It's been over two decades since the video games 'Pokémon Red' and 'Pokémon Green' launched this unstoppable franchise onto the world stage. These days, Pokémon is riding a wave of resurgence, which started with the release of Pokemon Go back in 2016 – and now the brand is hot once again, especially with this year's blockbuster hit 'Pokemon Detective Pikachu'. Recently, the popular Japanese retailer Uniqlo launched a Pokemon T-shirt design competition, with the winning designs hitting stores earlier this month amid much fanfare (including a life-size Pikachu waddling around and greeting shoppers in some stores).
With the expansion of routes and airlines in Haneda Airport over the past few years, not to mention the expected massive influx of visitors next summer for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the airport's monorail is capitalising on the fandom too, coming up with the only natural way to welcome its foreign visitors to Japan: a Pokémon train.
Photo: prtimes.jp
According to the concept images that Tokyo Monorail has released, Pikachu will be fittingly leading the pack at the front of the train. And following in the carriages behind we've got Snorlax and Bulbasaur.
This is only a teaser, though, since the full train is planned to be six cars in length, which means we've got three undisclosed Pokémon friends coming up behind. Try to catch the train starting July 1.
Love Pokémon? Here are more ways to encounter your favourite pocket monsters in Tokyo.