Pokemon Center megastores across Japan shutting down indefinitely because of coronavirus

Japan’s Pokemon Center megastores are pretty amazing. Stocked with just about every plushie, toy, and trinket you could imagine for the Pokemon franchise, the happy and excited atmosphere inside is on par with a visit to a theme park, as pretty much everyone inside has a serious love for several species of Pocket Monsters.

Sadly, though, the fun will be shutting down on a huge scale, as the Pokemon Company will be closing 14 Pokemon Center locations across Japan, as well as seven smaller Pokémon Stores, for a temporary but currently indeterminable time. The reason, once again, is the continuing nemesis of human joy, the coronavirus, as infections have recently surged to unprecedented numbers for Japan.

The closures, which include all Pokemon Centers and Stores in Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka and Kyoto, will come almost immediately. The announcement was made on Thursday, and the 21 affected stores will be closed starting from Saturday.

Two developments likely helped push decision makers past the tipping point. On Sunday, a worker at the Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo branch (located in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro neighborhood) was confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus, leading to the store’s closure as of Monday. Then, on Wednesday, the Japanese government expanded its declared state of emergency to include eight more prefectures, and the closed Pokémon Centers and Stores align with the entire declared set.

The complete list of closures is:

● Pokemon Centers: Sapporo, Tohoku, Tokyo DX, Mega Tokyo, Shibuya, Skytree Town, Tokyo Bay, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka DX, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka

● Pokemon Stores: Shin Chitose Airport, Tokyo Station, Narita Airport, Gotemba, Outlet Kisarazu, Kansai Airport, Okinawa Rycom

The sting is especially sharp for the Kansai Airport Pokemon Store. While the plan is to reopen the other branches once it’s safe to do so, the Kansai Airport branch won’t be coming back, as it was already scheduled to permanently close at the end of the month.

In addition to the above-listed Pokemon Centers and Stores, the Pokemon Cafes in Tokyo and Osaka will be temporarily closing, as will Tokyo’s Pikachu Sweets shop.

In total, just four Pokemon Center/Store locations remain open: the Pokémon Center Kanazawa, and the Pokemon Stores in Ehime, Oita, and Okayama Prefecture, where a state of emergency has not been declared. Oh, but one of those, the Okayama Pokemon Store, is permanently closing on August 31, and has already started saying a very sweet goodbye to its loyal customers.

On the bright side, Pokemon’s massive popularity in Japan means that we can probably expect all, or at least most, of the stores to weather the storm and bounce back once the health climate improves. There’s also the fact the Pokemon Center’s online store remains up and running, and maybe the pause in physical store operations will give the chain time to think up additional clever anti-scalper strategies. Still, there’s a special kind of magic to being surrounded not only by Pokemon merch but also Pokemon fans, and it’s sad that that’s an experience most of them won’t be able to have until sometime in the unknowable future.