TOKYO, July 23 — The wildly popular Pokémon franchise will open its first permanent theme park in Tokyo in spring 2026, the Pokémon Company — a subsidiary of Japanese gaming giant Nintendo — announced.

Japan has welcomed a record influx of visitors in recent months, boosting demand for tourist attractions, including a “Making of Harry Potter” film-studio park that opened in Tokyo in 2023.

Named “PokePark Kanto,” the new 2.6-hectare area will be located within Yomiuri Land, the Japanese capital’s largest amusement park, the company said yesterday.

“We want to create a space where Pokémon are always present and where people can have fun with them,” its chief creative fellow Junichi Masuda said in a video announcement.

The park will have two areas: a Pokémon “forest” described as a “spacious wilderness” and an area for shopping and rides.

Pokémon became a global hit after its 1996 launch as a role-playing game for Nintendo’s handheld Game Boy console.

Inspired by the Japanese summer childhood tradition of bug-collecting, players catch and train in battle hundreds of round-eyed “pocket monsters” inspired by everything from mice to dragons.

The franchise also includes movies, an animated TV show, and the “Pokémon Go” augmented-reality mobile game. — AFP