YO-Kai Watch: Japan's monster craze set to go international

Japanese marketing at its best. Milk the cow!! I've seen kids going bananas this week end at Lalaport...

My boy loves Yokai Watch.

During one of my visits to Japan, they actually just happened to be broadcasting the first episode or two. Frankly, even compared to Pokemon I can't see the appeal.

This is NOT going to be easy because Youkai Watch is (in my opinion) highly dependent on the knowledge of Japanese folklore, which makes translation to the Western world a bit of a challenge.

One thing that made Pokemon so successful outside of Japan was the fact Nintendo tried very hard to make sure it can translate well to the Western world. Many of the Pokemon creatures are derived from the youkai of Japanese folklore, but are created in a way that you don't need Japanese folklore knowledge to appreciate them.

Raymond, not sure the 4/5 years old I've seen being crazy about Youkai Watch were fully aware of the folklore either. It's gonna be a hit I guarantee it.

I can attest to this! Living overseas at the moment, but trying to keep up with things back in J-Land, and my kids love Yo-Kai Watch! Me too, actually...

This is NOT going to be easy because Youkai Watch is (in my opinion) highly dependent on the knowledge of Japanese folklore

But this makes the show even more interesting. Doraemon is very "Japanese" as well, and in Italy is a huge hit.

JT why can't i share this article on Facebook? My friends and family in OZ would love this! My kids play this all the time and insist on giving me a running commentary!

Raymond, My son doesn't know much about Japanese folklore and he's crazy about Yokai Watch. He was really into Pokemon, then BOOM now it's Yokai Watch. Kids don't need knowledge of, nor give a hoot about the folklore part.