Nintendo's New Fukuoka Store Sparks Mixed Reactions

Nintendo has exciting news for fans in Japan, announcing the opening of a new official store, Nintendo Fukuoka, set to launch at the end of 2025. This will mark the company’s fourth official store in the country, following the successful establishments of Nintendo Tokyo, Nintendo Osaka, and Nintendo Kyoto. What sets Nintendo Fukuoka apart is its unique location; it will be the first store not situated on Honshu, Japan’s largest main island. Instead, it will be nestled in Fukuoka City on the southernmost main island of Kyushu.

The announcement of Nintendo Fukuoka has sparked a wave of positive reactions on X, with many fans expressing their congratulations and hopes for more Nintendo stores across Japan. Several users suggested that Sapporo, the largest city on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido, would be an ideal next location for a Nintendo store.

However, not all feedback was positive. A significant number of comments expressed disappointment over Nintendo seemingly bypassing Nagoya, a major city in central Japan and the capital of Aichi Prefecture. Despite being the fourth largest city in Japan, Nagoya struggles with the reputation of being "boring," a notion that was highlighted in a 2016 survey conducted by Nagoya’s government. In this survey, residents ranked their cities for attractiveness to travelers, and Nagoya residents placed their city third, behind Tokyo and Kyoto. Nagoya's central location between Tokyo and Osaka often results in it being overlooked, a trend humorously dubbed the "Nagoya Skip" and further explained in the anime "Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki."

The "Nagoya Skip" phenomenon is well-known among Nagoya's residents, which might explain the volume of comments expressing concern over Nintendo not choosing Nagoya for a new store. Interestingly, Nagoya has been in the spotlight recently due to the upcoming opening of a new 17,000-person arena in July, with hopes that this will help combat the "Nagoya skipping" trend, as reported by Chukyo TV.

Nintendo Fukuoka will be strategically located within a shopping mall at Hakata Station, Kyushu’s largest railway hub. This prime location is connected by bullet train to Honshu and by plane to Fukuoka Airport, making it easily accessible for residents of surrounding prefectures and inbound tourists. Since the lifting of pandemic restrictions, Fukuoka has seen a rise in tourism, particularly from nearby South Korea, and this trend is expected to continue, according to the Fukuoka Prefectural Government.

Nintendo’s official stores are more than just retail spaces; they are vibrant hubs for events and hands-on previews of new titles. Nintendo Fukuoka is poised to play a crucial role in promoting the upcoming Switch 2, offering fans a chance to experience the next generation of gaming firsthand.

In other Nintendo news, the company recently opened its first West Coast store in the U.S., Nintendo San Francisco. IGN provided an in-depth tour of the store and an interview with Nintendo of America's president, Doug Bowser, to learn more about this exciting development.