Japan’s Pokemon Center Stores Shutting Down Due to Coronavirus

Due to Japan’s current state of emergency, the official Japanese Pokemon website has announced all Pokemon Centers will be shutting down indefinitely starting Saturday. This also includes seven smaller Pokemon Stores, Pokemon Cafes, and Pikachu Sweet cafes.

Japan’s government declared a state of emergency in eight of its 47 prefectures on Thursday amid rising cases of the Delta variant. This brought the total up to 21 and includes its capital, Tokyo. Emergency restrictions are in effect until September 12th in order to combat the surge in cases. The emergency declaration will likely extend beyond September 12th, as it’s already been extended a few times.

Individual stores will presumably reopen when the emergency declarations are lifted in their individual prefectures.

The official Pokemon TCG website also announced event cancellations in the affected prefectures. No events will take place in those prefectures until their restrictions are lifted.