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Japan’s favorite Pokémon types by prefecture–which types are the most popular?

You might guess the most popular Pokémon type in the country, but each prefecture might surprise you!

For those who don’t know, the creatures of the Pokémon world are all divided into types, which determines what they’re strongest and weakest against and what kinds of moves they can use. There’s Fire, Water, Electric, Grass–you get the gist. Every Pokémon fan, of course, has a favorite type, whether that’s dependent on the type’s strength, the cuteness or coolness of its Pokémon, its available moves, or what have you.

So what’s Japan’s favorite type? Let’s find out!

Survey website J-Town Net hosted a questionnaire for Pokémon fans that lasted from September 13, 2019 to December 24, 2020, and tallied 2,160 votes from across the country to find out what everyone’s favorite Pokémon types are.

Of the (currently) 18 different types, the top Pokémon type among Japanese fans who participated in the vote turned to be…Water! It received 240 votes (11.1 percent of the total). Since Water Pokémon are the most common of the 18 types, and a Water Pokémon is always one of the three starter Pokémon, this isn’t entirely surprising.

▼ A video listing all the Water Pokémon (and their different forms)

Close behind in second place come Dragon types with 225 votes (10.6 percent). These are arguably the strongest types, cutting down the effectiveness of many of the most common types as well as generally having high stats, and many legendary Pokémon are Dragon types as well. Dragon Pokémon are also some of the coolest and best-designed Pokémon, with cute ones mixed in there, too. I mean, just look at Dragapult!

▼ This type chart shows who is strong against who, and might provide some insight into why some types are popular and others are not.

In third place was Ghost types (10.1 percent), featuring creepy-cool and kimo-kawaii designs that many Japanese people love, followed by Electric (9.5 percent), and Fire (8 percent). Frankly I’m shocked (SHOCKED) that fire is so low because it’s my favorite type, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess.

Here’s all 18 types ranked by votes across Japan:

1. Water (240 votes, 11.1 percent)
2. Dragon (229 votes, 10.6 percent)
3. Ghost (219 votes, 10.1 percent)
4. Electric (205 votes, 9.5 percent)
5. Water (172 votes, 8 percent)
6. Psychic (168 votes, 7.8 percent)
7. Ice (142 votes, 6.6 percent)
8. Steel / Fairy (134 votes each, 6.2 percent)
10. Grass (110 votes, 5.1 percent)
11. Dark (91 votes, 4.2 percent)
12. Normal (62 votes, 2.9 percent)
13. Poison (61 votes, 2.8 percent)
14. Flying (46 votes, 2.1 percent)
15. Fighting (43 votes, 2 percent)
16. Ground / Bug (40 votes each, 1.9 percent)
18. Rock (23 votes, 1.1 percent)

Ground, Bug, and Rock-type Pokémon sit on the bottom of the list, but it’s not for lack of visual appeal, as there are a lot of really cool and even some cute Pokémon in each of those types. That leads us to believe that their lack of popularity is likely because they’re generally the weakest of the types, since many types are super effective against them, and their stats tend to be lower.

But that’s not all! J-Town Net has also compiled a ranking of the most popular Pokémon types by prefecture so we can know which types are most popular in what parts of Japan. Take a look at the map below:

▼ The pie chart represents the most popular Pokémon in the country, up to Fairy (maroon is “other types”), while the map shows popular types by prefecture.

This color-coded map of Japan shows which Pokémon types are the most popular in each prefecture. Prefectures with two colors indicate a tie, while prefectures in white were tied with three or more Pokémon. The color-coding for the map is listed from top to bottom, left to right as follows: Normal (light gray), Fire (orange), Water (blue), Electric (yellow), Grass (green), Ice (baby blue), Psychic (light purple), Ghost (dark purple), Dragon (dark orange), Steel (dark gray), and Fairy (pink). As you can see, blue is pretty prominent on the map, and though the distinction is hard to tell, it seems like water types rather than ice types are more popular. But other colors are pretty well represented, so it’s clear that Water types aren’t a universal favorite!

Some of the colors on the map are a bit hard to distinguish from each other, but luckily J-Town Net has provided a list of favorite types by prefecture, so let’s take a look.

In northern Japan (Tohoku plus Hokkaido):

As it turns out, Poison and Bug Pokémon get to have their moment in the spotlight! But northern Japan seems to generally prefer Water types, as residents from four out of seven prefectures selected it as their favorite type.

How about the Kanto region?

The Kanto region didn’t seem to favor Water types at all. That’s surprising, given that the largest populations are certainly living in Tokyo and its surrounding prefectures. On the other hand, Tokyo might be responsible for Ghost-type Pokémon making it to the third spot on the national rankings. All in all the Kanto region doesn’t seem to have one type they like most, which is quite interesting.

In central Japan:

Here Water-types make a comeback, being the favorite of residents of four out of nine prefectures. Still, though Water-type fans make the up the biggest percentage, there is a pretty wide variety of Pokémon favored in the Chubu region, too. Making a stand are actually Grass types, which, of the three starter types, are clearly the least popular according to the national rankings, but obviously have a hold on fans in Fukui and Nagano.

In the Kansai region:

The Kansai region also seems to have a pretty varied preference for Pokémon types, with almost every prefecture voting for something different. Water types do once again make up the biggest individual percentage, but it doesn’t seem to have as strong a hold as it does in other regions.

The Chugoku region is as follows:

The western-most part of the main island of Japan appears to be very divided. Tottori in particular had a tie between not two or three but six different Pokémon types! Surprisingly, Psychic, a relatively low-ranking type on the national scale, seems pretty popular in this region, and Dark types were also voted in for the first time.

On the island of Shikoku:

Perhaps the southwestern island of Shikoku, which lies south of the Chugoku region, is the most divided out of all the regions, as so many different types came up that not a single winner can be crowned. One thing is clear though, there are a good number of die-hard fans of Rock types, and they live in Kagawa!

And finally, the islands of Kyushu and Okinawa:

In the southern part of Japan, favorites are, once again divided, but Water-types do seem to have a hold in this region as well, even if it’s a tenuous one, with Dragon a close second. All in all, 20 out of Japan’s 48 prefectures, nearly half, favored Water-types over other types (or the same as other types), as opposed to 12 prefectures for Dragon (the majority of which are in the south), and surprisingly only three prefectures for Ghost, which ranked third in the country.

Now, J-Town Net didn’t release the percentage of respondents that hailed from each prefecture, so it could be that there were a lot of votes from one prefecture and much fewer from another, which could skew the national rankings. Nevertheless, these might be useful numbers to go by if you want to go around Japan challenging trainers to Pokémon battles. For example, you now know that you should bring Electric and Grass types to Okinawa but Dark types to Tokyo. Just something to keep in mind, you know, if you want to be the very best, like no one ever was.

Source: J-Town Net via Livedoor News via My Game News Flash
Top image: Screenshots taken from Pokémon Go App (iOS version)
Insert images: J-Town Net (some edited by SoraNews24), Wikipedia
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