>>46719352>Kanto isn't poor at all.Kanto is fucking stagnant and it's entirely defined by that. It's as poor as a pokemon region can be, polluted, abandoned, full of crime, gangs, gambling and other shaddy people like tamers, and its severely underdeveloped compared to other regions (Sinnoh in particular, being the most developed one).
It takes Red defeating team Rocket for the region to start getting its shit together, building new shit (train station, radio tower) or repairing old shit (power plant), with ships arriving weekly instead of once a year. And yet other things still go backwards (cerulean bike shop closing, gangs taking over the underground path) or remain the same (that building in vermillion still in construction, snorlax still blocking roads). Hell even with the train, Saffron is super dead compared to Goldenrod, a bustling city full of shops and entertainment.
It's not meant to be the pokemon equivalent of the Tokyo metroploitan area at all. It's meant to be a decadent backwater region which allows much more nature than a prosperous one.
