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The story
The dates for “Pokémon GO Wild Area,” a major event being held in Sendai from November 6–8, overlap with Tohoku University’s comprehensive-selection (AO) entrance exam, leaving applicants scrambling to find lodging. Hotels in the city were quickly booked up by event attendees, with reports of rates spiking to 60,000–70,000 yen per night. The university has secured roughly 1,500 rooms, but most are outside Miyagi Prefecture, raising concerns about the burden on students facing exams. On 5channel, opinions split between those blaming applicants who booked late for their own predicament and those arguing the university should announce exam dates earlier — with the discussion also branching into university trivia, such as Tohoku University filling about 30% of its total enrollment quota (671 students) through AO admissions, and its globally respected materials engineering program.
The dates for “Pokémon GO Wild Area,” a large-scale event for the popular game “Pokémon GO” being held in Sendai from November 6–8, overlap with Tohoku University’s comprehensive-selection (AO) entrance exam, and the fallout is spreading among applicants. Lodging in the city was quickly snapped up by event attendees, making it difficult for applicants to secure rooms. The university arranged roughly 1,500 rooms, but many are located outside Miyagi Prefecture, raising concerns about the burden this places on students standing at a major crossroads in their lives.
[Pokémon GO Wild Area] A large-scale real-world event for the popular smartphone game, where players walk around town encountering and battling new Pokémon on their devices. It was held in Nagasaki in 2025, drawing about 420,000 people over three days. This year, Sendai is the only city in Japan hosting it. Sendai previously hosted “Pokémon GO Fest” in 2024, drawing about 370,000 people and generating an estimated economic impact of roughly 7.4 billion yen.
Some reports of rates spiking to 60,000–70,000 yen per night
Source: kahoku.news / Original article here
What people said
Just copying prestigious overseas universities.
Actually I always thought national universities were the ones who started AO admissions first.
Any event big enough to cause a shortage should just get handed off to Yamagata or Fukushima.
Even a small concert two weeks ago sent hotel prices through the roof.
Puzzle & Dragons and Monster Strike are still alive and kicking, so Pokémon GO's basically still a baby by comparison.
Probably feels like going to a concert for your favorite celebrity, combined with a trip.
There are people who fly overseas just to catch Pokémon that are only available abroad.
They're recruiting 671 students through it, about 30% of the total enrollment quota.
Apparently they plan to make it 100% AO admissions by 2050.
If you're playing games at all, you're not exactly one to talk (pot calling the kettle black).
Sitting parked in front of a PC or TV all day is the real shame.
Seems like it's popular with people from the Kanto region.
Apparently only 30% of students there are actually from Tohoku these days.
I forget exactly what, but they've got some field they're strong in.
This was before COVID, but several of my coworkers' kids took the entrance exam there too.
In materials engineering, especially metallurgy, it's not just the best in Japan — it's world-class.
If the event came first and rooms filled up right away, that's rough, but if people just took their time and the event got announced and booked out the hotels in the meantime, that's on them to sort out.
Apparently the AO application guidelines came out on August 28th.
Honestly you should book your entrance-exam hotel back when you start high school.
They should really publish university entrance exam dates like two years in advance.
Then other events would have no choice but to work around them.
Honestly, it's only expensive because everyone piles into Sendai.
Furukawa's local train lines are inconvenient, so if the Shinkansen gets suspended you're in real trouble.
Shiroishi-Zaō would be easier to recover from in that case.
Check-in November 6th
Still able to book normally as of this morning
(lol)
Room rates are running about double normal though (lol)
so why does it suddenly become 'Pokémon fans should get out of the way' just because it's Tohoku University? Who do they think they are?
>This never becomes an issue for bottom-tier schools
Source? Only counts if it's an event of comparable scale that actually overlapped with and affected an entrance exam.
https://image-tm.s2mr.jp/i/original/1790207033931.jpeg
That price range is only available at that one hotel now.
Everything else is in the 50,000-yen-a-night class.
This one, no need to even stay overnight.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Tohoku University currently recruits 671 students — about 30% of its total enrollment quota — through comprehensive-selection (AO) admissions, making it known as one of the national universities with a relatively high AO ratio. Meanwhile, “Pokémon GO Wild Area” is a major real-world event that drew 420,000 people over three days when held in Nagasaki in 2025, and this time Sendai is the only city in Japan hosting it. The thread’s opinions split mainly between voices holding applicants who booked late responsible for their own situation, and voices criticizing the underlying structure in which the event’s announcement and room-booking outpaced the exam schedule — with the latter camp also floating the idea that the university should announce exam dates earlier. There were also some barbed comments about “people past retirement age still playing games” and digs tied to academic pedigree at “bottom-tier universities,” which became a separate point of friction from the core lodging issue worth noting. Also worth noting: the claim in the thread that “AO application guidelines were published on August 28” comes from a forum post, and the sequence relative to when the event schedule was announced has not been confirmed against primary sources.
*This article is compiled as excerpts and a summary from the 5channel (Newsplus) thread ““Sendai Pokémon GO Event” Overlaps with Tohoku University AO Entrance Exam, Leaving Applicants Unable to Find Lodging in Sendai… Most Staying Outside Miyagi Prefecture?.”
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