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Thursday, 22nd October 2015
In Japan Entertainment News,
Get ready to work out Pokemon style
Japan is abuzz with the news that a Pokemon gym is set to open in Osaka next month (November), offering fans the chance to get fit in conjunction with their favourite anime franchise.
Attendees will be able to take part in a number of activities and be rewarded for their progress at the gym in Pokemon X, Y, Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby video games, Siliconera reports.
Getting rare breeds of Pokemon to include in these games could be just what is needed to entice youngsters to do more exercise.
As with many other fitness facilities, the new Pokemon gym will also offer a mobile app to help visitors track how well their regime is going.
When it opens on November 19th, fans are expecting to see machines and exercises based around Charizard, Machamp, and Lucario.
A clamour for membership of the new gym is expected, with those wishing to apply able to do so from October 31st.
Pokemon was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1995 and is based around a concept where fictional creatures are caught by humans and then trained to fight each other for their entertainment.
All this hype comes ahead of Nintendo's release of Pokemon Go next year, a game that will be available on smartphones.
It will allow users to capture Pokemon and battle them in the real world, although the exact details of how this will work are yet to be released.
Since its release in Japan in the mid-90s, Pokemon has gone from strength to strength across the world, with the new gym and highly anticipated game expected to increase this popularity further.
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