Minoru Arakawa

From Freepedia

Minoru Arakawa (荒川 實, b. September 3, 1946) was the president of Nintendo of America (NOA) from 1980 to 2002.

Born in Kyoto, Japan, he attended Kyoto University and MIT. In 1972, he was hired by Japanese conglomerate Marubeni as part of their international staff, with the responsibility of helping to develop hotels, offices and condominums overseas. He became the son-in-law of Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi due to his marriage to Yoko Yamauchi, and thus came to establish Nintendo of America in New York City in 1980, and became its first president.

Starting in 1985, he and Howard Lincoln were instrumental in rebuilding the video game industry (after the crash of 1983) with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Arakawa also hired Howard Philips, who would be invaluable to the creation of Nintendo Power magazine.

In 2002, after 22 years at the helm of NOA, Arakawa retired. Tatsumi Kimishima, former chief financial officer of Nintendo's Pokémon subsidiary, stepped up to take his place.