Monster Hunter Now feels at home in Tokyo, but it won’t stop there

Monster Hunter Now's first live event in Tokyo was a showcase of what the game can be

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Like many other religions, Japan’s native belief system, Shinto, is in decline. You wouldn’t know it by walking around Meiji Jingu Shrine in Tokyo. Every day thousands of people pass under its torii gates, past the barrels of artisan sake fermenting in the sun, up to the water purification station to wash their hands and face, before heading up to the shrine, avoiding stepping on the main beam at the threshold, to pray. 

Non-believers, believers, and tourists take their turns, none daring to raise their voices over a whisper out of respect for this beautiful, serene space right in the middle of a bustling metropolis. 

Japan’s society is growing more secular with time, but Shinto – a belief in animism, gods, spirits, and mythical creatures – will always be an important part of the culture. 

All of Japan's 47 prefectures have a mascot – a yuru-kyara – as do most companies. Walk around Tokyo and you’ll see Pipo-kun, the mascot for Tokyo’s police department, everywhere – dozens of posters of this weird, mouse-like creature who’s naked apart from a seatbelt strapped over its waist. Branding is king and capitalism is the new spiritualism. 

Even the underground train stations of Tokyo each have their theme song – a jaunty little jingle that plays whenever a train pulls in, worming its way into your brain like the advertisements that play on a loop within the carriages themselves. There’s even one that plays the Pokemon theme. 

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With its fascination with mascots and anything kawaii, it’s easy to see why Pokemon is such a phenomenon in Japan. It’s a perfect confluence of hyper-capitalism – every random battle in the early games is a little gacha machine after all – and cultural quirks born from Shinto. 

Everywhere you go, someone is flicking a Pokeball in Niantic’s Pokemon Go or playing a Nintendo Switch, to the point where trains have signs asking people to use headphones when playing their consoles. 

I arrive in Tokyo for another Niantic game – the Monster Hunter Now Carnival, a paid festival bringing together fans from around the world to hunt down and farm pieces from the Nergigante, a large dragon-like creature and series favorite appearing in the game for the first time. 

Before my flight, I played for hours as I traveled across London to the airport, passing two or three other players the entire time. Now I’m standing in the middle of Shibuya and there’s a sea of people gathered around Monster Hunter props and Niantic and Capcom spokespeople – at its peak, I check the game and there are over 3,000 other hunters around me. These player numbers show off the full potential of this generous, gorgeous, action-packed mobile title. 

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Monster Hunter Now is an AR game like Pokemon Go where you walk around in the real world and fight monsters through your phone, which becomes a portal to another dimension. In a culture where there’s a thin veil between our world and the spiritual (and there’s a convenience store that spans seven floors), it’s easy to see why so many hunters have turned up for their shot at a Nerg and some cool new threads to make from its skin and bones. 

“There's a lot of domestic local folklore, stories about monsters and existence that you can't see, spiritualism, that creates a fertile ground for us to imagine the space for the many different kinds of creatures living together,” Niantic’s chief product officer Kei Kawai says. “They're not just evil – they’re just there and we sometimes have to help them to coexist.” 

Capcom producer Genki Sunano agrees, “There’s some background in the animism that we grew up with. And then, those kids who grew up with all these superhero TV shows that have the monsters and majestic ones fighting against them. Creators who grew up with those became the ones to create the new monsters in the video games.” 

Tokyo itself feels like two worlds converging. You can walk across Shibuya Crossing, where 2.4 million people cross per day, and get swept along in a sea of bodies, passing social media influencers taking Instagram snaps, couples holding hands, and salarymen rushing to work, different noises overloading your senses from all sides, only to take a street off the main stretch minutes later where you’re all alone and there’s barely a whisper. 

Genki Sunano (far left) and Kei Kawai (second from right) / Niantic

Head into a building and there might be a convenience store on the ground floor, a ramen restaurant above it, a yoga studio above that, and a music bar nestled on top. The city’s main roads are an interdimensional highway leading to other planes, where you’ll find people from all walks of life wrapped up in their own stories. 

On the day of Monster Hunter Carnival, you’d see people start alone or in small groups, only to congregate around a monster or the footprints we’re all following, and by the end of the day, they’d be fully partied up, laughing and playing together. I love how online games can create these moments virtually, but it’s a special feeling to see it first-hand. It makes you wonder where their relationships will go in the future. 

Kawai’s cousin found their partner through Monster Hunter on PSP and they later got married because of a connection they made through the game in the college cafeteria. “Creating a new connection was the beginning of the idea of working on Monster Hunter Now – it's about connecting people.” 

Monster Hunter Now Carnival is just the beginning of that mission. Take part in the next phase as the Carnival sets its sights on the rest of the world by downloading Monster Hunter Now for free on mobile.