POKEMON!

You guys. In Japan they have PokeCenters. If that reference makes you excited then we have another little something to connect over. If your nerd radar is sounding and you are no longer interested, no one is making you stay.

I played that gameboy game all through my late childhood and adolescence, and when we were living overseas and didn't have any television networks my sisters and I lived and breathed the pokemon series on shabby VHS's. over and over. Needless to say, the world of pokemon was a really huge part of my imagination and development- rivaled only by Harry Potter, PowerPuff Girls, and Zelda. I'm a girl of my era.

Anyways, the first time I came to Japan I was so excited and charmed by all the real life things that reflected parts of the pokemon game I played as a kid- little things like taking an overnight ferry and exploring the decks, awesome drink machines being an ever-present part of life, sky high department stores with a different theme on every floor, the fact that their convenient stores feel exactly like the pokemart, pachinko- the slots game, and of course, the fact that once you get a bike you feel so much freedom, mobility, invincibility,and you can rent them all over for cheap. It felt like the game came to life and I was just exploring all these vaguely familiar things.

The PokeCenter had so many cute things! stuffed animals, stickers, towels, food, toys- and they even had a gaming center. Ryan was pretty excited to try it, and he got to keep his playing tokens, which apparently he can keep upgrading by coming back and playing more. sneaky.