Japan loves Pokemon, so the launch of a super-cool airliner decorated with Pikachu and his friends is a big event to be celebrated in style.
The brand new Pikachu Jet NH operated by ANA did its first passenger flight a week ago (and you can read all about it in our dedicated article), and today the Pokemon Company released a video of a launch event with the inevitable dancing Pikachu.
The video shows a team of Pikachu mascots that are extremely popular in Japan and appear at many events, as they perform some of their dance routines in front of the newly-repainted Boeing 787-900 in what appears to be one of ANA's hangars at Tokyo Haneda airport.
You can check it out below and see if you find it as mesmerizing as I did.
The Pikachu Jet NH is part of the Pokemon Air Adventures project (which includes several more airliners from other airlines). "NH" is the ANA's IATA code used to label ANA's flights. Funnily, it actually derives from "Nippon Helicopters," which is the original name of the company.
On the airliner's fuselage, you can see many beloved Pokemon including the inevitable Pikachu, Rayquaza, Rowlett, Charizard, Corviknight, Vivillion, Flagon, Latios, Latias, Togekiss, and Emolga.
Since last week, it has been serving many routes between Tokyo Haneda and Bangkok, Singapore, Jakarta, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City, Delhi, Sydney, Vancouver, and Honolulu.
The trend of Pokemon Jets has mad a comeback in full force after a few years of hiatus following the pandemic, in part thanks to the Pokemon Air Adventures initiative, as airlines strive to promote the return of tourism in Japan and Asia.
The Pikachu Jet NH be considered special because ANA is actually the airline that started this kind of cross-rpomotion all the way back in 1998 with a Boeing 747 and two Boeing 767. Yet, it has been seven years since the latest Pikachu Jet flying for the popular carrier was retired. Since then, the trend has been the domain of smaller airlines, at least in Japan.
The most popular of the Pikachu Jets all also belonged to ANA, and was the the beloved "Pikachu Jumbo" JA8957 launched in 2004. It was the most striking due to being absolutely massive and painted in bright yellow. Unfortunately, it was retired in 2013 among emotional farewells by its many fans.
Currently, there are five Pokemon jets in operation in Japan, two among the other four are operated by Skymark focusing on Flying Pikachu, one by Air Do focusing on Vulpix, and the "Nassy Jet" dedicated to Eggxecutor operated by Solaseed Air. The trend has actually extended outside of Japan as of late, with airliners operated by China Airlines in Taiwan, Scoot in Singapore, and T'way in South Korea.
If you're interested in the games belonging to the popular franchise, Pokemon Scarlet & Violet is currently available exclusively for Nintendo Switch and a DLC has been announced. Pokemon Sleep is also coming this summer.
Incidentally, if aircraft are your drift, you can check out our daily Microsoft Flight Simulator news coverage, to keep you updated on the many add-ons coming and released for the sim.
