Pokemon 2023 World Championship to take place in Japan

During the closing ceremony of the Pokemon World Championship 2022, Tsunekazu Ishihara revealed next year’s event is headed to Japan.

The Pokemon World Championship 2022 event in London concluded on August 21, 2022.

Five champions from across five different games took home trophies and a nice bit of prize money after battling through brackets over four days.

During the closing ceremony, The Pokemon Company’s Tsunekazu Ishihara unvieled the location for next year’s World Championship, which will take place in Japan for the first time ever.

Pokemon 2023 World Championship set in Japan

The Pokemon Company

Though the Pokemon World Championship for 2022 was set in London, 2023 will take the event back to where the franchise began.

Before the Championship event officially concluded, Ishihara stepped on stage to give one final special announcement.

A trailer showed footage of Pokemon Red & Blue, featuring the player character walking through Vermilion City.

The trailer then teased that Worlds 2023 will be held in “Vermilion City” before getting scratched out to reveal the actual destination: Yokohama, Japan.

Die-hard Pokemon fans may know that Generation 1’s Kanto region is based on the real Kantō region of Japan, while Vermilion City is heavily inspired by Yokohama.

This will be the first time the World Championship is set in Japan, and only the second time it will be hosted outside of North America.

This is quite a big deal, especially considering Japan’s border have been under strict lockdown for around two years now.

Aside from next year’s Worlds location, Ishihara also revealed two new trailers pertaining to both the Pokemon TCG and Pokemon Scarlet & Violet.

Finally, the Pokemon Company announced the Pokemon Regional Championship schedule for each region listed below:

North America

• Sept. 16 to 18, 2022 – Baltimore Convention Center – Baltimore, Maryland
• Oct. 14 to 16, 2022 – Salt Palace Convention Center – Salt Lake City, Utah
• Dec. 2 to 4, 2022 – The Enercare Centre – Toronto, Ontario
• Dec. 16 to 18, 2022 – Arlington Convention Center – Arlington, Texas
• Jan. 6 to 8, 2023 – San Diego Convention Center – San Diego, California
• Feb. 3 to 5, 2023 – Orange County Convention Center – Orlando, Florida
• Feb. 24 to 26, 2023 – Knoxville Convention Center – Knoxville, Tennessee
• March 10 to 12, 2023 – Vancouver Convention Center – Vancouver, British Columbia
• March 24 to 26, 2023 – Charlotte Convention Center – Charlotte, North Carolina
• May 5 to 7, 2023 – Oregon Convention Center – Portland, Oregon
• May 19 to 21, 2023 – Connecticut Convention Center- Hartford, Connecticut
• June 16 to 18, 2023 – The Wisconsin Center – Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Europe

• Sept. 17 to 18, 2022 – Bilbao Exhibition Centre – Bizkaia, Spain
• Oct. 22 to 23, 2022 – Lille Grand Palais – Lille, France
• Nov. 12 to 13, 2022 – Expo XXI – Warsaw, Poland
• Dec. 3 to 4, 2022 – ICS International Congress Center – Stuttgart, Germany
• Jan. 21 to 22, 2023 – ACC Liverpool – Liverpool, UK
• Feb. 25 to 26, 2023 – RuhrCongress Bochum – Bochum, Germany
• March 18 to 19, 2023 – Jaarbeurs – Utrecht, Netherlands
• May 20 to 21, 2023 – MalmöMässan Exhibition & Congress Center – Malmö, Sweden

Latin America

• Sept. 17 to 18, 2022 – FIERGS Events Center – Porto Alegre, Brazil

International Champions

• November 2022 – Latin America – Brazil
• February 2023 – Oceania – Australia
• April 2023 – Europe – U.K.
• June 2023 – North America – U.S.

Those interested in watching more competitive Pokemon following Worlds 2022 should definitely keep in eye out for these tournaments as the year continues.