Travel buddies have been used for years as the perfect airborne companion. Pokémon tend to make for good buddies, and Japan tends to be a hotspot for quality Poké-merch. Put it all together, and you get Japanese airports supplying Pokémon fans with their own Pikachu Air Crew Plushies.
Appearing in Pokémon Stores at Shinchitose Airport (Hokkaidō) and Chubu Centrair International Airport (south of Nagoya), the plush duo puts Pikachu in the uniform of either a pilot or flight attendant. If adding another Pokémon plushie to your collection wasn’t enough, the airport stores also sell flat and plum stickers featuring both Pilot and Flight Attendant Pikachu flying their own chibi plane.
Nintendo Soup spotted the Pika-plushies with evolved apparel from Twitter users who were excited to share images of the new merch on store shelves. The Pilot’s short-sleeved, white shirt and the lighter blue attendant dress are a fresh revamp from the initial Navy uniforms, retailing at ¥1870 and embroidered with the airport’s initials.
The plushies first appeared back in April 2018 at Itami Airport in Osaka, popping up in terminal Pokémon Stores. These smaller stores were designed as a casual shop with an ‘on-the-go’ mentality. They sell Pocket Monster goods for travelers, taking advantage of Pokémon’s status as a global brand and one of Japan’s most profitable franchises. There are over ten stores and centers in the country including Sapporo, Hokkaido, and Fukuoka.
Other Japanese airports, including Haneda Airport in Tokyo, feature PokéStands that act as a vending machine with an interactive Pikachu to sell flight mascots as plushies or keychains from ¥540. These eye-catching stands are an innovative way to make airports more vibrant, further emphasizing Japan’s niche for selling all your needs in a vending machine format. Sadly, they have not appeared outside of Japan as of yet.
These cute keepsakes make great souvenirs and are marketed as a ‘Catch ‘em all’ product for collectors, as each airport plushie is branded with their individual initials making them unique units. The new uniform is a fresh and more casual design to its first release and promises more wardrobe changes for the developing merchandise line.
Source: Nintendo Soup - @ympika25/Twitter
