Azalea Town / Tanabe, Wakayama | Real Life #Pokemon Location! #TravelVlog #Japan

Azalea Town / Tanabe, Wakayama | Real Life #Pokemon Location! #TravelVlog #Japan

[Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Lou. Hey. Hey. Do you know? [Music] [Music] Dingle. All right. Hey, hey, hey. What do you do? Here you go. [Music] Hey guys, welcome back to the Grand Poke Tour. And on this leg I’m in Azela town, the real world location, Tanabe Wakayyama. Now Azela town is located in the uh southeastern peninsula of the Johto region. Um and it’s tucked away right next to Forest. It’s peaceful, slow paced and full of tradition. And you can really feel that here in Tanabi. This place is famous for one thing that you’ll never expect. That’s charcoal. And not just any charcoal, bin choan. It’s a kind of high-grade white charcoal and uh also you can see black u versions of it uh that’s been made here for centuries. Super dense, burns clean and takes a crazy amount of time uh and care to produce. So the wood’s cut from these oak trees which you can see uh behind me and uh often they’re quite deep in the forest as well and then it’s baked in a special kin for days. Seriously, this is craftsmanship and uh you got to check it out to see it for yourself. Um and in Aelia town, there’s a guy who makes charcoal with his son, the wood cutter. And that’s literally part of the game. He can help them out. And when you locate the lost sun, um the wood cutter gives you a piece of charcoal to boost your fire type moves. It’s a nice reward, but it actually has a very deep meaning um when it comes to the culture of this area. Cuz here in Tanabe, the charcoal is a family trade. It’s quiet, patient, hard work, and it’s tied to the land. The forests here are sacred. Um, just like the Alex forest in the game where Celabe, the guardian of the time, lives, is literally uh connected to the uh ancient pilgrimage route um through these forests in the real world. And um so there’s a really interesting tension here when you think about it. The people use the forest to survive. They live off it, but they also have deep respect for it because the forests here are sacred. Um, and the balance between living from nature and protecting it is a huge part of life here. And the game captures that really well without spelling it out directly. Even Kurt, the guy who makes the Pokéballs from Apricons, he’s basically the same as the charcoal craftsman. He takes something raw and through tradition and skill, he makes it into something powerful. And that’s the spirit of this place really. So yeah, Aane town might seem like a sleepy stop in Jot, but when you visit Tanabay, you can breathe the forest air. You can hear the charcoal crackling, see the families passing down the craft, and you realize it’s all connected. All right, so that’s all from me this time. If you’re ever in Wakyama, stop by Tanabe. Walk through the forest, visit the Bin Choan Museum, and you might feel like you’re stepping into your own Pokémon journey. Okay, see you on the next leg of the grand [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]

Disclaimer: The Grand PokéTour is in no way affiliated with Nintendo, GAME FREAK Inc, Creatures Inc, or the Pokémon Company in any way. Nor are we endorsed by them. All copyright belongs to the original rightful owners. This video is created under fair use for education purposes in order to teach foreigners about the history and beauty of Japan, by using Pokémon, a symbol of Japanese sub-culture to draw attention and illustrate in detail.