Ever wondered how the characters in Pokémon got their names? Especially Ash and Gary? I have. Ash comes from the English translation of Satoshi, the Japanese name of Pokémon's creator--Satoshi Tajiri. Do you want to know just how big Pokémon actually is? My baby sister's first "words" were "Pika! Pikachu!".

Tajiri has a long history. He was a child misfit that would collect bugs and frogs and other small creatures(can you see something forming?) as a hobby. He didn't even dream of going to college. Everybody though that he would be a loser in life, until he created the game that gave a new meaning to the word addiction. His Pokémon are his child predictions. (Hard to miss the relation between his old hobby and Pokémon, isn't it?).

Having Japanese origin myself(I was born and raised there), I will translate as best I can the word the Japanese give to Mr. Tajiri. The word itself is otaku, meaning house. The way the Japanese use it, is interpreted by TIME Magazine as: "those who shut themselves in with video games, comic books, or some other kind of ultraspecialization, away from the rest of society." Strong words you say? Try these of Etienne Barral, a French journalist who studied the "otaku" for many years: "They know the difference between the real and virtual worlds, but they would rather be in a virtual world.

He[Tajiri] said that he always wanted to be an entomologist. "Insects fascinated me. Every new insect was a wonderful mystery. And as I searched more, I would find more. Under rocks, in ponds, in grass, in the soil." Thus the idea to place wild Pokémon in tall grass and waters.

He was a total video game freak. He would play Space Invaders so much, that one arcade gave him a Space Invaders arcade console to take home. (Talk about lucky! Maybe I should do that). His love of video games led him to publish GameFreak, a coding magazine similar to Nintendo Power and Tips & Tricks. (I'm guessing that's where the GameFreaks company got started). His friend Ken Sugimori(name sound familiar? He draws the Pokémon for the games and for the TCG) also joined him in the GameFreak magazine. Ash[Tajiri, respectively] and Ken came to the conclusion that since they believed that not many quality games were being produced, let's make our own! Tajiri took the NES apart to find out what the thing tick. During his research, he came across the little system that could--the GameBoy. With its GameLink feature that would connect any 2 GameBoys, he had hit the mark--the foundation--of Pokémon trading.

Tajiri's next step was to find a company(it obviously had to be Nintendo) that would make his game. He went to straight to Super Mario Mastermind Shigeru Miyamato(that's where Gary came from). He became Mr. Tajiri's mentor and counselor as Tajiri worked for six hard years on Generation X's biggest fad.

A little bad happening got in Tajiri's way after the completion of Pokémon. The product was ready for Nintendo testing, but GameBoy was long gone--fashion wise. As stated by Mr. Tajiri himself, " I thought Nintendo would reject it. I was like a baseball player sliding onto second base knowing he's going to be out. But somehow, I was safe."
Nintendo decided to release the game with fairly low hopes. Much to their surprise, Pokémon was a hit! Tajiri used his knowledge of children to increase the sales. He let out word by saying that a 151st Pokémon had been programmed into Pokémon--Mew. Yes, the cute yet powerful Pokémon was not even a public character. Not even Nintendo knew about it!! The process was furthered with Pokémon: The TV Series. Pokémon was on a roll.

How did Pokémon ever get to the U.S. you ask? I'll start from the beginning.
RPG(Role-Playing Games or Genre) were not popular in the U.S. at this time. Surprising, isn't it? NOA had a bit of trouble accepting the game because of the unpopularity of RPGs. The NOA considered the negotiations. They finally accepted. Nintendo could play all their cards now--there was no looking back. Toys, Cards, Movies, TV shows, comic books, books--there's no end. In my opinion, Pokémon put RPGs into style.

Before the game itself could be released though, all the Japan-ness had to be removed. Us Yanks don't lean kindly on foreign goods, right? The TV series also had some changes made to it. All the violence, sexual discrimantion and religious scenes were cut out. (I guess that's why Misty and Ash never hold hands or anything). The charater names were turned into American. Satoshi-Ash, Shigeru-Gary,and so forth, and so forth. Names of the Pokémon were changed by using the appearances. Others were named after popular actors. One example is Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan who were named of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.

The idea of collecting Pokémon, pumping them up, training them is not new. In Asia, grandfathers from WWII tell their grandchildren stories of nights when they[the veterans] would go out at night and capture crickets. The crickets would have to be trained to fight other crickets and win. The more battles it won, the more experience it gained. It learned how to defend itself, make good attacks, and use its opponent's weaknesses. See the resemblence yet? Pokémon is a sugar-coated version of "Crickémon". Pokémon don't die, they faint.

What's the next step for Pokémon? Only 1 being knows. I'll let you decide who it is.