Who came up with Tamagotchi?
Who is the mother of Tamagotchi you ask? Why only brilliant Aki Maita!
Aki Maita is 31 years old. She joined the toy kingdom of Bandai in 1990, and is now in charge of the business development and marketing department.
Aki said she had always loved to keep pets. That's why she designed Tamagotchi - a virtual pet that can be brought to anywhere with you.
In the process of designing Tamagotchi, Aki made trips to the crowded shopping areas of Tokyo many times and conducted street questionnaire surveys. She also read all the high school girl magazines trying to learn what the young girls are thinking. - Well, all her work obviously paid off!
However, Aki's own Tamagotchi seldom lives longer than its baby stage. This poor mother! -- Courtesy of Apple Daily
This brilliant woman is the reason why Bandai is selling us this wonderful toy! If I ever could find her home address or email I'd write to thank this woman!
Also in the March 1998 issue of the English magazine "Loaded", there is a full page interview with Aki Maita, the "inventor" of the Tamagotchi.
Tamagotchi is now available in 30 countries now! There are nearly 400 licensed products associated with Tamagotchi!
Aki believes that the longest she has kept a Tamagotchi alive was 31 years, (thereby contradicting Bandai’s official figure), but states that "it's a confidential matter how long they can actually stay alive for".
She states that DigiMon is "more specifically aimed at boys" because "boys like to fight", and that "Tamagotchi was aimed at everyone, but maybe more girls liked it". I personally think this is very sexist, but that's just my feelings on it. She does back up her assertion about girls preferring Tamagotchi by saying that BanDai market research shows that about 60% of Tamagotchi sales were to girls. Not that much of a landslide though.
Here, www.pathfinder.com put up an article about her. This article is a sort of interview with Aki Maita. I recreated it on my server, in case pathfinder decides to take it down.
That's pretty much all the information I have regarding Aki Maita and her thoughts on Tamagotchi. I do hope to find more information about this brilliant lady. She has a definite fan right here! :)
Last updated: February 25th, 1998
Tamagotchi and all related characters are registered trademarks of Bandai America.
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