Aki Maita
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Aki Maita (真板亜紀) is a Japanese Bandai developer credited alongside Akihiro Yokoi with inventing the original Tamagotchi. She first envisioned the concept of a pocket-sized virtual pet toy from market research conducted as a 28 year old employee at Bandai in 1995.[1]. In the same year she collaborated with Akihiro Yokoi on the original proposal, after which her involvement continued throughout the development process.[2]
She has been refereed to as the mother of Tamagotchi and publicly credited by Bandai, but did not receive a promotion or raise following the product launch[3]. In 1997 she was awarded Ig Nobel Prize for economics (Akihiro Yokoi also received the award)[4]. This followed Bandai selling 13 million units by October 1997[5]
Aki Maita also served as the public face of the Tamagotchi brand following its release, being credited as its creator and featured in various promotional material and advertisements.[6][7] This continued until July 1997 when Akihiro Yokoi was also publicly credited for his role in the development by Bandai Chairman Makoto Yamashina.[8]
In 2018, it was revealed in a televised interview that Aki Maita had been employed as the manager for the Japanese celebrity actress and J-pop singer Ikue Sakakibara after 1997.[9]
References
- ↑ Tkalec, Maritta (1997-10-02). "Die junge Japanerin Aki Maita erfand das virtuelle Haustier, einen Dauerbrenner im globalen Kinderzimmer: Die Mutter der Tamagotchis". Berliner Zeitung. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
- ↑ 横井 昭裕 (2006). ふくろう社長の目のつけどころ : 好き勝手に生きたから成功したんだ。 (in 日本語). 経済界. ISBN 9784766783759.
- ↑ Tkalec, Maritta (1997-10-02). "Die junge Japanerin Aki Maita erfand das virtuelle Haustier, einen Dauerbrenner im globalen Kinderzimmer: Die Mutter der Tamagotchis". Berliner Zeitung. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
- ↑ "The 1997 Ig Nobel Prize Winners". Improbable Research. August 2006.
- ↑ Allison, Anne (2006-06-30). Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination. University of California Press. p. 292. ISBN 978-0-520-24565-5.
- ↑ 横井 昭裕 (1997-11-01). たまごっち誕生記―超ヒット商品はこうしてつくられた! (in 日本語). ベストセラーズ. pp. 10–13. ISBN 978-4584183120.
- ↑ "Just Another Day's Work". CNN. 1997-07-25. Retrieved 2022-04-19.
- ↑ 横井 昭裕 (1997-11-01). たまごっち誕生記―超ヒット商品はこうしてつくられた! (in 日本語). ベストセラーズ. pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-4584183120.
- ↑ "榊原郁恵、マネジャーがイグノーベル賞受賞者だった". デイリースポーツ- Daily Sports Online. 2018. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
External links
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