Pokemon Go finally launches in Japan

“We don’t want players to enter unsafe places or go where entry is prohibited”, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference on Friday when the smartphone game became available in Japan.

The wildly successful gaming app made its debut in early July in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, but Japanese fans haven’t been able to get their fix until now.

“To everyone in Japan: I am sorry to make you wait for so long”, said Jyunichi Masuda, the head of development at Game Freak Inc., the developer of the original Pokemon game.

Developed by Nintendo affiliate Pokémon Co. and Niantic Inc., which was spun out of Alphabet Inc.’s Google a year ago, “Pokémon Go” was built around location-tracking and augmented-reality technology that allow players to capture cute monsters such as the chubby yellow creature Pikachu. The mash-up app encourages people to gain points by chasing the perky creatures around their own neighborhoods.

The launch in Japan includes a tie-up with McDonald’s Japan that is seen as a potential expansion of the game’s revenue base beyond the sale of in-app purchases.

The Yomiuri Shimbun The central and local governments, railway companies and other organizations have called for “Pokemon Go” players to be aware of safety as reports of trouble and accidents involving players overseas have been heard one after another. Sales of its most recent game console, the Wii U, disappointed in the face of fierce competition from Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4. By the end of the day, however, the stock was up just 0.8%, at 28,220 yen.