I Am The First Person To Tour Across The Real Life Pokemon Kanto Region
The cities and towns featured in the Pokemon games are inspired by the real world locations. Join me as I breakdown each leg of my journey across the real world inspiration for the Kanto region
For the past 26 years, the Pokemon games have always featured regions based on real world locations. For example, Kalos is based on France, Galar is inspired by the United Kingdom, Paldea is derived from the Iberian Peninsula, Unova is drawn from New York, and Alola is clearly a model of Hawaii. However, the first general games featured Kanto, a region that actually exists in the real world with the exact same name in Japan where Tokyo is situated.
Hi, I am Alexander Laurence, 30, I live in Japan and I am an avid Pokémon fan. For 10 years, I had been secretly planning a Pokémon world tour by compiling and researching all the real world locations for the cities in each in-game region.
When I was living in London, I used to actively search for clues about real world pokemon locations. Since I did not live in Japan, I could only go by Google searches and word of mouth when finding real world locations for the in-game cities. It wasn’t until I moved to Japan that I realised that many of the claims that fans have speculated are inaccurate.
After living in Japan for over 3 years, I started constructing a more refined map for the model cities. As soon as I started doing that, I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be cool if I just visited these places? This thought came about during the pandemic when Japan’s borders were closed off from visitors. I wanted people to see this region, at a particularly difficult time for all of us.
I had to end the tour with a final video in Pallet Town, rather than it being the first due to where I was living. There was no way that I could afford the time or money to start in Shimoda, and follow the actual routes as in the games, and end up in Cinnabar Island. That simply was not practical. So I started in Viridian City, went to Celadon City and Saffron City since that is essentially downtown Tokyo (Shinjuku and Maranouchi), then went up towards Pewter City few months later, and on the following weekend did Cerulean City and Lavender Town. On a separate occasion, I made the 2 hour long trip to Yokohama, and then planned the final gruelling legs of the tour: Fuchsia City, Cinnabar Island, and Pallet Town
With this thought in mind, let’s begin this adventure across the Kanto Region.
“Sometimes, what people find difficult to grasp is just how massive the Kanto region is”
Rules of Play
I will set out the terms in order to guarantee the integrity of the tour.
- Only towns and cities will be explored. Exploring Kanto’s caves and mountains are too dangerous without experience, or expert supervision/planning. Neither of which I have. Therefore, in this tour we cut Mt. Moon, Dark Cave, Diglett’s Tunnel, Underground Path, Cerulean Cave, Victory Road, and Indigo Plateau.
- Real-world locations must be based upon the approximate geographical location of the equivalent in-game city. For example, Pewter City is north of Viridian City. Therefore, a candidate city for Pewter City must be north of Hakone the candidate city for Viridian City.
- If a real-world city matches the geographical location, but lacks the cultural features of the in-game city, the nearest city that fits the cultural description shall be elected as the candidate. For example, despite Maebashi City being north of Hakone (Viridian City), it is far too generic of a city to be elected as Pewter City. Therefore, the nearest city with a significant culture and history of archaeological findings and contains an important museum is Iwajuku. It is slightly to the East of Maebashi, but it meets the points in rule 2 to be elected.
- “Culture” will refer to the culture as depicted in any of the games, anime, manga, or other forms of media. If a conflict exists between the mediums, then we will defer to the original first generation games (Green/Red/Blue/Yellow) as the source material.
- Locations will be visited across the span of many months, and will be filmed in no particular order, due to constraints with time and costs.
With this in mind, a map was developed for the tour. Barring Mt. Ashitaka (which violates rule 1), all locations will be visited.
Sometimes, what people find difficult to grasp is just how massive the Kanto region is. Since I lived in a suburb of Tokyo called Hachioji, it would take me around 3 hours to get to any given location, even if I take bullet trains and limited express trains. It is impossible to fathom a 10 year old setting off in this adventure with nothing more than a backpack and a bicycle.
My journey actually began on February 2022 in Hakone, the model for Viridian City, let’s get to it!
Leg 1: Viridian City (Hakone, Kanagawa)
It was a cold and snowy February morning when I started my journey at the beautiful scenic Hakone. Traditionally, Hakone is famous for its hot-spring resorts. But in terms of historical significance, what Hakone is most known for is its role as a checkpoint between Kanto and the rest of Japan (箱根関所, Hakone sekisho).
The only route out of Kanto in the in-game world is indeed Viridian City, where if you head west, you will eventually end up in the Johto region. Therefore, it is not too farfetched to claim that Viridian City is the checkpoint of the in-game Kanto region, just as Hakone is the checkpoint of the real-world Kanto region. Therefore, Viridian City and Hakone are one and the same.
To the west of Viridian City, you will be able to spot Mt. Silver (real world Mt. Fuji), which is technically located in the Johto region. However it is visible from Viridian City, as we could easily view the mountain in the real-world location.
Unfortunately it was not a clear day. However, Mt. Silver is clearly present (as viewed from the Hakone Ropeway Cable-Car).
Hakone is also a famous retreat for many rich patrons of luxury ryokans, hot-spring resorts, and it is comfortably tucked away in the mountains. It makes for the perfect place for the Team Rocket boss, Giovanni, to escape to.
North of Viridian City is Viridian Forest, a meandering collection of trees filled with creepy crawlies, which is enough to make any traveller feeling disorientated and lost!
In hindsight, Viridian Forest is probably the Chichibu-Tama-Kai National Park, which is an expansive area of gorges, valleys, mountains, forests, and woods. However, I thought it is far too large to be reasonably called “Viridian Forest”. But I did not want to throw away this theory completely. So what I did was elect the forest within Hakone, specifically in Motohakone, as “Viridian Forest”. The reason why I did is is because this forest connects to the Chichibu-Tama-Kai National Park if you head north enough. It was a likely compromise given my travel constraints…
Overall, despite the bitterly cold weather, Hakone was a very pleasant place to visit. I recommend visiting during the Autumn season. Hakone’s colourful leaves (紅葉, kōyō) truly is a sight to behold.
That’s all for Viridian City. Let’s see what’s next on our tour…
Leg 2: Saffron City (Chuo/Chiyoda City, Tokyo)
Saffron City is large metropolis which serves as Kanto’s “financial district”, hosting several large businesses, with Silph Co. being the centrepiece, and two gyms, the Fighting Dojo and Saffron City Gym.
Saffron City is modelled after Tokyo’s sprawling business districts, such as Chiyoda, Maranouchi area, and Chuo-Ku. “Chuo-Ku” in Japanese, means central ward (中央区, Chūō-ku). Given Saffron City’s centralised location, it is quite easy to adopt this theory.
I made quite a few trips to Tokyo Station to film Saffron City. The footage from the first trip was almost neglected due to the awful cloudy weather. But it was the best that I could get…
The Silph Co. is a shady company that created the Masterball, which helped Giovanni capture the escaped Mewtwo. It also invented the Silph Scope which allows you to see the spirits of dead pokemon. Its headquarters is the tallest structure in the city.
Another cool feature of Saffron City is its connection to Johto’s Goldenrod City via the Magnet Train, a maglev train service. In Japanese, the Magnet Train is referred to as the Linear Motorcar (リニアモーターカー).
In fact, a real-world Linear high-speed train is being developed that does in fact connect the real world Goldenrod City (Osaka) with the real world Saffron City (Central Tokyo) called the… You guessed it, the “Chuo” (central) Shinkansen (中央新幹線) which is also most popularly referred to as... Linear Motorcar (リニアモーターカー). Surprise, surprise!
However, instead of Tokyo Station being its terminal station, it is indeed Shinagawa Station. Although, the linear train is probably due to be completed closer to 2030, while the maglev train was introduced in the games in 1999 when Pokemon Gold/Silver was released in Japan. So all can be forgiven, since the developers could only guess what a future terminal station would eventually end up being. This is a good example of the real world drifting from the pokemon world. The other example being the cycling route, but I will get to that later!
Next on our sightseeing list is the Fighting Dojo. Now to me, this is clearly the Nippon Budokan. It is one of the most famous indoor martial arts arena, and it is located in the Chiyoda area.
Although not 100%, it slightly resembles the Fighting Dojo as depicted in the anime.
Phew, Saffron City takes a lot of energy to get around. Let’s travel onwards…
Leg 3: Celadon City (Shinjuku/Setagaya, Tokyo)
Celadon City is the commercial district of Kanto, which is home to an entertainment establishment (The Game Corner), a large department store, condominiums, Erika’s Gym, and finally the Rocket Hideout.
Shinjuku is well known to be Tokyo’s commercial district as it is absolutely filled with department stores.
Here I picked Marui to be the candidate, but honestly, you can pick any you find.
The department store contains multiple floors which sell specific types of goods. Each floor can either be scaled by elevator or escalator, just like in the game.
As anywhere in Japan, you can find vending machines literally everywhere. You may need one to quench the thirst of a hapless guard…
Or you could drink it yourself…
Next, is the model for Erika’s Gym. You may notice Erika’s Gym is really foral and green. It is actually quite difficult to find a place like that slap bang in the middle of a commercial district in Japan.
But one such place exists. Shinjuku Gyoen (新宿御苑), minus the “beauties”, it is the perfect place which describes the description of Erika’s gym.
Side note (and a bit of a lighthearted half-joke): You might expect to find Erika’s “beauties” in Erika’s gym. But everyone who has lived here long enough knows that beauties are very plentiful in Shinjuku’s department stores and streets… Don’t let that distract you though.
Shinjuku was one of the first cities to fully develop into a metropolis in Japan in the 60s. Therefore, at its height in the 80s, it became prey to several crime syndicates.
In the game, Team Rocket is essentially a Mafia organisation, which uses the Game Corner business (which is a localised “Pachinko Parlour” for Western audiences) as a front for their secret hideout.
It is an analog to Japan’s history of the Yakuza and its murky connections to the entertainment industry.
Pachinko (パチンコ) is a Japanese gambling game, where you insert a coin, and you attempt to land a pinball in a catchment area to trigger a payout. Most Pachinko Parlours also house a Pachislot (パチスロ) machine, which is more like a traditional slot machine. This is the game that features in Celadon City Game Corner.
Strictly speaking, gambling is illegal in Japan. In fact, you cannot directly win money. Instead, you get coins or tokens, which you can exchange for prizes such as stuffed toys.
This is also mirrored in the game. It is clearly shown in the Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee games where a stuffed Snorlax toy is seen behind the prize counter.
Then why are people addicted to Pachinko, I hear you say? Well, this is where the grey area of the law comes into play. Next door to the Pachinko is usually a totally-different-and-nothing-to-do-with-the-Pachinko store, which will buy your prizes that you just won in exchange for money.
This peculiar part of Japanese culture is also beautifully depicted in the Pokemon games, with the prize counter sitting adjacent to the Game Corner.
Finally, a cool bit of trivia is that the Celadon City Condominiums host the GAME FREAK Inc office on the 3F (third floor).
This is a reference to GAME FREAK’s first ever office space in Shimo-Kitazawa, Setagaya, Tokyo where Pokemon Green and Red were being developed.
In Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee, Morimoto, GAME FREAK director, can be found in Celadon City! He is actually one of the strongest coach trainers.
I actually visited this place after my trip! It is in fact a pilgrimage for Pokemon fans for its significance in the history of the games.
And in front of it, is a cycle shop with a familiar logo… I wonder where GAME FREAK got the inspiration for Team Rocket’s logo…
Wow, Celadon City sure is filled with exciting bits of information!
Leg 4: Pewter City (Iwajuku, Gunma)
After crossing through Viridian Forest, we arrive at Pewter City, north of Viridian City. In the real world, logic suggests this to be the nearest largest city which is Maebashi in Gunma prefecture. However, we find that there is a small city which is a more likely candidate. But before I explain the candidate city, let’s recall the features of Pewter City.
Pewter City is the home of the first gym leader, Brock, who hosts the rock-type gym and awards the player the Boulder Badge upon victory. Due to the city’s proximity to Mt. Moon, the city has an exhibition of “Moon Stones” excavated from Mt. Moon displayed at the Pewter City Museum of Science.
I found that Maebashi was the general location that is north of Hakone (Viridian City). However, there was not that many redeeming features to say “Maebashi is Pewter City”. Instead, I found that the neighbouring Midori City which contains the Archaeological Museum in Iwajuku is very similar to Pewter City.
Iwajuku is named after the Iwajuku site (岩宿遺跡, Iwajuku iseki) an archaeological site located in what is now the Kasuke neighborhood of the city of Midori, Gunma Prefecture in the northern Kantō region of Japan with finds from the Japanese Paleolithic period. It received protection as a National Historic Site in 1979.
It was once thought that the human habitation of the Japanese archipelago began during the Jōmon period (approximately between 13,000 and 500 BC) This view changed however, with the discovery of Paleolithic sites on the archipelago, which stretched the occupation of Japan by human beings as far back as 30,000 BC. One source even suggests that humans might have inhabited the Japanese islands as far back as 50,000 BC. The first of these Paleolithic sites that was rediscovered in a site known as Iwajuku. Even its name, Iwajuku (岩宿), contains the word rock (岩, Iwa) in Japanese. I think this would be a more accurate place for Pewter City.
Within the Iwajuku Site, lies a beautiful archaeological museum (岩宿博物館, Iwajuku Hakubutsukan) that displays rocks, minerals, and a the fossil of a large Mammoth all of which are recovered from the Iwajuku Site.
You can notice it is remarkably similar to the anime depiction. The entrance and the rough vicinity of where the museum sits, with the surrounding areas, is almost exactly as it is in real life.
Let’s take a look at what the museum looks like from the inside!
Just like the game, the museum has only 2 floors. The 2nd floor hosting the majority of items on display. When I was there, I realised that exhibition floor was also on the 2nd floor just like in the game.
Let’s take a look at some of the most famous items on display…
Like the game, a single ancient animals is also on display at the museum. In the real world, it the fossil of a Mammoth. In the games, it is either a Kabutops or an Aerodactyl.
Overall, I would say the Iwajuku Museum is eerily similar to the Pewter City Museum. The only downpoint is the missing Space Shuttle exhibition. But like most museum exhibitions, perhaps that was a temporary thing.
After exiting the museum, we are greeting by the Iwajuku Dome (岩宿ドーム), which was built to preserve and display the stratum cross section of Point B of the Iwajuku Site.
The entrance to the Iwajuku Dome is very reminiscent of the entrance to the Diglett’s Tunnel.
We can even catch a glimpse of Mt. Akagi, which is the inspiration for Mt. Moon to the north. It is a very peaceful town surrounded by nature, and I even ran into a wild cat. I am not sure what type of cat this is, it looks like a Tsushima Cat (although these are endangered and super-rare to find in Honshu, and the ears are supposed to be round, which these aren’t). If anyone has any ideas, please let me know in the comments below.
Anyway guys, please enjoy this beautiful town. It is probably one of my favourite places that I visited so far.
In the Japanese games, Mt. Moon is actually referred to as Moon-viewing mountain (お月見山, Otsukimi-yama) which is a cultural reference to the Moon-viewing festival (お月見, Otsukimi) in Japan. The mountains are the best place to view a perfect full moon. In the Pokemon World, Clefairy (the Pokemon that originate from the Moon but somehow reside on Mt. Moon) can be spotted on the rare occasions (possibly during Otsukimi). They come down from their mountain home, and can be seen dancing under the light of the full moon.
Let’s march forward to the next city!
Leg 5: Cerulean City (Tsuchuira, Ibaraki)
Cerulean City, the floral lagoon city where Misty the water-type gym leader resides. It is also home to the Bicycle Shop, Nugget Bridge, and Cerulean Cave among others. The route eastwards from Cerulean City leads to the Rock Tunnel, which requires a blinding light to view the path ahead.
On Bulbapedia, there is a common theory that Cerulean City is Utsunomiya City in Tochigi Prefecture. Geographically this makes sense, being west of Iwajuku in Gunma (in-game Pewter City). However, Cerulean City features an Eastwardly travelling river which ends in a large body of water. In the official hand-drawn maps, we can see this large body of water to be a large bay/lake to the North East. Unfortunately, Utsunomiya does not have any of these features. In fact, Utsunomiya does not have the culture of Cerulean City at all. It is only when we evaluate these geographical features that we end up with a place called Tsuchiura in Ibaraki Prefecture, which fits the description perfectly.
Tsuchiura is a city that is referred to as a “Water-town” (水郷, suigo) due to its rich connection to rivers, bays, and lakes. The river in which Suigo Bridge (in-game Nugget Bridge) crosses over is called Sakura River (桜川, sakuragawa) due to its incredibly beautiful cherry blossom trees (桜, Sakura) that flank the river. Cerulean City, being the “floral lagoon town” as described in the game may have earned its reputation based on this knowledge.
But more still! The lake in which the Sakura River flows directly into is called Lake Kasumigaura (霞ヶ浦, Kasumigaura) or literally “Kasumi Bay”. It is the 2nd largest lake in Japan, 2nd to Lake Biwa (which is the real world inspiration for Johto’s Lake of Rage). But the name Kasumi, does it ring a bell? Kasumi means “Misty” in Japanese. Kasumi is also the Japanese name for the water type gym leader that we know as Misty.
There is even a “gymnasium” called “Kasumi Bay Gym” which looks very very similar to Misty’s Gym as depicted in the anime.
To top of it off, right in front of the gym is an Aquapark called Water Town Aquapark. Unfortunately, during the time of filming it was closed…
However, it does really add weight to the idea that this is the location of Misty’s Gym, since her gym is literally a swimming pool. A design which is seen in almost all Pokemon media, from the Trading Card Game (TCG) to the anime, and all generation of games.
But like how the theme of “rock” features heavily in Iwajuku. The theme of “water” features heavily in Tsuchuira.
It was a pretty sweet little city, well worth the visit if you’re into lakes, rivers, and other water based activities.
Let’s continue on our journey…
Leg 6: Lavender Town (Ushiku, Ibaraki)
After exiting Rock Tunnel, we arrive at Lavender Town, a spooky little town on the North Eastern side of Kanto. Home to the Pokemon Tower, where loved ones (in particular Pokemons, not humans) lay to rest.
It is there where we encounter the spirit of Cubone’s late mother, which can only be viewed through the use of a Silph Scope.
In Japanese culture, the deceased are burned, not buried. Their ashes are then kept in Ohaka (お墓, ohaka), a family grave consisting of a stone monument, with a place for flowers, incense, and water in front of the monument and a chamber or crypt underneath for the ashes. This is what is described in the Pokemon Tower. It is not a “graveyard” in a tower, as many non-Japanese players have mistakenly thought. That makes no sense anyway…
So given this knowledge, I found an Ohaka site where family’s late pets are kept, and contains a very large tower structure. That place is Ushiku Joen (牛久浄苑).
Ushiku Joen features many aspects of Lavender Town, the first being the Purification Zone (which is the largest incense burner in Japan).
We take a waft of smoke into our souls before crossing the “Bridge of Afterlife” towards the Ushiku Daibutsu (牛久大仏), a 120m statue of the Buddha, which contains 4 floors.
I have to admit, I assumed it would be a small statue, and that would be it. But when I knew that it was a massive 120m tower, which can be climbed, I became giddy with excitement.
The 1st floor lobby is dark. In the centre of the room a single shaft of light shines from above onto a cauldron of smoking incense. Beyond it is the elevator to the other floors. The 2nd floor contains scriptures, the 3rd floor contains 3000 samples of gold Buddha statues, and the final 4th floor was the observation deck.
The difference between the in-game Pokemon Tower and Ushiku Daibutsu is that there are no Ohaka in the Ushiku Daibutsu, whereas the game features several Ohaka inside the tower. Although the 3000 golden buddha samples are purchased by families to commemorate their loved ones, they essentially act as memorials that function in a similar way to Ohaka.
As Japan is an earthquake-prone country, it is unsurprisingly rare to find a tower to house Ohaka, despite it being a very good way to save land. But I did manage to find a place, called Anyoin Hikari no Sono (安養院 ひかりの園). But it is located in Shinagawa, Tokyo. There is no way that this could be Lavender Town. But towers such as this could have been the inspiration…
Despite being completed in the early 90s, it is possible that the Ushiku Daibutsu could have been the inspiration for the Pokemon Tower. Also it is worth mentioning that there is no other candidate location for Lavender Town in this rough area that fits the description as well as Ushiku Joen does.
Overall, Lavender Town is a very sombre place. It was also a place that I did not really want to be filming too much out of respect for the deceased.
Let’s move on swiftly before we run into some ghosts…
Leg 7: Vermillion City (Yokohama, Kanagawa)
Vermillion City is probably my favourite city in all of Kanto. It is bustling, energetic, clean, the air feels pure, and above all, it is modern. Despite this, Vermillion City holds the biggest debates among Pokemon region theorists.
That being, is Vermillion City based on Chiba City (due to its geographic location) or Yokohama (based on its culture)? That question has finally been answered by the Pokemon World Championship organisers in 2022.
In the announcement video of the 2023 Pokemon World Championships, Vermillion City was used to tease the reveal that Yokohama was the host city.
This suggests, in official capacity, some kind of link between Vermillion City and Yokohama, settling the decades long debate.
Vermillion City features a port which allows passengers to board the SS. Anne, a beautiful cruise ship that sails across the world. Based on the anime, there seems to be a suggestion that the SS. Anne is symbolic of the HMS Titanic, as both of the vessels sank despite its grand image. Therefore, I found the NYK Hikawa Maru, an ocean liner, not quite the size of the Titanic, but of the same era to be a beautiful analog.
The Yokohama Dock Company built the NYK Hikawa Maru for Nippon Yūsen Kabushiki Kaisha. She was launched on 30 September 1929 and made her maiden voyage from Kobe to Seattle on 13 May 1930.
In fact, the entire ship is now a permanent floating museum which can be boarded. So unlike the the actual SS Anne, this one does not set sail.
Yokohama, much like its in-game equivalent (Vermillion City), has a very “American” feel to it. Vermillion City’s gym leader is Lt. Surge, described as the “lightening American”. This suggests that Lt. Surge is in fact a foreigner to the Kanto region.
It is quite common for port / harbour towns to contain foreigners given its purpose as a port of entry to the outside world. Therefore, with Vermillion City being the largest and only port in the Kanto region, it is not so surprising that a person such as Lt. Surge would live there.
But to address the fact, why is he a “Lieutenant”? According to the lore, Lt. Surge previously fought in a “war”. Yokohama is very close to the famous US Navy base at Yokosuka. This could be a strong indicator that Yokohama and its surrounding areas is Vermillion City.
To those who still believe Chiba City is Yokohama, there is no commercial ships (which carry passengers) that dock on the Port of Chiba. It is mostly freight and cargo ships. It is not possible that Chiba City is Vermillion City.
We are nearly there! Let’s carry on with our journey…
Leg 8: Fuchsia City (Tateyama/Minami-Boso, Chiba)
Fuchsia City is a beautiful city located in the southern most tip of the Eastern peninsula in the Kanto Region. It is accessible through two ways, the “Cycling Road” (which crosses the bay from Celadon City to Fuchsia City), or the “Silence Bridge” (South of Lavender Town) which is blocked by a sleeping Snorlax.
Fuchsia City contains Koga’s Gym, and the Safari Zone. Koga is a Ninja, and ends up becoming a member of the Elite Four during the events of Ethan and Crystal in the Johto region. Remember, Kanto and Johto both share the same Indigo Plateau. The Safari Zone is a nature reserve where you can find and catch Pokemon that you cannot see anywhere else in the region. At the tip of the peninsula, Fuchsia City also has a coastline which allows the player to access the Seafoam Islands and subsequently Cinnabar Island.
In the real world, the Eastern Peninsula is referred to as the Boso Peninsula (房総半島, Bōsō-hantō), and the south of the peninsula is essentially where Fuchsia City is based.
According to the internet, this is Tateyama City in Chiba (there are 2 famous Tateyama cities in Japan, so you have to be careful to not get these mixed up). However, when I visited I did find that Tateyama described only the coastal portion of Fuchsia City.
Minami-Boso (South Boso in Japanese) contains a Ninja Village which could be the inspiration for Koga’s origins. If we go further north, we get to Futtsu which is home to Mother Farm, which I believe is the inspiration for the Safari Zone.
There are many types of animals which you can pet, feed, see at Mother Farm. It is also has a “Safari” type tour bus (which sadly was not running when I was there).
This is what is should look like… I wish I could have gone on here. Isn’t this the Safari Zone?
Therefore, I really do find that Fuchsia City encompasses the general culture of the entire Boso Peninsula area.
But how did I even get to Fuchsia City in the first place? There are two ways as I previously mentioned…
Turns out that there is a Cycling Road in real life. It is called the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line, and it is a large bridge which allows us to cross the bay onto the Boso Peninsula, just like the one in the game.
There are two differences between the Cycling Road and the Aqua Line. Firstly in the game, the Cycling Road begins at the real-world Izu Peninsula. However crossing between the two peninsulas is just not practical in real life. Therefore, the real-world Aqua Line begins a lot more closer to the Boso Peninsula. This is indeed Kawasaki City, Kanagawa and ends in Kisarazu City, Chiba. Secondly, the real world Aqua Line actually goes underwater towards the Kawasaki side! Whereas the in-game cycling road is entirely an over-water bridge.
I took a bus that crossed the Bay and off I was onwards to Fuchsia City. But for the first time in this journey, I had to book hotels to travel to Fuchsia City due to how massive the Boso Peninsula is. There was no way I could do a day trip. It took 3 hours to get there, and public transport is non-existent in these parts of the country that if you miss your bus time, you lose an hour or two. When considering filming, that is a significant blow as we need to conserve daylight. So I had to book a hotel, and complete the rest of the filming. Even so, I had to skip certain locations such as Koga’s Gym (Minamiboso Ninja Village).
Just as the name, Fuchsia, suggests, the colour pink features heavily in the real world. During the right season, Mother Farm contains a vast array of Pink Petunias. The slogan of Fuchsia City is also “It’s Passion Pink!”.
In fact the entire southern coastline is referred to as the “Boso Flower Line” due to the presence of a long line of floral beauty.
In fact the emblem of Minamiboso City is also a Red flower with 7 petals to represent each town within the city.
Another city in the Boso peninsula is Kimitsu, its mascot has 2 pink Rhododendron dilatatum (ミツバツツジ, Mitsubatsutsuji) flowers, the city’s flower.
Apart from Mother Farm, the entire Southern Peninsula is filled with fields of pink flora. It is quite a sight to see!
Let’s leave Fuchsia City. But before we do, let’s have one last look at this engineering masterpiece… The Cycling Road.
Time to recall a quick stopover that I made earlier that day...
Leg 9: Seafoam Islands (Ukishima, Chiba)
Feeling tired? Because I sure am. The Seafoam Islands, in its in-game location, don’t actually exist. They may as well be fictional islets made just for the game. However, I did not want to give up.
Around the coast of the Boso Peninsula, we find a small Islet called Ukishima in Kyonan. It actually has a cave, and is paired by a sister islet nearby it.
It is quite a breathtaking sight, much like most of the sights you will find in this Kanto tour…
In the Japanese edition of the game, these two islets are referred to as Twin Islands (双子島, futagojima).
Over the distance, we can even spot a familiar sight…
It was a very clear day, so we could see Mt. Silver in the Johto region over in the distance, even with atmospheric hazing.
No articuno was found, however. But I did take Marill with me, just in case!
Leg 10: Cinnabar Island (Izu-Oshima, Tokyo)
We are at the penultimate leg of our journey. I’m getting a little teary eyed.
Cinnabar Island, the Island that is home to a large volcano, the Pokemon Mansion, Pokemon Lab, and Blaine’s Fire-type gym.
The Cinnabar Island volcano actually erupted sometime between the events of Gen I and Gen II. This forced Blaine to move his gym to the nearby Seafoam Islands. The Pokemon Mansion is also completely destroyed by Mewtwo, a genetically engineered pokemon created by scientists at the nearby Pokemon Lab through genetic recombination of Mew’s DNA.
In the Kanto region, sometimes finding real world analogs to the cities and towns in the Pokemon world is difficult (as was the case with Lavender Town). However, with Cinnabar Island, it was painfully obvious that this was Izu-Oshima.
It is not only the largest island with an active volcano, Mt. Mihara, but that volcano also erupted in 1990, during the development of the first generation games. This event was mirrored in the games, as previously mentioned.
According to historical records, all residents of Izu-Oshima were evacuated off the island. As we know, Blaine moved his gym to Seafoam Islands, suggesting that people in Pokemon world also evacuated during the eruption of the Cinnabar Island volcano.
The volcano’s crater, although cannot be seen at ground-level, can also be seen towards the summit of Mt. Mihara.
Although I ran out of time to actually see the crater, but if I did, it would look something like this…
Despite that, I managed to get a nice photo of the volcano at ground level with Pikachu and Marill. The weather forecasts said overcast, but the heavens opened up and the sun came out. Thank goodness for that!
Next, Cinnabar Island is home to a beautiful Western-style Mansion, which was possibly home to Mr. Fuji, a famous Pokemon researcher who recorded the events of the birth of Mewtwo.
With its unique Western architectural features, I could only find the Izu-Oshima Museam to be the only building on the island that could fit this description.
I did also find that the island is famous for Camellia (椿, tsubaki). Its airport is also named Tokyo Oshima Camellia Airport.
Camellias certainly look very “firey”, and match with the general theme of fire with the island.
Well, look like it is time to board the ship and surf out of this island and head back home… Are you ready?
Leg 11: Pallet Town (Shimoda, Shizuoka)
Guys, we finally made it back home. Pallet Town. Where our mother, rival neighbour, and Professor Oak lives. It is a town where our roots can be felt, it is a place where it all begins!
I can’t believe I am saying this but, after 10 years of research and planning, I finally completed this Kanto Tour in Pallet Town very much in the spirit of homecoming.
Pallet Town, based on real-world Shimoda, is now a bustling port city, whereas Pallet Town is described as a sleepy town.
I found houses that look exactly like the ones depicted in the anime, manga, and games.
Despite this, Shimoda has the air of being a place of humble beginnings.
The town is very gentle, and full of warm hearted people. It is flanked by small mountains, and is enclosed by sea. It is incredibly scenic, and my god is the food delicious here…
Within minutes of me walking around town, I had a random old lady helping me on my way. She even gave me a Town Map for free to help me not get lost, just like Blue’s sister. No joke!
A lot of fans theorise that Pallet Town is in fact Machida, the hometown of the conceptual creator of the Pokemon games, Satoshi Tajiri.
However, Machida is more closer to Tokyo than it is to the Izu-Peninsula, where Pallet Town is situated in. In fact, Pallet Town is right on the southernmost tip of the peninsula.
This points to only one place, that is Shimoda.
In addition, Satoshi was reliving his childhood based on Machida in the 60s and 70s. Since then, Machida has undergone a vast amount of urbanisation, to the point where it is almost unrecognisable. This is probably why Satoshi Tajiri chose the rough location of Shimoda to represent what Machida used to look like during his childhood.
Therefore, I say with strong confidence that Shimoda is the home of Red. It is where you start your adventure. It is Pallet Town. But above all. It is home. I was lucky to meet many kind people, some of which even called me their “family” during my visit. Below is a photo of them (they invited me to go fishing with them, but I had to film the Pallet Town video that day).
I’ll never forget them. I’ll never forget Pallet Town.
What’s Next?
From Pallet Town, I could actually see the Sevii Islands. Namely One Island, and its several locations. It made me realise, I really want to visit the Sevii Islands at some point.
However this is not as easy as it sounds. Certain routes are closed depending on the time of year. Also, we cannot travel from one island to another. So multiple trips over several days or weeks is needed. It will take some level of planning. But I want to do it!
Also, quite a few times during this trip Mt. Silver was everpresent. That means that not only could I see the Sevii Islands from Kanto, but I could also see the Johto region too. So having completed Kanto, Johto is another goal of mine. Actually, I am moving to Nagoya and so travelling across Johto should be a breeze from there.
“I believe I am the first person in the world to travel along this route in such a way”
I believe I am the first person in the world to travel along this route in such a way. There was another person who came very close, but he skipped Cinnabar Island (the real world Oshima Island). Others tried opening crowdfunding accounts but were unsuccessful in reaching their funding targets due to the extremely high cost of traveling to Japan.
However, I believe I learned many things that a pokemon fan may be curious about.
I learned that you can actually see Mt. Silver from Fuchsia City! That blew my mind, since the first generation games are top-down, so we never really get a feel for ground-level perspectives. I hope to take what I learnt with me for the Johto Region which I will get to work on immediately!
If you enjoyed reading this article, please watch the entire video series on my channel. The video is linked below:
I leave you with my favourite character who echos my sentiments…
Until next time!
