Ishikawa Prefecture is about to give one of its quietest gateways a very loud new identity. From July 7, 2026, until September 30, 2029, Noto Satoyama Airport (NTQ) will reopen as “Noto Satoyama Pokémon With You Airport.” That’s right, folks: a real-life Pokémon airport.
To understand how this happened, we have to go back to the Pokémon With You Foundation’s partnership with Ishikawa Prefecture. This partnership seeks to bring joy to the residents whose lives were affected by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake in January 2024 and to revitalize the area through tourism.
Pokémon With You Foundation gives Noto a hand
The Noto earthquake killed over 200 people, destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of buildings, triggered fires, and disrupted water systems. Even now, the area is still recovering from the devastation.
The Noto Satoyama Airport did not escape that damage. The quake cracked its runway, forcing a shutdown that lasted almost a month. Even when it reopened, though, it took a while before full service resumed.
Various charities began to help the area recover, and one of the most prominent is the Pokémon With You Foundation. Originally inspired by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, the foundation has supported disaster recovery across Japan. Noto will be one of its most visible projects to date. Some of its changes have been smaller, such as new manhole covers, the Wakura Pokémon Footbath in Nanao City, and a monument named “Sylveon with LOVE” in Suzu City.
The Pokémon airport will serve as the centerpiece of its renovations, using very simple logic: use a globally recognized IP to create reasons to visit somewhere people might otherwise skip.
The world’s first Pokémon airport: some key features
It doesn’t stop at a simple name change. The terminal will be decorated with 111 flying-type Pokémon, turning the airport into something like a walkable Pokédex. Its two-story atrium will also have a Pikachu balloon alongside an aircraft display. Which, honestly, everyone should have seen coming.
It’s not just about adding a bit of decor here and there, either. A restaurant in the airport terminal will serve Pokémon-themed pancakes and drinks, and the gift shop will sell plenty of themed merchandise.
There will even be an airport express bus that will be given a Pokémon makeover, connecting Wajima and Kanazawa with some key sightseeing stops along the way. Two of those stops, by the way, include the aforementioned Sylveon monument and the Wakura footbath.
If all this sounds familiar, it should. Japan has done this before, most notably in Kumamoto after the 2016 earthquake. Eiichirō Oda’s One Piece revival project placed character statues around the prefecture, which helped to turn it into one of the country’s fastest-growing inbound destinations at the time.
Noto hopes to follow in Kumamoto’s footsteps, but using Pokémon instead.
Drawing international fans with pop culture
Last year, Japan recorded 42.68 million inbound visitors, with their spending hitting ¥9.46 trillion ($59B). Pop culture destinations are pulling a big share of that.
Just take a look at PokéPark Kanto, which opened in February 2026 inside Tokyo’s Yomiuriland. It is the first-ever permanent outdoor Pokémon park, featuring over 600 Pokémon and spanning 26,000 square meters. (That’s roughly 280,000 square feet, or approximately 4.5 football fields for fellow bald eagle saluters out there.)
PokéPark tickets are notoriously hard to get, with lottery systems and first-come releases selling out months in advance. It’s almost funny because before the park opened, early previews had loads of people online mocking it, saying it looked like a joke.
However, after its opening, reviews did a 180. Visitors and media outlets alike started calling it immersive and detailed, the kind of place fans would love. That turnaround matters because it shows both Pokémon’s drawing power and that the execution of the real deal is more important than the fanfare preceding it.
The hotel chain MIMARU also gets it. They have Pokémon-themed rooms at several locations (one of which Unseen Japan has visited first-hand). These hotels know they’ll attract plenty of overseas visitors, so they make sure to have English-speaking staff ready to greet them.
Boosting local economies and rebuilding communities
Ishikawa Prefecture is betting on that same pull, but its goal is slightly different. Instead of concentrating visitors in a major metropolitan area, it’s trying to stretch that interest outward toward a rural peninsula still in the process of rebuilding. Its decision to rename an airport is more than a cheap, touristy gimmick. It’s an invitation to discover a place that fans both near and far might not have considered before.
For travelers, there’s a clear hook: fly into a place that feels distinct the moment you land. For Noto, it’s a way to introduce itself not as a crippled disaster zone, but a thriving destination.
PokéPark KANTO Address: 4015-1 Yanokuchi, Inagi City, Tokyo 206-8725 (Inside Yomiuriland Amusement Park)
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