Pokemon Go craze finally hits Japan


A Japanese Pokemon fan plays the newly released Pokemon Go hit-mobile game by Japanese videogame company Nintendo in front of Kaminarimon, the socalled Thunder Gate of the Buddhist Senso-ji temple, in Tokyo's downtown Asakura district, Japan, 22 July 2016. The game which was released in Japan on 22 July and uses GPS to locate the smartphone's position, has gained a huge popularity among smartphone users and added to the value of Nintendo that partly owns the franchise enterprise that makes Pokemon. Japanese government has issued a warning to use this game. Nintendo stock share continues to rise with McDonald Japan after the releasement. EPA

The smartphone app has now been launched in more than 40 countries, including the US and much of Europe, but Japan -- where Nintendo started the mythical creature franchise 20 years ago -- was kept waiting.

The suspense lasted for days, as international media reports about a timeline for the Japan rollout kept changing, and Nintendo, the Pokemon Company, and the game’s US-based developer Niantic all declined to comment.

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