Nintendo's New Fukuoka Store Faces Mixed Reactions

Nintendo has exciting news for fans in Japan: they're planning to open a new official store, Nintendo Fukuoka, at the end of 2025. This will be the company's fourth official store in the country, adding to Nintendo Tokyo, Nintendo Osaka, and Nintendo Kyoto. Unlike its predecessors, Nintendo Fukuoka will be the first store not situated on Honshu, Japan's largest main island. Instead, it will be located in Fukuoka City on Kyushu, Japan's southernmost main island.

The announcement on X sparked a wave of congratulatory messages from Japanese fans, who expressed their hopes for more Nintendo stores across Japan. Several commenters suggested that Sapporo, on the northernmost island of Hokkaido, should be the next location for a Nintendo store. However, not all reactions were positive. Many were disappointed that Nintendo seemed to have skipped over Nagoya, the capital of Aichi prefecture and Japan's fourth-largest city. Nagoya has been grappling with a reputation for being "boring," highlighted by a 2016 survey conducted by the city's government, which showed even its own residents ranking it third behind Tokyo and Kyoto in attractiveness to travelers.

Nagoya's location between Tokyo and Osaka often leads to it being overlooked, a phenomenon dubbed the "Nagoya Skip," which was recently explored in the anime Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki. This issue has been particularly felt by locals, especially with the recent announcement of a new 17,000-person arena set to open in July, which city officials hope will help combat the "Nagoya skipping" trend (Chukyo TV).

Nintendo Fukuoka will be strategically placed in a shopping mall within Hakata Station, Kyushu's largest railway hub, offering easy access for residents of surrounding prefectures and inbound tourists. The station connects to Honshu via bullet train and to Fukuoka Airport by plane. With the lifting of pandemic restrictions, Fukuoka has seen an increase in tourism, particularly from South Korea, and this trend is expected to continue (Fukuoka Prefectural Government).

Nintendo's official stores are more than just retail spaces; they are hubs for events and hands-on previews of new titles. Nintendo Fukuoka is poised to play a key role in promoting the upcoming Switch 2, helping to introduce it to a broader audience.

In the U.S., Nintendo recently opened its first West Coast store, Nintendo San Francisco. IGN provided a tour of the store and an interview with Nintendo of America's president, Doug Bowser, to shed light on this new venture.