Pokemon theme park opens in Tokyo

The first permanent Pokemon theme park opened in Tokyo on Thursday. Within Tokyo's largest amusement park Yomiuri Land, PokePark Kanto has two areas that are a hilly outdoor zone full of Pokemon figurines, and a town modelled on those in the games for shopping and rides.

It is Japan's latest tourist attraction catering to a record influx of overseas travelers, and tickets are already sold out for the next two months. Pokemon is one of Japan's top cultural exports which began in 1996 with video games on Nintendo's Game Boy console.