How to purchase from Pokemon Center Online Store Japan

#Pikachu with Fly Surf Agility Celebrate is distributed with the first purchase from the #Pokemon Center online store (JPN) from 16th Feb 2016 to 22nd May 2016, redeemable from 16th Feb 2016 to 31st Aug 2016 Japanese ORAS only.

Of course, that means you need to sign up with them first...

What are you willing to do for him?

To create an account and make a purchase, you will need a credit card (VISA, MasterCard, JCB, Diners Club, American Express - foreign credit cards work too), an address in Japan and the ability to input Japanese text to fill out the forms (Win/Mac).

The code is posted to you with your purchased item so it is very important that you are able to receive the item that you buy in order to get the Pikachu code.

If you have a friend or acquaintance in Japan who agrees to forward your goodies to you, then you are set. Otherwise, (and this will incur additional fees) there are mail forwarding services who will provide you with a Japanese address which your order will be sent to, and then the package will be forwarded onto your real address outside of Japan. Some services are better than others so be careful! Make sure the Pokemon Center Online Store will ship to the forwarding address.

Once ready, go to https://www.pokemoncenter-online.com/ to start.

Click the button in the top right corner to make an account and then fill in your email in the box on the right.

Confirm your email and submit to send a confirmation email.

Check your inbox/spam/bin for this email and click on the link inside.

Fill in your details. #1 #2 should be in Japanese. Filling in #5 should automatically fill #6 #7. #8 #9 will depend on your address. Numbers and passwords should be alphanumeric. If you are using a forwarding service, check their FAQ for their shipping address instructions.

Confirm your details that you filled in previously, and submit.

You can now log in with your email and password (use the same upper right corner button, and this time fill in the box on the left), and add items to your cart.

The cheapest item is probably an old TCG pack.

Once you add an item to your cart, scroll down to confirm purchase.

Here you should see your details you registered with previously. Click the red button to continue.

Enter your payment details here and then click the red button to continue.

Cheapest purchase is a total of 702 yen including tax and shipping. Confirm your order one last time!

And that's it! Remember that purchases under 5000yen have a domestic shipping fee, as you can see in the picture above. They have lowered it to 3000yen as a special service for the opening of the store so make use of it while you can!

The Pikachu event code is being distributed in a "as long as stocks last" basis so if you leave it too late, you may miss out. Just to reiterate: the code is posted on a post card with the item so you need to provide a working postal address to receive it.

The Pikachu event aside, the Pokemon Center has a lot of awesome Pokemon merchandise. Since pretty much all Pokemon Center merchandise are limited edition items, once they are gone, they are usually gone for good bar the occasional re-release. Personally, I also feel that almost all Pokemon Center exclusive items are well made, with plush toys feeling much nicer than the ones from Takara Tomy or Bandai for example. I think it is well-worth setting this up if you plan on making future purchases, especially since this store has a point system unlike the physical stores :)

Pokemon Center Goomy Goodies

A line of #pokemon #goomy products released this weekend including a giant goomy plush!

Doesn't he look so silly.

 It's hard to describe the size. Let's just say he's like a soft and squishy basketball of substantial weight.

I was a bit disappointed with the quality of this one; usually Pokemon Center plush are really good. Quite a number of them around the shop had some kind of stitching problem or material defects. This one was the best one I found.

They all seemed to have a tuft of stuffing sticking out the back.

The best looking plush I found still had some stitching issues.

But the tag is pretty cute :)

There are lots of other goomy goods too. They look really good and would be suitable for anyone out and about, unlike some of the previous releases with very obvious Pokemon colors and designs.

Tote bag, zip bag and pouch.

The bags have a really awesome goomy tag.

 Of course, there is the ever popular clear file :)

Goomy clearfile set.

Next, next weekend is the release of some goomy gashapon figures.

However, this week saw the release of the new Pikazard gashapon so if you missed out on the Pikazard merchandise a while back, it's a good chance to get some more :)

I got no. 2 and 4

 Also a reminder that the Pokemon Center Egg even is still ongoing.

Pokemon X・Y Art Director Ken Sugimori Collectable Art PG (Pokemon Gallery) prints

New #Pokemon XY Collectable Art framed prints #Xerneas #Yveltal from Pokemon Center Japan! Among all the excitement from the sudden snowfall, these nifty new prints were release from the Pokemon Center.

These two pictures from Pokemon X and Y are drawn by Pokemon artist Ken Sugimori and are available in framed prints, clear files (of course), mugs, a 10 set post card set and two hard cover note books.

Yvetal version

After I got my event Scizor, I went ahead and got the two prints. While the post card set is pretty awesome, featuring 10 new pictures from Ken Sugimori, they feature both Pokemon XY and Pokemon Black White pictures and I'm not really a fan of Black and White.

Examples of the post card images. The post card come in a textured silver tin.

 Anyway, the framed prints are pretty nice and are well made. They are about 12" x 10" with a wooden frame. There's a bit that folds out at the back so it can stand on its own but there are also bits to hang it from as well as a piece of string. The image is nicely set in the frame and the quality is really good. There is a Ken Sugimori stamp in the corner, equivalent to a signature. I'm really happy with both of them. If I had choose one, I think I prefer the Yvetal version because I like the black frame more than the white one.

For more info, visit the official site.

Xerneas version

It's that time of the year at the Pokemon Center!

I want one of these at home!

The fuzzy material makes you want to cuddle them!

Fast forward to the festive season, here are our new starters in their Christmas getup! #pokemon #pokemoncenter #christmaspresent

One of my favorite Pikachu bags.

Maybe for that special someone?

Tins of cookies.

Awesome lamp featuring the Halloween Chandelure design.

I will get this one day...

Apart from the plushies, there are tins of cookies, lots of stationary (clear files, pens, calendars etc), mugs and straps. Oh Santa, could I just get a whole Pokemon Center for Christmas?

As requested, Pokemon Time merchandise

As requested, here are more detailed pictures of the Pokemon Time toys! #pokemon #pokemontoys #pokemonmerchandise

Pokemon Time Hard Cover for 3DS LL

Pokemon Time Hard Pouch for 3DS LL

It's basically pokemon drawn in a really stylized way so that they look kind of drugged up with huge eyes (reminds me of the Simpsons episode with the alien/Mr. Burns). You can see them pretty well on these 3DS cases. The clear one is a hard plastic case for the top and bottom of a 3DS (normal and LL version available). The other one is a somewhat hard-but-still-bendy zip-pouch for a 3DS LL. They come with a hard foam "adapter" so that it can snuggly fit a normal 3DS in it as well. There's a small pouch on the inside of the lid for games but I find it to be a bit loose so I never use it. It really should have had a small zip or elastic band. As it is, I almost dropped a game cartridge when I opened it up once.

Pokemon Time Deoxy Plushies

Of course, there are also Pokemon Time plushies. Most of them are about fist sized; they just released a whole bunch including Pikachu, Charizard, Squirtle and Deoxys. Some of the older ones are bigger, about 7", but they are quite hard to find now. My favorite is probably Teddiursa - the Pokemon Time style makes him look adorable.

I will skip over the stationary items; that's the pens, notepads and clearfiles (so many of those...). Actually the item that really caught my eye are these mugs. They come in these circular tins and the quality of the mug is pretty good. There are only 3 pokemon to choose from; I would have bought Ampharos if he was in his mega evolution form :)

Pokemon Time ceramic mugs of Ampharos, Gardevoir and Deoxy

Anyway, I recommend keeping an eye on the Pokemon Time items as they are quite a nice deviation from the normal Pokemon style and they cycle through different pokemon and different merchandise quite a bit.

New Pokemon Center Mascot

So the Pokemon Center changes their mascot and logo for new games. It appears at the entrances as big plastic statues. This is the new one for the Tokyo branch. I'm surprised that it features Froakie of all things. I can't wait to see the Yokohama one later :)
#PokemonCenter #PokemonXY

Sticker of the new mascot logo.