcome bag with pocket wifi (so useful!), hand wipes, pen and notepad, and a Pokémon GO Plus +.

All the essentials for a Pokémon trip to Japan. (Photo by Joshua Yehl, IGN)

8:30 pm - Our media group splits up, with half going to their rooms to pass out and the rest of us heading to the hotel lounge for dinner. I have a yummy margarita pizza. Then we all go pass out, too. It’s an early day tomorrow and the schedule is packed to the brim with a truly outrageous number of Pokémon activities, including eating at a Pokémon breakfast cafe, attending a Japanese tea ceremony, and going to the biggest Pokémon Center in the world.

That's all for Day 1 of my Pokémon Worlds travelogue. Make sure to come back for Day 2 tomorrow!

In the meantime, check out our other coverage on Pokemon Worlds: