The Pokemon World Championships have only been held outside of North America once since its inception back in 2004. Now, the 18th PWC will make history as the second straight iteration of the prestigious tournament to be held in a different country. More importantly, it's not just any nation we're talking about - it's where Pokemon originated.
Surprisingly enough, the PWC has never been held in Japan. This will change in 2023 after it was announced that the event will be hosted in Japan next year.
The 17th PWC dropped a heartwarming callback video to confirm the venue change as it showcased Vermillion City from the Kanto region in the original pair of Pokemon games, Red and Blue, which were originally inspired by Yokohama.
Moving the venue to Yokohama is definitely interesting. Unfortunately, it's not clear which games we'll see at the 18th PWC. Most likely, we'll see the Pokemon Scarlet as well as Violet take their place on the competitive circuit. Pokemon TCG is also another fixture.