BODY: If you have ever wanted a blanket modeled on a Pikachu that looks like it was left in the wash too long, Japan's biggest online bookstore has an offer for you — provided you live in Japan.
Rakuten Books opened a sprawling Pokémon promotion on November 2 at 10:00 JST, running until 9:59 on December 25. The campaign is built around two games: Pokémon LEGENDS Z-A (including its Nintendo Switch 2 Edition) and Pokémon Pokopia, the Switch 2 sandbox title known in Japan as Poko a Pokémon and nicknamed "PokoPoke."
The headline draw is a purchase raffle. Shoppers who register on the campaign page and then spend ¥6,000 (tax included) on qualifying Pokémon products earn one entry; 30 winners total will receive either the "30th Anniversary Commemorative Original Acrylic Desk Clock" or the PokoPoke prize, a blanket featuring the pale-coloured Pikachu from Pokopia. Rakuten has also hidden six Pokémon across the campaign's product pages — find all six and your win probability multiplies sixfold.
Three smaller tiers round it out. Anyone who registers and buys either LEGENDS Z-A or Pokopia gets original smartphone wallpapers. A social campaign asks users to follow Rakuten Books on X and post which Pokémon they would most like to meet in Pokopia under the hashtag #ぽこポケで会いたいポケモン, with 20 Pokopia-design mugs on offer. And the "Pokémon Colouring Contest 2026" invites themed colouring-page submissions tagged #ポケモンぬりえコンテスト2026, with prize winners receiving 10,000 Rakuten Points or original goods.
The insider take
The timing is not accidental. 2026 is the franchise's 30th anniversary — Red and Green hit Japanese shelves in February 1996 — and the campaign's December 25 cutoff lands squarely on the oseibo year-end gifting season, the single most lucrative stretch of the Japanese retail calendar. What makes these campaigns tick domestically is the Rakuten Points ecosystem rather than the merch itself: the ¥6,000 threshold is calibrated to nudge shoppers into bundling a game with manga and plush toys in one cart. The goods are hibaihin — never-for-sale items — which is precisely why pale Pikachu blankets will be listed on Mercari at a markup within days of shipping. Overseas fans, unfortunately, are locked out; Rakuten Books ships domestically only.
Originally reported by GAME Watch (Japanese).