How a Cartoon Mouse Became Disaster Recovery

The first time I heard a Japanese airport was getting rebranded around Pikachu, my brain did that thing where two unrelated tabs collide and produce a third, weirder tab. Airports are where joy goes to be patted down. Pokémon is where joy goes to be marketed. And yet, from July 7, 2026, through the end of September 2029, Noto Satoyama Airport on Japan's Noto Peninsula will operate as the Noto Satoyama Pokémon With You Airport, the first airport on Earth to wear the franchise's name like a varsity jacket.It sounds like a press release written by a fifth grader who got promoted too fast. It is a disaster recovery strategy.The Earthquake Behind the PikachuIn 2024, an earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula, flattening homes, buckling roads, and handing the regional airport a starring role it never auditioned for: first as an evacuation hub, then as a slow, grinding symbol of the work left to do. Two years later, Ishikawa Prefecture and the Pokémon With You Foundation announced the airport…