iPhone photos and videos of the beautiful scenery in Japan.

Parade of Pikachu “Pikachu Outbreak” is taken place in Minato Mirai area in Yokohama city every year.
Minato Mirai area is a seaside urban area near Tokyo(about 1 hour by train).

10 August 2018

You can see a big balloon of Pikachu at Minato Mirai Station while this event is held.

Many people were making a long line to see the parade of Pikachu.
The timetable of the parade was opened to the public this year, so it was very crowded than the last year.

【Date】
10 Aug. to 16 Aug.
【Time】
（At noon）11:30／13:30／15:30 on everyday
（At night）18:00／19:30 on everynight  ※ It isn’t officially announced.I searched on twitter.

Even though I arrived at the venue on 11:10, 20 minutes before the starting time, there were so many purple than I thought.
I had to wait at outside (it was so hot!) if I was late a few minutes.

5 minutes after the parade stared on 11:00.
As soon as people heard the sounds of whistle of the parade they began to take pictures.
But it was too early because the parade of Pikachu was so far away.

10 minutes after, finally Pikachu appeared!

There were many staffs (than last year) so It was difficult to take pictures without them.

After Pikachu left, they paraded through the street and danced at outside.
Usually I also went outside and shoot them.
But this day was so hot that I moved to another better photo spot inside the building and waited Pikachu came back.

About 10 minutes after, the parade of Pikachu came back after parading and dancing at outside,

I could take pictures without any staffs this time.
Maybe because people didn’t make a line on the left side so there was no need to guard Pikachu.
When I shoot the parade of Pikachu, I always take video.
Because Pikachu goes away faster than I think, so I don’t have much time to switch photo and video.
You can take pictures by tapping a white circle on the lower right of iPhone While taking video.

After finished parading, they went back to their home.
(A passage at the side of Minato Mirai Gallery in the 2nd floor of Queen’s Square.)
They appeared from the same place when the parade started.

9 August 2017

I got off the train at Sakuragicho station of JR line.
It is one of the nearest station to the venue of Pikachu parade.
There were gigantic Pikachu balloon in front of the station.
The tall building in the back is Yokohama Landmark Tower.
It is the second tallest building in Japan.

From moving walkway to Yokohama Landmark Tower, I could see Pikachu on the deck of Nipponmaru ship.
NIPPON MARU was built in 1930 as a training ship for cadets.
During her service, NIPPON MARU logged 45.4 times around the earth.
Now it is one of the popular tourist attraction in this area.

As I entered into Yokohama Landmark Tower, a big Pikachu balloon was suspended.

Then I arrived at Queens Square Yokohama, the venue of Pikachu parade.
There were Pikachu here and there!

This is an entrance and exit of Pikachu parade.
It is located innermost of the 2nd floor.

10:43.
17 minutes prior to the beginning of the parade.
There were already some people who waited for Pikachu to come out.

10:45.
Some staffs came out.
It means the parade would begin soon.
As I expected, the starting time would be 11:00.
(It wasn’t opened to the public.)

11:00.
Here came Pikachu parade!!

It paraded through the 2nd floor of Queen mall.
It will be taken place several times a day between 9 – 15 August.

Sometimes they stopped and performed a dance.

360 degree video(that I took in the last year.)

 

Then they went to outside.
Rather than inside a building, it was easy to shoot them in head of  a line.
For some reason guard of the staffs were poor.

They reached to the Grand Mall park, in front of MarkIs Minato Mirai.
It was longer walk than last year.

After a dance performance they communicated with audience.

They went back the way they came and entered into Queens Square Yokohama.

A bridge between [at!]2nd and [at!]3rd is a hidden nice photo spot.
You can take pictures with unique composition.

Pikachu went back to their home.
In the last year some Pikachu stopped and performed a dance before returning, but there was no performance this year.
Anyway well done Pikachu!
It would be very hard because it was so hot and humid.
I was all in a sweat.

8 August 2016

I saw the parade of Pikachu in Yokohama this year again.
It will be held from 7 Aug to 14 Aug,2016 at the Queens Square Yokohama in Minato Mirai area.

Time schedule of this parade isn’t opened to the public.
(Schedules of other events)
I saw them at 11:00 A.M.
Maybe they will appear at the same time each day.

They appeared at the red circle( in front of Minato Mirai Gallery ) in the map and paraded through the 2nd floor of Queen mall.
They went outside and danced at the plaza in front of Yokohama Landmark Tower.
Then they went back to the starting point by the same route.

After finishing the parade, they showed us the dances until their elevator came.

8 August 2015