While perusing through Google Satellite, I discovered that the pokeball actually originated inWurzburg, Germany. The photo above is from the gardens of the Wurzburg Residenz, former home of German clergy and aristocrats and Germany’s largest cock-, dog-, andelectric-mouse-fighting ring.
When the Japanese and Germans teamed up for WWDeuce in the ’40s, it’s likely that Hideki Tojo was entertained here and first espied the pokeball. He took it back to Japan and used it in pro-war propaganda, thereby embedding the pokeball in the national psyche. 60 years later,Pokemon is selling like hawtkakes, andGermany is banning fun.*
[Editor’s note: None of this is true, except the hotcakes part. And the part about Germany’s anti-fun stance.]
