I think it's a great idea. Hell, i play every once in a while and i've walked more than a few Km because of it. It's too bad people are getting lured and jumped/murdered, but the idiots that walk off cliffs, or get hit by cars while playing. Come on now.
It's not as if the rest of the world would get japanese news on their feeds, so has anything interesting happened? Last I saw was a massive swarm of people in tokyo for a mewtwo prank.
i quite like it, but only play it a little bit. i dont feel the need to spend money on it, if i were to, i would just buy a 3DS and get the actual games lol