Dropping by a real life Pokémon Center

Whenever I look back at my childhood, Pokémon (Pocket Monsters or Poketo Monsuta in Japanese) will always be a part of my memories. To an extent, I even practiced my drawing skills and the closest I could get was a sketch of Voltron, Diglet, and Togepi. I remember being proud about those achievements. Nostalgic. To me, Pokémon will never lose its charm.

So with my recent trip to Japan, a stopover to one of the Pokémon centers is of course included in my bucket list. Currently there are eight Pokémon centers in the country and the one I visited was in Osaka, which is dubbed as the largest Pokémon center in the world.

Located on the 13th floor of Daimaru Umeda Store in Osaka station, the center is a 10 minute walk using the Midosuji Minami (Midosuji-south) exit.

Admittedly, it is the ultimate gift store for avid Pokémon fans as it touches on your inner child. Here you can buy pokéballs, slippers, stuffed toys, trading cards, keychains, stamps, snacks, etc.

entrance is just beside uniqlo

stuffed toys

more toys!

interactive activities

keychains, pens, handkerchief

poké balls

stuffed toys, again

eevee slippers

trading cards, anyone?

busy store? not quite

I went inside expecting to take home something but there’s no Togepi at the time we visited so I saved some money. Aside from that, I did not notice any of the animé’s human characters like Ash, Misty, Brock, Team Rocket, Professor Oak, Nurse Joy, and Officer Jenny. So, sorry fans of the aforementioned. I also didn’t notice any Jigglypuff, Psyduck nor Snorlax stuffed toys. Despite this, the trip to the Pokémon center was still fun!