Character Study: Learning Japanese Culture from Pokemon

So it’s another character digression episode this week. And (at the time of writing) I can’t think of a specific character I want to do. You have some characters who are easy because they are direct representations of something with little room for interpretation. Sort of like how Dr. Robotnik is basically a symbol of big corporations and human society infringing on wildlife and ruining the homes of creatures that live there. Some characters are a tad too complicated or I don’t know enough about their world (yet) to make a distinct interpretation of them. I’d love to do an episode about Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite, but I want to do a little more research on the character and the world before stepping into that proverbial minefield. Or there’s Bastion, which I’ve been attempting to do a post on because it’s such a rich and interesting world with a surprising level of depth that there is some interpretation to a lot of it. But… there’s a lot of explanation that is required for various parts of that world that would take up a vast majority of that post.

So what am I going to do today since a lot of my options are not quite ready to work? Well I’ve narrowed it down to a few options. One of these days I’ll do a post with multiple characters like Dr. Robotnik where it’s just three or so characters where I do simple explanations with short and easy examples.  But today… I’m in a mood… for some Pokemon. Let’s jump into what some deeper and hidden meanings of the Pokemon world! (Because I can). 

The origins of Pokemon from a design perspective generally come from Japanese legends, folklore, and various aspects of their culture. Perhaps less so in more recent generations, but certainly so in at least the first four, given that the worlds of Kanto, Jhoto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh are all based on Japan geographically. Kanto actually shares a name with a portion of Japan also having gone by the name Kanto. Hoenn is based on the island known as Kyushu, which is the southern-most main island. Sinnoh, on the other hand, is based on Hokkaido, which is based on the northern-most main island. Even the Sevii islands introduced in generation III’s remake of Pokemon Red and Pokemon Green are based on islands of Japan, a small chain of islands known as Izu Islands and the Bonin Islands.

Okay, so why is this important? This is just geography. As any great writer, historian, and anthropologist can tell you, geography is probably the most important thing when it comes to a story. Geography determines how people live in an area from their buildings and structures, to their resource gathering, to their culture, and anything else that people do in order to survive. In the United States, for example, land in the Midwest, especially in areas like Iowa, are more fertile and better used for growing crops while soil in areas are filled with too much clay and not enough nutrients for crops to grow properly. That’s just one example. 

And, as stated, this impacts their culture, which incorporates everything from the stories they tell, the legends that get passed down, and the rituals they have in celebration of events, holidays, and so on. As such, you’ll see many different cultural references in Pokemon, generally in relation to Japanese folklore but sometimes to other aspects of Japanese culture you wouldn’t expect. Non-fans might dismiss these games as child’s play, but there is much to be learned from these games that anyone could benefit from and help in understanding other parts of the world. So let’s take the rest of this post to discuss a few good examples of different aspects of Japanese culture within the Pokemon games by using the Pokemon as the examples based on their names, design, and even their abilities and backstories in some cases.

Oh, and I’ll mostly be sticking to generation one Pokemon this time around because those are the ones everyone is most familiar with and it’ll make it easier for everyone to follow along. This means, yes, fans might already know some of this stuff. But be patient and we’ll get to later Pokemon in a future date… when I am low on topics for a week perhaps. 

 

Let’s start with one of my personal favorites, Gyarados. One of the biggest questions people tend to have is how a little fish like Magikarp (considered can evolve into a monster like Gyarados. It doesn’t make any sense. Actually there’s a Chinese legend about how a carp that leapt over the Dragon Gate would become dragons and several waterfalls and cataracts in China are believed to be the location of the Dragon Gate. This legend is meant to inspire people, showing that enough drive and effort can overcome even the most difficult of obstacles. There’s even a point in Pokemon Snap in which you can watch a Magikarp going into a waterfall and transform into a Gyarados just like in the legend. This is shown in the main games when it games 20 levels to evolve Gyarados into a Magikarp and leveling up 20 levels with a Pokemon that knows almost know damaging attacks (for most of those levels) is one of the biggest struggles in the game. But, for those playing and not using a Gyarados, trust me, the effort is worth it.

I should take a moment here to point out something. Yes, the legend about the Dragon Gate is actually of Chinese origin. But here’s why that is largely irrelevant here. You see, large amounts of modern Japanese people are actually descendants of ancient Chinese that immigrated to the Japanese Islands, bringing their cultures and customs with them, similar to how Europeans immigrated to America, but less violent and genocidal. This also explains how many of their symbols share meanings and look the same. There are many differences between the two cultures that I won’t get into here, but I want to point out that some legends and stories from China have made their way to Japanese culture and it wouldn’t surprise me if ones like the above carp story are included in that lot.  

In Japanese folklore, there is a creature called a Tanuki (aka Japanese Raccoon Dog). Careful when doing a Google image search as you’ll likely find some images that are NSFW. Tanuki’s are real animals, but according to folklore, they have the ability to transform. Kitsune (foxes) are another kind of animal that are said to have the ability to transform. The reason I bring this up is because one of Pokemon’s most popular figures is Eevee, which has possibilities of being based off either of these animals, as it shares traits of both foxes and dogs. Regardless, the most convincing evidence for this is how it evolves. In Pokemon, most creatures can only evolve once and into only one Pokemon. Eevee is a rarity in that it can (as of generation VI) evolve into eight different types of Pokemon depending on the circumstances. No other Pokemon possesses this ability and these could be references to how foxes and tanuki’s are known for their ability to transform into different forms. 

Continuing the talk of foxes, there’s one legend regarding foxes that’s actually very well-known thanks to an anime called Naruto which deals with a boy that possesses the spirit of the nine-tailed fox. One such Pokemon also references this legendary fox, Ninetails and, to a lesser extent, Vulpix. The legend of the Nine-Tailed Fox is that the more tails the fox possessed (which of course seemed to top out at nine) determined that it was more powerful and capable of casting illusions. This is also supported by a variety of flavor text within the games Pokedex entries AND with the movesets possessed by both Vulpix and Ninetails which utilizes moves like: Confuse Ray, Will-O-Wisp, Extrasensory, and Grudge. They can also learn moves with TMs and through breeding, such as Dark Pulse, Hypnosis, and Dream Eater. Note these movesets are based on generation V and I have yet to find one updated for generation VI, but I don’t imagine it varying too far from this. 

The last Pokemon I’ll discuss here will be Meowth. According to the developer and GameFreak founder, Junichi Masuda, Meowth is actually based on Satoshi Tajiri’s (the creator of Pokemon) pet cat. The design of the Pokemon itself is actually based on another Japanese legend, Maneki Neko (which is sometimes referred to as the “lucky cat” or “beckoning cat”). A legend states that a cat raised its paw to welcome home a lord and this saved his life when a bolt of lightning hit the spot where the lord had been standing. Maneki Neko charms are usually found in restaurants and shops to bring customers, fortune, and good luck. And these statues, much like Meowth, are depicted holding a koban, an ancient coin used in Japan. And even Meowth’s signature move, Pay Day, follows this particular story. 

Speaking of Meowth, I can’t leave a Pokemon discussion without discussing Team Rocket. You might remember the bumbling idiots from the TV show, but the organization itself is actually somewhat referential to the Yakuza or the Mafia (depending on which region you’re playing the game in). Many of the names of the various grunts you fight throughout the series had their names changed when being localized. In the original Red, Green, and Blue games form Japan, they had samurai-themed names while they were changed in America to be more gangster-themed. But the fact they’re both criminal organizations that run “legitimate” businesses as a front (the Game Corner in Pokemon) suggests that Team Rocket is referencing one of these criminal organizations throughout the series.

Thanks for reading and I hope this has been somewhat educational and informative about Japanese culture, history, and world-building in games. I’ll certainly be back for another Pokemon Centric episode like this down the road because this was kind of fun. See ya next time.