Photo/Illutration Pikachu joins a news conference held in Fukuoka's Chuo Ward on Oct. 1 to announce that "Pokemon Go Wild Area: Fukuoka," a world's first event for the "Pokemon Go" smartphone game, will be held on Nov. 16-17. (Yuto Ota)

FUKUOKA--Trainers are invited to participate in the first event for the popular "Pokemon Go" smartphone game to be held here at Maizuru Koen park and elsewhere across the city on Nov. 16-17.

"Pokemon Go Wild Area: Fukuoka" is also the first Pokemon Go event taking place in the Kyushu region.

Pokemon Go is a location-based game app in which players walk around as they look at the smartphone screen to find Pokemon characters.

During the Wild Area event, players can collect characters that appear exclusively in the area.

The municipal government will introduce 10 routes for players to enjoy famed spots in the city's seven wards as they stroll along all the routes while playing the augmented reality game. 

The event was announced during a news conference on Oct. 1, which was attended by Takato Utsunomiya, chief operating officer of the Pokemon Co., and Setsuto Murai, president of Pokemon Go developer Niantic Inc.'s Japanese arm.

"We want players to walk around with Pokemon and experience Fukuoka that takes pride in its long history," said Fukuoka Mayor Soichiro Takashima.

Pokemon Go events are held across the world, attracting participants from home and abroad.

According to Niantic, about 70,000 people joined a summer event held in Sendai, with about 3 percent coming from outside Japan.

Tickets for the Wild Area event are priced at 3,600 yen ($23.70).

For more information, go to: (https://gotour.pokemongolive.com/en/gowildarea/fukuoka/)

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