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Pikachu and pals make a compelling reason to skip the bullet train while traveling in Japan over the next few months<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n They say it\u2019s not the destination that matters so much as the journey, and a visit to one of Japan\u2019s highway rest stops will make that philosophy sound especially wise. Between delicious regional specialty foods<\/a>, superb cleanliness<\/a>, and cleverly<\/a> convenient<\/a> design points, the rest stops along the country\u2019s expressways, called SAs (\u201cservice areas\u201d) and PAs (\u201cparking areas\u201d) can sometimes be as memorable as wherever it is you\u2019re driving to.<\/p>\n But it turns out there\u2019s a way to make these mid-journey oases even more awesome: add Pok\u00e9mon!<\/strong><\/p>\n Several Pok\u00e9mon are hitting the road this summer as part of a partnership with Nexco<\/strong> (Nippon Expressway Company), the company that manages Japan\u2019s largest expressway network, stretching from one end of the country to the other. As part of the collaboration, 142 rest stops will be offering acrylic standees<\/strong> and 170 will have key holders<\/strong>, both featuring exclusive Pok\u00e9mon artwork, in their gift shop areas.<\/p>\n Rest stops in central and west Japan will have other merch too, such as car side-window sunshades and safe-driving-reminder magnetic stickers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 54 rest stops will also have photo panels for visitors to snap pictures at<\/strong>\u00a0and other Pok\u00e9mon decorations around the facility, with some of them already offering advance previews.<\/p>\n \u25bc Ashigara SA in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture<\/p>\n \u25bc Takarazuka SA in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture<\/p>\n \u25bc Moriya SA in Moriya, Ibaraki<\/p>\n 234 parking\/service areas will also be part of a special Pok\u00e9mon stamp rally<\/strong>. A stamp rally is a kind of promotion where you fill up a sheet of paper with stamps that can be found at different locations, then submit the paper for a chance to win a prize. Naturally, for this event different rest stops\u2019 stamps will feature different Pok\u00e9mon<\/strong>, and each of the stamp spaces on the paper is marked with a Pok\u00e9 Ball.<\/p>\n Collecting any six stamps<\/strong> makes you eligible to win one of 1,000 sticker books<\/strong> or metallic medals<\/strong>. If you go one step, or actually three steps, further and after your starting six collect three more stamps of Legendary or Mythical Pok\u00e9mon species<\/strong>, you become eligible for one of 250 bento box and insulated drink bottle sets<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Though Japan is often thought of as primarily a train-based society, getting off the tracks and onto the expressway can be a great way to explore parts of the country that aren\u2019t getting buried in the surging tourist numbers that many of the Shinkansen-accessible hot spots are these days. The prospect of Pok\u00e9-fun and merch only sweetens the deal for this alternative way to travel in Japan, and the Pok\u00e9mon\/Nexco collaboration is scheduled to run from July 1 to September 30<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Source, images: PR Times<\/a><\/em> Pikachu and pals make a compelling reason to skip the bullet train while traveling in Japan over the next few months. They say it\u2019s not the destination that matters so…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/2_f77700.jpg?w=640\")
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