{"id":42245,"date":"2025-01-01T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=42245"},"modified":"2024-12-28T13:14:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T04:14:07","slug":"niantic-reveals-how-pikmin-bloom-is-helping-people-discover-hidden-places-in-kyoto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/niantic-reveals-how-pikmin-bloom-is-helping-people-discover-hidden-places-in-kyoto\/","title":{"rendered":"Niantic reveals how Pikmin Bloom is helping people discover hidden places in Kyoto\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Pok\u00e9mon Go developer Niantic\u2019s <strong>Pikmin Bloom<\/strong> recently marked its 3<sup>rd<\/sup> anniversary. In an interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.4gamer.net\/games\/560\/G056049\/20241112027\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">4Gamer,<\/a> Niantic Vice President Setsuto Murai and Live Event Marketing Manager Go Nagano recently discussed the game\u2019s key appeal and how they ended up running an ongoing special event in collaboration with Japan\u2019s historical capital of Kyoto.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Launched in 2021, Pikmin Bloom is a mobile location-based game in Nintendo\u2019s gardening-inspired Pikmin series, created by legendary game designer <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-shigeru-miyamoto-refutes-claim-that-he-is-a-genius-and-lays-out-his-down-to-earth-game-design-philosophy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Shigeru Miyamoto<\/a>. Pikmin Bloom\u2019s peaceful concept is going outside and filling the world with flowers- and the augmented reality title gamifies walking around outdoors, giving the player incentives in the form of useful items for their Pikmin characters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Niantic Vice President Setsuto Murai explains that \u201cNiantic\u2019s mission is to provide opportunities for people around the world to go outside and explore.\u201d He goes on to credit this outlook with why Pikmin Bloom and other Niantic titles like Pok\u00e9mon Go and Monster Hunter Now continue to grow- because Niantic is always looking for new ways to encourage people to go outside and have fresh experiences.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-palette-color-10-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-9cc6e6aae565e966e887d5726dbac41d\" id=\"pikmin-bloom-hidden-gems-of-kyoto-project\" style=\"font-size:1px\">Pikmin Bloom Hidden Gems of Kyoto Project<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"660\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250101-42245-001.jpg\" alt=\"Pikmin Bloom Hidden Gems of Kyoto Project\" class=\"wp-image-42249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250101-42245-001.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250101-42245-001-380x209.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250101-42245-001-768x422.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In November, Niantic added a <a href=\"https:\/\/pikminbloom.com\/en\/news\/nov24-totteokinokyoto\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cHidden Gems of Kyoto\u201d Postcard Walk<\/a> to Pikmin Bloom. Created in collaboration with the local government\u2019s Hidden Gems of Kyoto Project, the in-game event aims to take players off the beaten path in Japan\u2019s historical capital, so that they can discover some lesser-known attractions. The event is scheduled to run until November 5, 2025.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Working together with Kyoto\u2019s local government, tourism associations and citizens, Niantic has \u201ccarefully selected the Special Spots after much deliberation, so we hope you will try walking around with Pikmin when you visit Kyoto.\u201d says Murai. \u201cYou won\u2019t be disappointed.\u201d&nbsp; Players will receive in-game postcards for each Special Spot in Kyoto that they visit during the event, which they can also send to friends on the app. \u201cThe appeal of these postcards is that they make players focus more on the places they visit.\u201d Go Nagano explains. \u201cYou get a specially designed postcard with your name and a photo on it, which I think strengthens your memory of going to that place.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The event is aimed at both tourists and residents of Kyoto alike. \u201cI believe that through visiting these places, people will feel more motivated to learn more about the history and each spot\u2019s relationship to the surrounding area. It is a good project that fits both our wishes and those of the City of Kyoto.\u201d Murai explains, later adding that \u201cThe basic premise (for organizing this event in cooperation with the local government) is that we want to give our players new experiences, but we also want to contribute to the local economy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2024, Pikmin Bloom held walking events in Germany and Taiwan. For 2025, Niantic plans to implement even more real-life Pikmin Bloom events in various locations around the world in their efforts to connect players to each other and their surroundings, so watch this space.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/pikminbloom.com\/en\/news\/nov24-totteokinokyoto\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cHidden Gems of Kyoto\u201d Postcard Walk<\/a> is scheduled to run from November 6, 2024 to November 5, 2025.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pikmin Bloom dev Niantic explains how they ended up running an ongoing tourism event with Japan\u2019s historical capital of Kyoto.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":42248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17,33],"class_list":["post-42245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news","tag-nintendo"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Niantic reveals how Pikmin Bloom is helping people discover hidden places in Kyoto\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pikmin Bloom dev Niantic explains how they ended up running an ongoing tourism event with Japan\u2019s historical capital of Kyoto.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/niantic-reveals-how-pikmin-bloom-is-helping-people-discover-hidden-places-in-kyoto\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Niantic reveals how Pikmin Bloom is helping people discover hidden places in Kyoto\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pikmin Bloom dev Niantic explains how they ended up running an ongoing tourism event with Japan\u2019s historical capital of Kyoto.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/niantic-reveals-how-pikmin-bloom-is-helping-people-discover-hidden-places-in-kyoto\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-01T02:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250101-42245-header.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"508\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Verity Townsend\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Verity Townsend\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Niantic reveals how Pikmin Bloom is helping people discover hidden places in Kyoto\u00a0 - 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