Pokemon Go still isn’t out in Japan – and it’s driving people crazy

Update on July 22 2016, 11:04am JST: The game is now out in Japan.

The world is engrossed with the craziness that is Pokemon Go. It is already set to overtake Twitter in daily active users and robbers are even using it to lure unsuspecting victims. While some people are complaining about being forced to exercise, businesses are trying to figure out how to use the game for marketing. Love it or hate it, Pokemon Go has brought augmented reality into the limelight.

It’s a lonely, lonely world for pokemon trainers in Japan. Image credit: Mekatek.

Pokemon Red was released in February 1996. Although the Japanese have been hunting pokemon over two years longer than other countries, the creatures have yet to appear in their native habitat. The stress on servers has kept the game from being rolled out and Niantic’s general marketing manager of Asia politely asked everyone to wait. People are not happy.

“Fucking tell us the release date!”

“What do you mean by a little more? *Crying* Weeks? Months? I see my friends playing abroad and I’m jealous.”

“A little longer? Wtf you talking about, for real. If you can’t do it, tell us from the beginning. What are you a politician?”

Japan is notoriously slow when it comes to releasing stuff. I live in Tokyo, and I always feel like a pop culture wizard whenever I go home to the US and then return to Japan with all the latest music and movies that will dominate the Japanese charts for the next half year. Pixar’s Up, for example, wasn’t released in Japan until six months after its American debut.

A tribute