Tetsuya Mizuguchi (水口 哲也, Mizuguchi Tetsuya; born May 22, 1965) is a Japanese video game designer, producer, and…
Tetsuya Mizuguchi (水口 哲也, Mizuguchi Tetsuya; born May 22, 1965) is a Japanese video game designer, producer, and businessman. Along with ex-Sega developers he is one of the co-founders of the video game development firm Q Entertainment. He formerly worked for Sega as a producer in their Sega AM3 'arcade machines' team, developing games like Sega Rally Championship and Sega Touring Car Championship, before moving on to become the head of Sega's United Game Artists division, the team responsible for Rez and Space Channel 5. Mizuguchi is better known for creating video games that incorporate interactive synesthesia into his game design, regardless of genre, evidenced by Rez, Lumines, Child of Eden, and Tetris Effect. He left Q Entertainment in 2013. He is currently the CEO of Enhance, Inc., a company he founded in 2014. In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time.
Famous Japanese People: Creator
Creator: 86 people
Koichi Nakamura (中村 光一, Nakamura Kōichi; born August 15, 1964) is a Japanese video game designer. Nakamura gained fame…
Koichi Nakamura (中村 光一, Nakamura Kōichi; born August 15, 1964) is a Japanese video game designer. Nakamura gained fame as a programming prodigy while still in high school; in 1982, he entered Enix's first national programming contest and claimed runner-up prize with his entry, Door Door. In 1984, he founded Chunsoft and served as the company's president. After Chunsoft merged with Spike in 2012, Nakamura served as chairman of Spike Chunsoft until he left the company in 2020.
Akira Yasuda (安田 朗, Yasuda Akira) (born July 21, 1964) is a Japanese animator, character designer, game designer and…
Akira Yasuda (安田 朗, Yasuda Akira) (born July 21, 1964) is a Japanese animator, character designer, game designer and mecha designer, who works under the pseudonym Akiman. Yasuda is a former employee of the video game company Capcom (joining in 1985) and has worked on many Capcom games, taking on various design roles for works such as the Final Fight series and Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (including their updates). He has also been involved in anime production, most notably Turn A Gundam, Overman King Gainer and Code Geass. He also went to the United States to work on Red Dead Revolver for Angel Studios. When the studio was bought by Rockstar Games, he returned to Japan, where he officially left Capcom in 2003 and started working as a freelance artist.
Naoto Ohshima (大島 直人, Ōshima Naoto) (born February 26, 1964) is a Japanese video game designer and artist, best known…
Naoto Ohshima (大島 直人, Ōshima Naoto) (born February 26, 1964) is a Japanese video game designer and artist, best known for designing Sonic the Hedgehog and Dr. Eggman from Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Although Yuji Naka made a tech demo around which Sonic's gameplay was based, the character in his prototype was a ball that lacked any specific features and was based on Ohshima's game proposal. Sonic Team considered numerous potential animal mascots before deciding on Ohshima's design, with an armadillo or hedgehog being the top choices because their spikes worked well with the concept of rolling into enemies. After leaving Sonic Team, Ohshima formed an independent game company called Artoon in 1999. There he went on to work on such games as Pinobee (2001), Blinx: The Time Sweeper (2002), and Blinx 2: Masters of Time & Space (2004). In 2010, Artoon was absorbed into AQ Interactive, and Ohshima and other key members of Artoon left to form Arzest. Early in his career, he was credited under the nickname "Big Island" in a number of games, which is a literal translation of his family name.
Kouji Okada (岡田 耕始, Okada Kōji; born February 22, 1964) is a Japanese video game producer and director.
Kazushige Nojima (野島 一成, Nojima Kazushige; born January 20, 1964) is a Japanese video game writer. He is best known for…
Kazushige Nojima (野島 一成, Nojima Kazushige; born January 20, 1964) is a Japanese video game writer. He is best known for writing several installments of Square Enix's Final Fantasy franchise—namely Final Fantasy VII and its spin-offs Advent Children and Crisis Core, Final Fantasy VIII, and Final Fantasy X and X-2—in addition to the Kingdom Hearts series, the Glory of Heracles series, and the story to the Subspace Emissary mode in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Nojima also wrote the original lyrics of "Liberi Fatali" for Final Fantasy VIII and both "Suteki da Ne" and the "Hymn of the Fayth" for Final Fantasy X, as well as "No Promises to Keep" for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. He is also the founder of Stellavista Ltd.
Eiji Aonuma (Japanese: 青沼 英二, Hepburn: Aonuma Eiji; born March 16, 1963) is a Japanese video game designer, director…
Eiji Aonuma (Japanese: 青沼 英二, Hepburn: Aonuma Eiji; born March 16, 1963) is a Japanese video game designer, director, and producer at Nintendo. He is a senior officer within their Nintendo EPD division. He serves as the producer of the Legend of Zelda franchise and has worked on the title since 1998.
Kensuke Tanabe (田邊 賢輔, Tanabe Kensuke; born January 26, 1963) is a Japanese video game producer and designer who has…
Kensuke Tanabe (田邊 賢輔, Tanabe Kensuke; born January 26, 1963) is a Japanese video game producer and designer who has worked for Nintendo since 1986 until 2026 and is currently part of Winning Entertainment Group since August 2026.
Hironobu Sakaguchi (坂口 博信, Sakaguchi Hironobu; born November 25, 1962) is a Japanese game designer, director, producer…
Hironobu Sakaguchi (坂口 博信, Sakaguchi Hironobu; born November 25, 1962) is a Japanese game designer, director, producer, and writer. Originally working for Square (later Square Enix) from 1983 to 2003, he departed the company and founded independent studio Mistwalker in 2004. He is known as the creator of the Final Fantasy franchise, in addition to other titles during his time at Square. At Mistwalker, he is known for creating the Blue Dragon and Terra Battle series among several standalone titles like Lost Odyssey, as well as later moving away from home consoles and creating titles for mobile platforms. Originally intending to become a musician, he briefly studied electronics and programming, joining Square as a part-time employee, then later a full-time employee when Square became an independent company in 1986. He led the development of several titles before helping to create the original Final Fantasy, which proved highly successful and cemented his status within the company. Following the financial failure of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, his debut as a film director, Sakaguchi withdrew from Square's management and eventually resigned in 2003. He continued his game career through Mistwalker, first co-developing projects through external partners and then smaller in-studio mobile projects. Born in Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture, Sakaguchi now lives in Hawaii where one of Mistwalker's offices is based. He has also influenced the creation of several other Square Enix projects, such as Kingdom Hearts. Sakaguchi has received several industry awards.
Akitoshi Kawazu (河津 秋敏, Kawazu Akitoshi; born November 5, 1962) is a Japanese game designer, director, producer and…
Akitoshi Kawazu (河津 秋敏, Kawazu Akitoshi; born November 5, 1962) is a Japanese game designer, director, producer and writer. After joining Square (later Square Enix) in 1986, he went on to become a central developer for the first two Final Fantasy titles, then acted as creator and lead developer for the SaGa series. Interested in games since his high school days, his first project at Square was a graphic designer for Rad Racer; he then acted as battle designer for Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II. He has since worked on nearly every SaGa title, in addition to creating the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles subseries, smaller projects including The Last Remnant, and serving in an executive role on many Square Enix projects. Kawazu was inspired by role-playing titles such as Dungeons & Dragons, Wizardry and Dragon Quest, with a preference for sword and sorcery settings in his scenarios. A characteristic of his games is a non-linear design for storylines and exploration, and systems that are not actively explained to players. He also has a deep involvement in each project beyond his credited roles, and tries something new with each game he develops.
Yutaka "Yoot" Saito (斉藤 由多加, Saitō Yutaka; born October 15, 1962) is a Japanese video game designer. In 1996, he…
Yutaka "Yoot" Saito (斉藤 由多加, Saitō Yutaka; born October 15, 1962) is a Japanese video game designer. In 1996, he founded the video game development company Vivarium. His latest game is Aero Porter, which is part of a collection of games called Guild01 for the Nintendo 3DS. Yoot also developed Odama for the GameCube and Seaman. His first major game release was SimTower (known and originally released as The Tower in Japan), developed by his previous company OPeNBooK Co., Ltd. and published by Maxis in 1994. He was also involved in the sequel, Yoot Tower (The Tower II in Japan), the Game Boy Advance remake called The Tower SP, and the Nintendo DS remake called The Tower DS. After founding Vivarium, he published some of his most famous games, including Seaman, a virtual pet game which was one of the best selling titles for the Dreamcast in Japan, and Odama, a mix of pinball and real time strategy. Both of these games make use of their respective consoles' microphone peripherals.
Takami Akai (赤井 孝美, Akai Takami; born November 21, 1961) is an illustrator, game creator, character designer and…
Takami Akai (赤井 孝美, Akai Takami; born November 21, 1961) is an illustrator, game creator, character designer and animator.
Masaya Matsuura (松浦 雅也, Matsūra Masaya) (born June 16, 1961) is a Japanese musician and video game designer based in…
Masaya Matsuura (松浦 雅也, Matsūra Masaya) (born June 16, 1961) is a Japanese musician and video game designer based in Tokyo, Japan. He was born in Osaka on June 16, 1961, and majored in Industrial Society at Ritsumeikan University. He has worked extensively with music production, sound design, and visuals, and has been active with the J-pop duo Psy-S. He has also been credited with popularizing the modern music video game at his studio NanaOn-Sha. In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time.
Hiroji Kiyotake (清武 博二, Kiyotake Hiroji), born December 21, 1960, in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan) is a game designer…
Hiroji Kiyotake (清武 博二, Kiyotake Hiroji), born December 21, 1960, in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan) is a game designer for Nintendo and has been a part of the history of Nintendo since 1983.
Takashi Tezuka (手塚 卓志, Tezuka Takashi; born November 17, 1960), nicknamed Ten Ten, is a Japanese video game designer…
Takashi Tezuka (手塚 卓志, Tezuka Takashi; born November 17, 1960), nicknamed Ten Ten, is a Japanese video game designer, director and producer. Since 1984, he has directed, produced, or supervised development of numerous games released by Nintendo. He is currently a senior officer of their Entertainment Planning & Development division, and was an executive officer of the company board of directors between 2018 and 2026. Tezuka assisted designer Shigeru Miyamoto on the platformer game Super Mario Bros. (1985) for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The game was incredibly innovative and influential to the medium; it began the Super Mario game series, and revived the North American gaming industry after it had suffered a recession in 1983. Tezuka wrote for and helped Miyamoto design the action-adventure game The Legend of Zelda (1986), which began the Zelda series. The two have had a creative partnership on many projects in the four decades since. While directing Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988) for the NES and Super Mario World (1990) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Tezuka co-designed the dinosaur character Yoshi, who became a staple of the Mario and Yoshi series. He then directed The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991) for the SNES, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (1993) for the Game Boy, and Yoshi's Island (1995) for the SNES. His last game design credit was for Super Mario 64 (1996) for the Nintendo 64. Tezuka has since worked in managerial roles on games, rather than as a hands-on designer. Such titles include Animal Crossing (2001) for the Nintendo 64 and GameCube, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2002) for the GameCube, Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010) for the Wii, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017) for the Wii U and Nintendo Switch. All the aforementioned titles are considered by many outlets to be some of the best, most innovative, or most influential games ever released.
Takaaki Kidani (木谷 高明, Kidani Takaaki; born June 6, 1960) is a Japanese video game developer and entrepreneur born in…
Takaaki Kidani (木谷 高明, Kidani Takaaki; born June 6, 1960) is a Japanese video game developer and entrepreneur born in Kanazawa, Japan. He is the founder of Bushiroad. Kidani has also served as the chairman of New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He continues to be involved with NJPW through Bushiroad, which owned the company.
Hisao Oguchi (小口 久雄, Oguchi Hisao; born 5 March 1960) is a Japanese business executive. He was director, vice chairman…
Hisao Oguchi (小口 久雄, Oguchi Hisao; born 5 March 1960) is a Japanese business executive. He was director, vice chairman, and chief creative officer of Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. Oguchi originally was president and CEO of Sega. He was president and CEO of Sega Sammy Creation. He is currently a director of UDream, a content production company.
Satoru Iwata (Japanese: 岩田 聡; December 6, 1959 – July 11, 2015) was a Japanese businessman, video game programmer, and…
Satoru Iwata (Japanese: 岩田 聡; December 6, 1959 – July 11, 2015) was a Japanese businessman, video game programmer, and producer. Beginning in 2002, Iwata served as the fourth president of Nintendo, as well as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Nintendo of America from 2013 until his death in 2015. Iwata was a major contributor in broadening the appeal of video games by focusing on novel and entertaining software rather than top-of-the-line hardware. Born in Sapporo, Iwata expressed interest in video games from an early age and created his first simple game while in high school. He majored in computer science at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. In 1980, he joined the game developer HAL Laboratory while attending the university. At HAL, he worked as a programmer and closely collaborated with Nintendo, coding his first commercial console game in 1983 and programming early Nintendo Entertainment System titles including Pinball, Golf, and Balloon Fight. Later games to which he contributed include EarthBound and numerous installments in the Kirby series. Following a financial downturn and near-bankruptcy, Iwata became the president of HAL in 1993 at the insistence of Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi and restored the company's financial stability. In the following years, he assisted in the development of the Pokémon and Super Smash Bros. series. Iwata joined Nintendo as the head of its corporate planning division in 2000. Nintendo saw strong growth under Iwata, and when Yamauchi retired in May 2002, Iwata succeeded him as the company's president, becoming the first president unrelated to the Yamauchi family. Under Iwata's leadership, Nintendo developed the Nintendo DS and Wii game consoles, helping the company achieve massive financial success. As a self-declared gamer, he focused on expanding the appeal of video games across demographics through a "blue ocean" business strategy and the Touch! Generations brand. Nintendo attained record profits by 2009, and Barron's placed Iwata among the top 30 CEOs worldwide. Iwata expanded his strategy by defining a quality-of-life product line for the Wii that evolved into a ten-year strategy to create standalone products. Later hardware such as the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U proved far less profitable than the Wii, and Nintendo's net sales fell by two-thirds from 2009 to 2012, with the company recording its first operating losses in 30 years during this period. Refusing to lay off employees, Iwata voluntarily halved his salary in 2011 and again in 2014. In 2015, after several years of decline, Iwata directed a portion of Nintendo's focus into the rapidly growing mobile game market through a landmark partnership with mobile provider DeNA established that March, while overseeing early development of the Nintendo Switch. Throughout his tenure, Iwata built a close relationship with Nintendo fans through social media and his regular appearances in Iwata Asks and Nintendo Direct, becoming the public face of the company. In June 2014, a tumor in Iwata's bile duct was discovered during a routine physical exam. It was removed, and Iwata returned to work in October of that year. The illness resurfaced in 2015, and Iwata died at the age of 55 from its complications on July 11. Members of the gaming industry and players worldwide offered tributes through public announcements and social media, and fans established temporary memorials around the globe. Iwata was posthumously awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2015 Golden Joystick Awards and the 2016 D.I.C.E. Awards.
Yoshio Sakamoto (Japanese: 坂本 賀勇, Hepburn: Sakamoto Yoshio; born July 23, 1959) is a Japanese video game designer…
Yoshio Sakamoto (Japanese: 坂本 賀勇, Hepburn: Sakamoto Yoshio; born July 23, 1959) is a Japanese video game designer, director, and producer. He is a Senior officer at Nintendo EPD. He has worked at Nintendo since 1982. He has directed several games in the Metroid series and worked on series such as Rhythm Heaven, Tomodachi Life and WarioWare. He is one of the most prominent members of Nintendo's former Research and Development 1 division, along with Gunpei Yokoi and Toru Osawa.
Masanobu Endō (遠藤 雅伸, Endō Masanobu; born February 23, 1959) is a Japanese game designer, president of Game Studio and…
Masanobu Endō (遠藤 雅伸, Endō Masanobu; born February 23, 1959) is a Japanese game designer, president of Game Studio and Mobile & Game Studio, and the director of Digital Games Research Association Japan. He formerly worked for Namco, where he created arcade games and is best known for Xevious and The Tower of Druaga, which were important titles in the scrolling shooter and action role-playing game genres, respectively.
Crea-Tech (Japanese: 有限会社クレアテック) was a Japanese video game developer based in Koto, Tokyo, Japan, which was founded by…
Crea-Tech (Japanese: 有限会社クレアテック) was a Japanese video game developer based in Koto, Tokyo, Japan, which was founded by Hiroshi Miyaoka in 1988. The company was best known for developing the role-playing video game series Metal Max. They also developed many board games. The company developed console games mainly, but also had some computer games and mobile games.
Yu Suzuki (鈴木 裕, Suzuki Yū; born June 10, 1958) is a Japanese game developer who headed Sega's AM2 team for 18 years.…
Yu Suzuki (鈴木 裕, Suzuki Yū; born June 10, 1958) is a Japanese game developer who headed Sega's AM2 team for 18 years. He created a number of successful Sega arcade games, including Hang-On (1985), Space Harrier (1985), Out Run (1986) and After Burner (1987), which used motion simulator cabinets, and Virtua Racing (1992) and Virtua Fighter (1993), which pioneered 3D graphics. As a hardware engineer, Suzuki led development of arcade system boards including the Sega Space Harrier, Model 1, Model 2 and Model 3. He was involved in the development of the Dreamcast console and the NAOMI arcade hardware. In the late 1990s, Suzuki created the Shenmue series of action-adventure games. The original Shenmue (1999), for Dreamcast, was the most expensive video game ever developed at the time. The Shenmue games attracted a cult following, but were commercial failures. After Shenmue II, Suzuki produced OutRun 2 (2003), Virtua Cop 3 (2003) and Sega Race TV (2008) and worked on various projects which failed to see release. In 2008, he established his own development company, Ys Net, and left Sega in 2011. He developed Shenmue III (2019) following a successful crowdfunding campaign. In 2003, Suzuki became the sixth person to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame. IGN named him the ninth-greatest video game creator. In 2011, he received the Pioneer Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards.
Shinji Hashimoto (橋本 真司, Hashimoto Shinji; born May 24, 1958) is a Japanese former game producer at Square Enix and…
Shinji Hashimoto (橋本 真司, Hashimoto Shinji; born May 24, 1958) is a Japanese former game producer at Square Enix and currently senior advisor at Sony Music Entertainment Japan and a board member at Forwardworks. He served as the Final Fantasy series brand manager for over a decade, was an executive officer at Square Enix board of directors and he was the Head of Square Enix's Business Division 3 for 6 years. He is also the co-creator of the Kingdom Hearts series. He served as corporate executive of the company's 1st Production Department during its entire existence. In May 2021, Hashimoto announced he would be working in Square Enix Holdings as Corporate Advisor training future leaders of the company, after he stepped down from his position of executive director and Final Fantasy brand manager at Square Enix Co. Hashimoto retired from his duties at Square Enix on May 31, 2022. On June 16, 2022, Hashimoto announced he would be a senior advisor at Sony Music Entertainment Japan, as well as board member for ForwardWorks.
Tsunekazu Ishihara (Japanese: 石原 恒和, Hepburn: Ishihara Tsunekazu; born November 27, 1957) is a Japanese video game…
Tsunekazu Ishihara (Japanese: 石原 恒和, Hepburn: Ishihara Tsunekazu; born November 27, 1957) is a Japanese video game designer, director, producer and businessman who is the president and Chief executive officer of The Pokémon Company. Prior to working with the Pokémon franchise, Ishihara was part of Ape Inc. and worked on titles such as EarthBound, and then years later he founded Creatures Inc. Ishihara's work with Pokémon, in which he was involved since early development stages during the 1990s, had him as a producer from Creatures while he also heavily focused on licensed and spin-off products such as the Pokémon Trading Card Game, with him founding The Pokémon Company to handle such business activities. He was also crucial in the development of Pokémon Go, having supported the concept of a location-based Pokémon game.
Tōru Iwatani (岩谷 徹, Iwatani Tōru; born January 25, 1955) is a Japanese video game designer who spent much of his career…
Tōru Iwatani (岩谷 徹, Iwatani Tōru; born January 25, 1955) is a Japanese video game designer who spent much of his career working for Namco. He is best known and commemorated for being the creator of the arcade game Pac-Man (1980). In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time.
Oji Hiroi (広井 王子, Hiroi Ōji; born 8 February 1954), real name Teruhisa Hiroi (廣井 照久, Hiroi Teruhisa), is an author and…
Oji Hiroi (広井 王子, Hiroi Ōji; born 8 February 1954), real name Teruhisa Hiroi (廣井 照久, Hiroi Teruhisa), is an author and video game developer. He co-authored Samurai Crusader with Ryoichi Ikegami. He also created the Far East of Eden and Sakura Wars role-playing video game franchises, and wrote the Sakura Wars manga.
Mamoru Oshii (押井 守, Oshii Mamoru; born 8 August 1951) is a Japanese filmmaker, television director and writer. Famous…
Mamoru Oshii (押井 守, Oshii Mamoru; born 8 August 1951) is a Japanese filmmaker, television director and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of acclaimed anime films, including Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer (1984), Angel's Egg (1985), Patlabor 2: The Movie (1993), and Ghost in the Shell (1995). He also holds the distinction of directing the first ever OVA, Dallos (1983). As a writer, Oshii has worked as a screenwriter, and occasionally as a manga writer and novelist. His most notable works as a writer include the manga Kerberos Panzer Cop (1988–2000) and its feature film adaptation Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999). For his work, Oshii has received and been nominated for numerous awards, including the Palme d'Or and Leone d'Oro (Golden Lion). He has also attracted praise from many directors, including James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and The Wachowskis, especially for his work on Ghost in the Shell.
Bishin Jumonji (十文字 美信, Jūmonji Bishin) is a Japanese photographer known for advertising, portrait, and architectural…
Bishin Jumonji (十文字 美信, Jūmonji Bishin) is a Japanese photographer known for advertising, portrait, and architectural work. Jumonji was born in Yokohama on 4 March 1947. After studying at the Tokyo College of Photography he worked as an assistant to Kishin Shinoyama and went freelance in 1971, working as the photographer for advertisements for Matsushita Electric and Shiseido products. The association with Matsushita would later bring awards from the Art Directors Club every year from 1975 to 1979. Jumonji has continued to do editorial and commercial work (notably for Hayashibara Biochemical Laboratories). In 1972, with nine other photographers, he participated in an exhibition of portraits of Simon Yotsuya at the Kinokuniya Gallery in Shinjuku. Jumonji had started taking his "Untitled" series of portraits of people framed to exclude their heads in 1971. In 1972, these appeared in the magazine Camera Mainichi and were shown in the Neikrug gallery in New York; a year later they were included in "New Japanese Photography", at the New York MoMA. Up to 1980, Jumonji made nineteen trips to Hawaii, photographing the islands and photographing and interviewing elderly first-generation Japanese immigrants. The series juxtaposes photographs of Hawaiʻi and black-and-white portraits of the people living there. Installments were published in Camera Mainichi in 1979 and the set was exhibited in 1980, when it won the Ina Nobuo Award. It was published, as Orchid Boat, in 1981. Jumonji's second published collection was Kéntauros, a large-format booklet of black-and-white photographs of the members of the motorbike organization Kéntauros striking poses with switchblades and other props. In 1981, Jumonji went to Indochina to photograph the religious customs of the Yao people. In 1983–84 he visited Thailand, Burma and Laos. The result was published as Sumitōtta yami in 1987. Jumonji had started photographing gold works of art in 1981. The first exhibition of the results was in Matsuya department store (Ginza), in 1987. This work culminated in the book Ōgon fūtenjin, published in 1990. This won the Domon Ken Award the following year. Some of these works would also be shown in two of a set of four volumes of stereoscopes, all photographed by Jumonji and published in 1993–4. Jumonji started photographing architecture and gardens in 1988, and the Katsura Detached Palace in particular in 1991. Jumonji photographed Matsumoto Kōshirō IX for a collection of black-and-white portraits; in 2005 he published a second volume, Nippon Geki-gan, of monochrome portraits of actors taken with a large-format camera shortly before or after performance. In 1998, Jumonji started work on Wabi, his attempt to depict (in color) the Japanese aesthetic ideal of wabi. The project started with cha-no-yu but branched out into everyday scenes. Jumonji exhibited composite photographs of four Japanese waterfalls at the Shiseido Gallery (Ginza) in June and July 2004. Jumonji's photographs have appeared in Zoom and Stern.
Tomohiro Nishikado (西角 友宏, Nishikado Tomohiro; born March 31, 1944) is a Japanese video game designer and engineer. He…
Tomohiro Nishikado (西角 友宏, Nishikado Tomohiro; born March 31, 1944) is a Japanese video game designer and engineer. He is the creator of Taito's arcade video game Space Invaders, released in 1978, often credited as the first shoot 'em up and for beginning the golden age of arcade video games. Prior to Space Invaders, he also designed other earlier Taito arcade games, including the shooting electro-mechanical games Sky Fighter (1971) and Sky Fighter II, the sports video game TV Basketball in 1974, the vertical scrolling racing video game Speed Race (also known as Wheels) in 1974, the multi-directional shooter Western Gun (also known as Gun Fight) in 1975, and the first-person combat flight simulator Interceptor (1975).
Gunpei Yokoi (Japanese: 横井 軍平, Hepburn: Yokoi Gunpei; 10 September 1941 – 4 October 1997), sometimes transliterated as…
Gunpei Yokoi (Japanese: 横井 軍平, Hepburn: Yokoi Gunpei; 10 September 1941 – 4 October 1997), sometimes transliterated as Gumpei Yokoi, was a Japanese toy maker, video game designer, and producer. During his 31-year tenure at Nintendo, he served as general manager of Nintendo Research & Development 1 (R&D1) and designed several of the company's most prominent hardware products, including the Ultra Hand toy, the cross-shaped D-pad, the Game & Watch and Game Boy handheld systems, the R.O.B. accessory, and the Virtual Boy. As a producer and mentor to Shigeru Miyamoto, Yokoi oversaw major Nintendo franchises and titles including Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., Metroid, Kid Icarus, Fire Emblem, and Super Mario Land. His design philosophy of "Lateral Thinking with Withered Technology" (枯れた技術の水平思考, Kareta Gijutsu no Suihei Shikō)—finding novel, creative uses for mature, inexpensive hardware rather than relying on cutting-edge specifications—shaped Nintendo's hardware strategy for decades and informed its later Blue Ocean Strategy with the Nintendo DS and Wii.
Hisashi Nogami (野上恒, Nogami Hisashi; born 1971) is a Japanese video game designer, director, and producer at Nintendo.…
Hisashi Nogami (野上恒, Nogami Hisashi; born 1971) is a Japanese video game designer, director, and producer at Nintendo. He is best known for his involvement in the Animal Crossing and Splatoon franchises.
Motomu Toriyama (鳥山 求, Toriyama Motomu; born February 9, 1971) is a Japanese game director and scenario writer who has…
Motomu Toriyama (鳥山 求, Toriyama Motomu; born February 9, 1971) is a Japanese game director and scenario writer who has been working for Square Enix since 1994. He initially worked on cutscenes in Bahamut Lagoon and Final Fantasy VII before serving as one of the three directors on Final Fantasy X under Yoshinori Kitase where he was in charge of cutscenes, music, voice and motion capture. Toriyama started directing himself with Final Fantasy X-2 and has continued doing so with Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, Blood of Bahamut, Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Mobius Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis. Currently he is serving as deputy head of Square Enix's Creative Studio 2 and is working as co-director on the Final Fantasy VII Remake series.
Yuji Naka (中 裕司, Naka Yūji; born September 17, 1965), sometimes credited as YU2, is a Japanese former video game…
Yuji Naka (中 裕司, Naka Yūji; born September 17, 1965), sometimes credited as YU2, is a Japanese former video game designer and programmer. He is the co-creator of the Sonic the Hedgehog series and was the president of Sonic Team at Sega until his departure in 2006. Naka joined Sega in 1984 and worked on games including Girl's Garden (1985) and Phantasy Star II (1989). He was the lead programmer of the original Sonic games on the Mega Drive in the early 1990s, which greatly increased Sega's market share. After developing Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) in Japan, Naka moved to California to develop Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992), Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) and Sonic & Knuckles (1994) with Sega Technical Institute. Naka returned to Japan to lead development on Sonic Team games including Nights into Dreams (1996), Burning Rangers (1998), Sonic Adventure (1998) and Phantasy Star Online (2000). After Sega left the console market in 2001, Naka remained as an executive officer and oversaw its output for the next five years. In 2006, Naka left Sega and founded the independent game company Prope. He joined Square Enix to direct the platform game Balan Wonderworld (2021), which reunited him with the Sonic co-creator Naoto Ohshima. Naka said he was removed from the project six months before Balan Wonderworld was released, and it underperformed critically and commercially. He left Square Enix in April 2021. In 2023, Naka was found guilty of insider trading at Square Enix.
Hidetaka Suehiro (末弘 秀孝, Suehiro Hidetaka; born 14 April 1973), known as SWERY or Swery65, is a Japanese video game…
Hidetaka Suehiro (末弘 秀孝, Suehiro Hidetaka; born 14 April 1973), known as SWERY or Swery65, is a Japanese video game designer and writer. He was one of the founding members of the game development studio Access Games which is based in Osaka. His roles in the company included director, designer, and writer. His best-known work include the games Spy Fiction, Deadly Premonition, and D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die. He then left Access Games in 2016 and founded his own studio, White Owls Inc.
Hiroyuki Ito (伊藤 裕之, Itō Hiroyuki) is a Japanese game producer, director and designer who works for Square Enix. He is…
Hiroyuki Ito (伊藤 裕之, Itō Hiroyuki) is a Japanese game producer, director and designer who works for Square Enix. He is known as the director of Final Fantasy VI (1994), Final Fantasy IX (2000) and Final Fantasy XII (2006) and as the creator of the Active Time Battle (ATB) system in the Final Fantasy series.
Hideo Yoshizawa (吉沢 秀雄, Yoshizawa Hideo) born September 2, 1960, is a Japanese video game director, screenwriter, and…
Hideo Yoshizawa (吉沢 秀雄, Yoshizawa Hideo) born September 2, 1960, is a Japanese video game director, screenwriter, and producer, most famous for his work on the Ninja Gaiden and Klonoa series of video games. Prior to being employed by Namco, he worked for Tecmo and was involved in the original Ninja Gaiden trilogy for the Nintendo Entertainment System under the name "Sakurazaki". As of April 2016, Yoshizawa has left Bandai Namco Studios and is now working freelance. On January 10, 2017, Henshin announced that they had signed Yoshizawa on board for their then upcoming animated film adaptation of Klonoa as an executive producer. Yoshizawa is a professor at Tokyo Polytechnic University.