As a child, Satoshi Tajiri loved to collect and play with bugs in his backyard. Growing up, he loved going to the playground to play video games. So he decided to combine the two.
What about the result? One of the biggest franchises in the world.
“Pokémon is almost a lifestyle at this point,” says Tokyo-based writer and author Matt Alt. Pure Innovation: How Japan Made the Modern World They spoke Sunday magazine.
This month, Tajiri’s creation, Pokemon, celebrated its 30th anniversary. Super Bowl commercial featuring celebrities Like Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Lady Gaga, Trevor Noah, Jisoo and Lamin Yamal discussing their favorite Pokemon.
And those creatures
So far, it has registered more than 100 billion dollars License Global reports a profit of 12 billion dollars by 2024.
It is dominated by video games, trading cards and anime series, making it a source of soft power that has helped propel Japan to economic power and even global influence.
Love for bugs
Tajiri started working on games for Nintendo Game Boy in 1990 – The latest handheld game system at the time – includes 150 creatures for people to capture, collect and fight. Development took six years, but on February 27, 1996, Pokemon Red and Green were officially released in Japan.
Alt says Nintendo throws his weight behind him when he realizes he’s hit. He has made comic books for franchises, cartoon series and trading cards — a common marketing practice in Japan, Alt says.
In the year By the time Pokémon landed in North America in 1999, it already had a fully formed media ecosystem called Alt.
“It hit like a meteor,” Alt said. “It profoundly changed the place of childhood fantasy in the West.”
Haneen El Mir was seven years old when her brother discovered Game Boy Color, the predecessor to Nintendo’s first Game Boy. The siblings started playing Pokemon Blue and the two became attached.
Since then, El Mir has played every Pokémon game released and now studies video games at Concordia University in Montreal. She said even the music from the games had an effect on her.
“It takes me to a different time, a time where I don’t have a lot of responsibility,” she says. “I’m on my parents’ couch, not having to worry about anything,” says El Mir, who has studied power nostalgia in Pokémon fans.
Pokemon cards that cost a few bucks a pack when they come out; Now sometimes it can be worth thousands – or occasionally millions – Inciting scalpers to grab as much as they can. To sell again.
Then there’s Pokemon Go, An app that has taken the internet by storm By allowing people to capture the cute little creatures on their phones while roaming around in the real world.
Not to mention the TV series, Followed Ash Ketchum for 25 years Before recently shifting his focus to a new set of characters.
More than a franchise
According to Shaoyu Yuan, an international relations scholar and associate professor at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs, Pokemon’s huge popularity around the world makes it a so-called soft power.
Hard power is the ability to impose your will – on a global scale that looks like military force or economic sanctions – soft power is a little more subtle.
“They don’t arrive as a policy memo, they arrive as a music playlist, a weekend movie or a TV show,” Yuan said. “Once culture becomes a common reference point, it quietly becomes something political.”
That’s what happened with Pokemon too.
In the year In the 1960s, Japan became an economic giant, which created fear in Western markets, Alt. This led the US government to impose tariffs and embargoes on Japanese products such as cars, electronics and goods.
But the government isn’t worried about toys, action figures, video games or TV shows.
“And kids love it,” Alt said. “While the adults are trying to keep Japan out of American markets, they don’t realize that at the same time Japanese fantasy is flooding in and they’re changing us young people as we feed on it.”
At the same time, restrictions around television showed that products marketed to children took off, opening the door for Nintendo and its Pokemon products to enter.
Yuan says Japanese video games, anime and food culture have had a huge influence on the West. And he said soft power comes with its own unique benefits.
“It affects who gets the benefit of the doubt, who can quickly build coalitions and attract investment and talent — and in times of crisis, the narratives feel credible.”
See | How to tell if a case of Pokemon cards is worth thousands or less than $100:
30 years and more
Pokemon will begin its anniversary celebrations on February 27th, the same day that Pokemon Red and Green was released in Japan 30 years ago.
And while the franchise continues to turn a profit, El Mir said the biggest challenge for Pokémon will be what happens when nostalgia dries up and those who grew up in the 1990s and early 2000s no longer use these products.
“I think there are some elements of risk that need to be considered,” El Mir said.
But Alt said that for more than 30 years, Pokemon has been able to resonate with its younger fans. In addition, the franchise brings all kinds of people, from fighting to collecting, it has many aspects.
“It’s very accessible, it’s very fun, it’s really beautiful, and it’s cool at the same time,” Alt said. “I think it’s a testament to Satoshi Tajiri’s vision and passion.
“Pokémon is not only surviving, you know, decades after it was released, it’s growing. It’s not even a Japanese culture, it’s a global culture.”