Well, this is embarrassing. A new study conducted by Nerfwire has revealed a shocking statistic: only one in five Americans are able to identify Kanto, the region where Pokémon Red and Blue are set, on a map. As if the American education system didn’t have a bad enough reputation already!
According to the study, only 20% of respondents were able to correctly point to Kanto, with 25% pointing to either Johto or Hoenn and an astonishing 55% responding with something like, “Huh? What the fuck are you talking about? That’s not a real map.”
Clearly, these people need a geography lesson.
Kanto is one of the most significant regions in the Pokémon series, serving as the location for Pokémon Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Fire Red, Leaf Green, Let’s Go Pikachu, and Let’s Go Eevee, as well as featuring in Gold, Silver, Crystal, Heart Gold, and Soul Silver.
But to 80% of the people we surveyed, it might as well have featured in Pokémon Jack and Shit, because they couldn’t even get close. Let’s get these dumb-dumbs back to elementary school.
Even people who were otherwise very knowledgeable about geography had difficulty with this task. One respondent was able to accurately locate countries such as Kosovo, Azerbaijan, and Andorra, but when asked to point to Kanto simply groaned and said, “Oh god damn it, this is more of your video game bullshit, isn’t it?”
The ignorance is breathtaking.
Some other examples of responses include, “Why are you asking me this?”, “Is this from an anime or something?”, and “Of course I know where the Kantō region is. It’s on the east coast of Honshu, the largest island in Japan. Oh, you weren’t talking about that?”
Respondents also had trouble identifying Pokémon by sight. “That’s a Pikachu,” said all of them, about everything.
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