DHAKA: Nintendo’s Pokemon Go has finally launched in Japan, says the game's developer Niantic Labs.

The American software company behind the game announced that the game was “finally broadcasting” in Japan.

First released in the US, Australia and New Zealand on 6 July and now available in more than 30 countries, the game has been a global phenomenon.

But until now players in the birthplace of the virtual monsters had not been able to take part.

On Friday morning, excited Japanese fans began tweeting that they had been able to start playing.

The Japanese launch is a sponsorship tie-in with McDonalds, with fast food restaurants expected to be Pokestops and “gyms”.

After weeks of stories about people in other countries running into trouble playing the game, Japanese authorities have taken precautions and issued a nine-point safety guide, in cartoon form.

The warnings, by the National Centre of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity, included asking users to register with “cool names that are different from real names” and cautioning them against heatstroke as they walk around in the sun.

“I want people to abide by the warning so that people can play it on smartphones safely,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Thursday.

Pokemon Go is an augmented reality game on smartphones which already has millions of people worldwide obsessively capture small creatures in public spaces.

It works by showing you a picture of your real surroundings as caught by the phone's camera on your screen, then uses GPS to place virtual little monsters within that picture on your screen.

The mix of virtual and real worlds allows players to, for instance, fight a dragon circling Big Ben or chase a spaceship moving down their street.

The monsters in it were first popular in the 1990s when they started on the Nintendo Game Boy. Back then, trading cards were a huge hit in school playgrounds and the new game manages to build on that legacy.

BDST: 1101 HRS, JUL 22, 2016
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