Tenshi no Ai wrote:Kinda like how (I believe) the regions and town names in Pokemon were actual places, but then changed to make it "easier" or whatever, and non-realistic. I didn't even realize for years that the region maps on the game, which I thought were from a made-up land, looked strangely like real places in Japan...
I don't know about the town names, but yes, the setting for the Red/Blue/Yellow games is named Kanto, and is modeled after the Kanto region of Japan. Of course the name wasn't mentioned until the G/S/C generation, but the name "Kanto" was kept even in the English version.
Just for kicks...Johto is based on the Kansai region of Japan (though the Kansai region is a good distance away from Kanto in Japan, whereas Kanto and Johto are right next to each other in Pokemon).
The Sevii Islands from FireRed/LeafGreen are based on the Izu and Bonin Islands.
Hoenn is modeled after Kyushu.
Shin'ou (or Sinnoh in English) is modeled after Hokkaido, along with the southern half of the Russian island of Sakhalin, and the disputed island of Kunashir.
Orre from Pokemon Colosseum and XD is supposedly based on the Arizona desert.
Fiore (from Pokemon Ranger) has not been stated to be based on any region.
Yes, I'm a Pokemon nerd. >.>
EDIT: To return slightly on topic...
Keyblade wrote:The kanji in One Piece was also removed.
Not just the kanji. ALL writing was removed, oddly. In one episode a pet store is attacked and bags of pet food are strewn about the street. The bags say "PET FOOD" written in English on them. The words were removed in the dub.