That is how I did it. I switched the region of the Switch once to Japan. Created an new user on the Switch and associated it to a new Nintendo Japan account. Then switched the Switch region back (but kept the system language Japanese).
When you start software on the Switch it asks which user you want to use it under. Same with eShop. Selecting the user associated with a North America account gets North America eShop and selecting the user associated with a Japan account gets Japan eShop. No more switching things around and you can browse either store. Which sell different things at different prices and have different sales specials. Gotta love Golden Week.
8 Likes
This is amazing. That’ll make things so much easier 
2 Likes
It doesn’t change your e-shop region as far as I know but as @liveunderwater said you can use it to create multiple accounts from different regions. Whether that is really more convenient is up to you. Personally, I rather have everything under one account
Mate, that’s a bit overdramatic. I’ve linked my paypal account to my switch and changing regions has worked flawlessly many times
4 Likes
It is not, however, possible to link the same paypal account to both eShops simultaneously. I have tried linking my paypal account to Japan eShop countless times. Resending the verification email etc, to get the error that my paypal is already linked. This I just verified again.
While I was at it I noticed the unlink paypal button in the NA eShop. So, thank you for getting me to dig a bit further into an issue I had given up on. Didn’t actually know which account it was linked to or how to check as I have made a bit of a mess of Nintendo accounts over the years and devices. I’ve just been buying point cards on playasia.com.
6 Likes
Your post didn’t contain your point, you just linked to a website. And now you say it obviously doesn’t apply to me, but your words were literally “Unless you have a credit/debit card that works in each region” which I don’t have, yet it works flawlessly for me - obvious is something different. I get that the point you were trying to make was “If you use gift cards, you need to watch out since you need to use up your balance before switching regions” but that isn’t what you wrote, you just wrote a post that read like some clickbait title on social media which is I why I said it’s overdramatic. And also, the point you were trying to make had already been brought up
2 Likes
One more question about the Switch. Is there region lock on the physical cards?
I was under the wrong impression that the Switch Lite was download only but turns out that isn’t the case.
1 Like
No there isn’t you can play all games regardless where you buy them. I have some imported games and they work fine on my switch.
6 Likes
One more Switch question. If I only make an account for JP store but also buy physical cards outside JP, do I need to make an account in that region to update the game or buy DLC (for the physical cards)
Can never be too sure with Nintendo it seems.
Edit: Do the first party games like Three Houses and Xenoblade Chronicles have JP without importing?
2 Likes
I’m not sure about updates, but you will need have an account in the proper region for DLC and things like that. While there’s no region lock, the North American DLC and Japanese DLC for example, usually have different store IDs and are only compatible with their region specific game.
It depends on the game. I don’t have firsthand knowledge of those 2, but games like Octopath Traveler have the option to use Japanese audio with the English version and even the option for Japanese text if you change your Switch language.
3 Likes
You can always check on the Nintendo website, it lists the available languages. Fire Emblem has Japanese, Xenoblade I’m not sure. The American website lists Japanese as supported language, the European website differentiates physical and digital versions, where the physical one is listed as not supporting Japanese. I don’t own the game, so I don’t know.
I just know Xenoblade has self-moving cutscenes, which are too fast for me anyway, so I couldn’t seriously play it in Japanse.
2 Likes
Okami I guess it’s chunk tho with grammar, vocab etc. I can keep up but it’s hard. Anyone got a vocab list of it???
1 Like
Game Grammar had started a vocab list to go with their stream. It’s not complete, so I’m not sure how helpful it will be. But it may help get you started, maybe?
Vocab list: Lorenzi's Jisho
Stream playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd-Z50rqsKFwOJj7HJA-MUpO4Ii4gUemO
2 Likes
GAME: Pokémon Brilliant Diamond
PLATFORM: Nintendo Switch
PRICE: €59,99 (eshop)
GENRE: RPG
LEVEL: Beginner-Intermediate
REVIEW: I have played the original Diamond version back in the day and I found it pretty nice to revisit it in Japanese with this cute remake on the Switch. Many Pokémon games have the option to select Japanese nowadays, although it must be noted that once you picked a main language you will have to stick with it (unless you erase your savefile). You can freely switch between kana and kanji mode in the settings at any time. I have only played in kanji mode during my many hours with the game. In kanji mode there is no furigana to support it, but they are mostly used in everyday situations and they leave plenty of space between words. Dialogue always shows you two lines at most at once, so you’ll likely not get overwhelmed.
I found my experience with this game to be pretty comfy and talked to as many NPC’s as I could every time I visited a new town or city. It’s quite easy to know where to go and what to do, as the trainer menu will give a brief description and on the map they plant a red flag as your next destination. What I find great about pokémon is that you can play it how you want and how much you want from it. I enjoy taking my time getting to know routes, pokémon and the towns. There’s always something interesting or useful information by talking to NPC’s. As they talk about a wide range of daily life occurence, I found myself learning a lot of new vocabulary and a few new kanji. The more you know, the easier it is read, but the barrier is not that high. Just knowing the basic kanji and grammar already saves you a lot of trouble. Of course there are some characters more prone to use more difficult language and advanced grammar.
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are set in the Sinnoh region (シンノウ地方) based on the Hokkaido prefecture in Japan. Right in the middle lies Mt. Coronet (天冠山 ・てんかんざん) which plays a key role in this game. You’ll pass through it many times as you make progress in the game. The protagonist gets their pokémon from professor Rowan (ナナカマド博士) and are tasked to complete the pokédex (ポケモン図鑑) while you attempt the pokémon gym leader challenge as well. Each of the badges, the counter they use for them is 個, you earn will unlock new paths with the various hidden moves (秘伝技). Older games treated hidden moves as separate from technical machines (わざマシン), but nowadays they’re under the same category. Additionally you don’t actually have to teach it to your pokémon, as you have access to the pokétchi app. That said I didn’t notice that until at the end of the game and I didn’t really mind playing it traditionally like I’m used to. During the game you will travel between towns and cities in our to fight the gym leaders, in between of them are routes (道路) and surf routes (水道路) filled with wild pokémon. The Shinnoh region uses route numbers starting from 201, so ingame it’s shown as 201道路. Catching pokémon and training them to be strong enough to fight trainers is the main gameplay loop these games are known for. The amount of pokémon you can hold on hand (手持ち) is still 6, every pokémon you catch afterwards you can send to the box. Here you can also choose to swap with one of your party pokémon. Each box can hold a maximum of 30 pokémon, with 18 boxes in total. Similar to pokémon Sword and Shield, you have access to the box while out in the field, although you can’t heal them quickly. Every time you catch or knock out a pokémon, you earn experience (経験). All experience is shared between pokémon, this has the same effect as using exp. share in the older games. Your pokémon grow in stats after they gain enough experience points to level up. When they reach a certain level they may learn new moves (with a max of 4 per pokémon) or evolve (進化). On your gymchallenge you’ll also encounter a certain group of people with questionable motives known as team Galaxy (ギンガ団) and obviously you’re the best candidate to stop them…
Some features that are in this game is walking with your pokémon, taking part in pokémon contests, making poffins, honey trees and exploring the grand underground (地下大洞穴). The last one is greatly expanded on the original. It’s one interconnected web of underground tunnels with different areas where wild pokémon roam freely. In the tunnels by pressing R, you will also see sparkles in the wall. These hold various treasures you have to excavate. Every action you take with the hammer or pickaxe will cause the wall to get larger cracks, until it crumbles.
After collecting all 8 badges, you earn the right to travel the champion road and challenge the elite four (四天王) and the champion if you managed to beat everyone before them. Beating the champion will make you the new champion and registers your party into the hall of fame (殿堂). This is where the game gets interesting as you gain access to post-game, at the moment of writing I’m still busy with that. Below are some of the screenshots I took to maybe get a feel of how the game looks.
All in all Brilliant Diamond took about 50 hours to beat the champion and unlock the post-game. It’s a great experience of playing a pokémon game in Japanese. As an intermediate learner I felt like I still learned a lot from a series that’s well known to be beginner friendly. The grammar used is not very complicated and hovers around N3. That’s also why I recommend it to both beginners and intermediate learners. I think that also advanced learners will get something out of it, as there’s multiple levels of information. Like being able to read and get accustomed to all the pokédex entries, the various pokémon names, items, tm’s, attack moves and pokémon natures. I’m curious to see how much Arceus will compare to these games and they’ll be the next game I’ll tackle in Japanese.
10 Likes
Thank you!!!
This will for sure make me enjoy the game more, less looking up more playing!
1 Like
Wait, this means that that I can have point cards balance in both eShops then right? That’s ideal.
2 Likes
Sorry for the offtopic question but what is that first Kanji in the second line of the first screenshot. I seem to be unable to identify it 
1 Like
I can second this. I am currently still playing it and it’s a great game to learn day to day vocabulary. While being in some book clubs, I have discovered a lot of words which I have learned thorugh Pokemon.
10/10 can recommend
3 Likes
I had to look it up at the time as well, it’s 絆 (きずな; bonds) which is a word you’ll see a lot in this game.
5 Likes
And in manga, like Death Note as well .
Massive thanks for the review! I was debating whether to get a Pokemon game on the Switch, but this looks like an instant buy. I will see whether I can get a physical copy, since I pretty much ran out of disk space on my Switch.
3 Likes
I have this game and like it but i’m stuck at a boss who keeps kicking my ass ~sigh~
1 Like