Fossil Pokémon – Pokémon “reproduced” from real fossils – are integral players in the Pokémon lineup of characters. These creatures from the virtual world will soon be on exhibit, together with fossils and ancient life forms discovered in the real world, at various museums around Japan to demonstrate the tremendous appeal of paleontology. The idea for such an exhibition came from Daisuke Aiba, chief researcher and curator at Mikasa City Museum in Hokkaido. The National Museum of Nature and Science, in Tokyo, is now working on the display contents in collaboration with regional museums. A unique feature of the exhibition will be its emphasis on learning about paleontology enjoyably through the two basic methods applied in scientific research: observation and comparison. 

Dr. Aiba is a huge Pokémon enthusiast. He says Pokémon was always part of his childhood, and his love of Pokémon was behind his becoming a scientist. His favorite Pokémon is Omanyte. Dr. Aiba approached The Pokémon Company directly with his idea for an exhibition that combines Fossil Pokémon and real fossils, and his knowledge will contribute to its development. An anticipated feature of the exhibition will be the opportunity for visitors to search for Fossil Pokémon. In recent years the generation that played with Pokémon as children – people like Dr. Aiba – is active in many different fields, and through their work they have come up with some exciting and entertaining new Pokémon ideas. The future is sure to bring a lot more unique ideas created by members of the Pokémon generation the world over.