What do you consider the regions in Pokemon?

[Palamon]

I've always thought of the regions as countries myself, but I might be overthinking it and they're literally just regions of an area, and not a full blown country.

 

[Devalue]

Agrees on countries. Designed several regions after real-life countries. Bears their own distinct authorities (Elite Four) and culture. Reflects the latter in clothing, styles, and even food.

 

[Gardevoir1]

Rather than full blown countries as we have now, I tend to think of them more like the tiny kingdoms of centuries ago with their respective governing bodies being their own Elite Four. In terms of NPCs, theres hardly ever more than 1500 people we can interact with. Assuming theres a 50 times that amount present in the region itself, thats about 75,000 people, hardly a small city's worth in modern terms.

Something to wonder though is how large and how similar the pokemon world is compared to our own. The regions themselves are based off real-world locations but their sizes vary from the greater NYC area to the entirety of France.

 

[icycatelf]

I think I used to view them more as countries, but now I see them as regions, as the term suggests, or even states. Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh are all based on different parts of Japan after all, yet they're not considered a single region.

 

[Gardevoir1]

I think I used to view them more as countries, but now I see them as regions, as the term suggests, or even states. Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh are all based on different parts of Japan after all, yet they're not considered a single region.

Hoenn is also a part of Japan, specifically Kyushu

 

[icycatelf]

Hoenn is also a part of Japan, specifically Kyushu

Whoops. I knew that. Dunno why I left it out of my post.

 

[Sheep]

We know certain regions are very far from others so I've adapted the mindset that they could even be on the other side of the world, and in that regard countries makes sense to me. Even though the first 4 regions are modeled after different parts of Japan I still see them as their own locations (possibly even their own countries), just closer to each other than some of the other ones. It would be cool if we could get some guidebook or something on lore for stuff like this!

 

[ReKoil]

Always thought of them as regions, but countries works too.

 

[Geewithabee]

They are like countries, but shrunk way down in size.

 

[colours]

if Alola is indicative of anything, they seem to be their very own countries with their own traditions and culture. :o climate is also a big factor as regions like Galar and Sinnoh tend to be a bit on the colder side while there are other tropical regions like Hoenn, Kanto (i think Kanto is tropical?) and Alola. i typically think that each region having their own "government" in the form of the elite four/champion (which... is another discussion to have tbh) probably cements the idea of them being their own kinda thing to me.

 

[RedDragonThunderzord]

I always thought each region was its own country.