How well regarded is Shigeru Miyamoto nationally in Japan?

[SinCityAssassin]

The aspect of game industry idolatry is lacking in Japan, and has been the case for decades. Nintendo figures, including Miyamoto himself, have noted this contrast between Japan and the West when it came to notoriety. If you're not trying to be known, you won't be.

 

[Superking]

miyamoto is a big name within the industry obviously, but outside of it?

i don't think ANYONE who is works in video games is well known outside of it, either in the U.S. or Japan.

 

[FF Seraphim]

And anime.

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Dude anime is stupid popular over here depending on which one you are talking about.
Dragon Ball, Demon Slayer, JoJo, One Piece, people love those.

 

[lexony]

Well just the US is nearly 3x bigger than japan population wise so 3x twitter followers, plus including at least Canada and Uk as English speaking followers would make it pretty equal or even higher ratio for his Japanese acct.

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Plus including everyone else in the world who dosen't speaks Japanese and wants to follow him. It's not like he has a twitter account for every language in the world.

 

[tolkir]

Japan: "Who the fuck is this guy that is touring Super Nintendo World?"

 

[Spine Crawler]

miyamoto is a big name within the industry obviously, but outside of it?

i don't think ANYONE who is works in video games is well known outside of it, either in the U.S. or Japan.

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this isnt true. Video Games are a very big industry and relevant to popculture. It is true that videogame companies do not market their talent as much as the film industry does, so game directors are less exposed compared to film directors but some of them are well known to a wider audience, whatever the definition for that is (id argue that 100 million - which is the installbase of a successful console - is a wide audience).

 

[Scruffy8642]

I feel like most people wouldn't know who Stan Lee is either though, and if they do it's probably only in the last 5-10 years due to Marvel movies, not his actual work on comics prior. Disney's a special case because that's the company name lol. At the end of the day these big people in industries will only be known by those with a strong interest in the media type they create for.

 

[iswasdoes]

Walt Disney is the name of the company and Stan Lee's name was on the cover. Miyamoto's name will only be seen if you follow the gaming news or make a point of getting to the end of the credits

 

[Valkerion]

Gaming companies here don't have the same "this guy is the leader/creator of x character and franchise" like anime or manga creators do. It's a bit sad but comes with the territory. The companies might be better known, but the faces in them are pretty much unknown. It's probably why there is such a personal disconnect between them and fans this side of the world. There are definitely some known names and so on that might get a reaction but I can't think of any that would get a household name kind of reaction outside of avid gamers.

It's changing, slowly as things do here. Looking at the number of names we can finally put faces to in the last 10 years of Japanese game companies says a lot. Not to mention the change from people using pseudonyms to their real names even further back -capcom-

There is a pretty fun clip where Hideo Kojima goes on a Japanese tv show and absolutely no one knows who the f he is and are surprised to see videos of international fans going nuts for the guy. It's pretty much like that for any Japanese gaming creator you know. Except for maybe the creator of Pokemon.

There is also been a big gaming push on TV here in Japan the last year or so. It's mostly celebs playing stuff like minecraft or fortnite or w/e, but there are occasional company interviews and what not. But like I said they are company interviews, not lead creator ones.

 

[Harry Potter Obama]

Good luck going anywhere in the world where a game developer is publicly recognized. Creators in general aren't usually that famous. Some famous directors and authors like Tarantino or J.K. Rowling are, but they're the exception that makes the rule.

 

[Doctor_Thomas]

Shigeru Miyamoto presents...

A Shigeru Miyamoto Game

Super Mario Universe

Written by Shigeru Miyamoto
Produced by Shigeru Miyamoto

Directed by Shigeru Miyamoto

 

[super-famicom]

next you'll be telling me there are no statues of Tetsuya Mizuguchi :(

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Fun fact: Mizuguchi was my wife's professor in some media class she took in university over a decade ago. She knew about his involvement with Genki Rockets but didn't know about the video game stuff until I told her.

 

[unicornKnight]

Japan's Prime Minister dressed as Mario to represent Japan at the end of the Brazil Olympics. I'm sure the creator of Mario is reasonably famous in his homeland.

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You will be surprised but most people have no idea who the creator of a famous icon is. Anyway the point of the thread is people living there or knowing people their to share their insight.

 

[Superking]

this isnt true. Video Games are a very big industry and relevant to popculture. It is true that videogame companies do not market their talent as much as the film industry does, so game directors are less exposed compared to film directors but some of them are well known to a wider audience, whatever the definition for that is (id argue that 100 million - which is the installbase of a successful console - is a wide audience).

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yes, video games are prominent and well known. the people involved in making them however, are not.

 

[Urfe]

I'd say Shigesato Itoi would be most famous game related person, but most people wouldn't know he made a video game series.

Miyazaki is a household name.

 

[Timppis]

I guess most people don't know who is Esa-Pekka Salonen, even though he is world famous in his field and well recognized inside the circle of people that are interested in it.

Shigeru Miyamoto is the same.

 

[klier]

He doesn't really get mobbed like a celebrity would over in the states. I saw Shigeru Miyamoto at a conbini one time. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn't want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, "Oh, like you're doing now?"

I was taken aback, and all I could say was "Huh?" but he kept cutting me off and going "huh? huh? huh?" and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen strawberry cheesecake Kit Kats in his hands without paying.

The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like "Sir, you need to pay for those first." At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.

When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually "to prevent any electrical infetterence," and then turned around and winked at me. I don't even think that's a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.

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What in the actual fuck, LMAO

 

[Patitoloco]

What in the actual fuck, LMAO

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I can't believe there's still people that don't know this copypasta lol

 

[SPRidley]

Miyamoto has made some pretty high key public appearances. Off the top of my head, The Apple conference where they introduced Mario Run, the subsequent appearance on Jimmy Fallon, he once made an appearance on Conan. I think he is probably the most famous/well known game developer. Whether thats true among the general public I can only guess.

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He also won the Principe de Asturias de humanidades y comunicaciones award and the French knighthood on letters and arts (similar honorable awards in both countries).

Its not as famous as normal famous people, but he is not an unkown as some people in this thread are selling.
Like you dont need to go in depth to explain to people who he is, they understand super fast when you tell them "is the creator of mario", "basically the walt disney of videogames" even if that last one is a little bit of an exageration it gets the point across to any casual player or even people who do not normally play videogames.

Theres a ton of people i know that wouldnt know george lucas by name, but just saying "the creator of star wars" know who he is and why he is famous. Theres a ton of famous people like that.

 

[nacimento]

Probably not. But I also dont believe you can compare Stan Lee with Walter Disney. I dont think most people I know heard of Stan Lee, and I probably wouldn't have either if not for Era and Epic Rap Battles of History.

 

[Magneto]

Japan's Prime Minister dressed as Mario to represent Japan at the end of the Brazil Olympics. I'm sure the creator of Mario is reasonably famous in his homeland.

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Lol he's not.

 

[Kcannon]

Isn't japan culture very different in that creators rarely become celebrities?

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Obviously not. Manga artists, film directors and musicians are easily celebrities over there.

 

[Timbuktu]

He'd be a good ambassador for the industry, going by the New Yorker profile; but he's not Hayao Miyazaki, he didn't build up his own studio and put himself at the forefront. I don't think there is a figure like that in gaming to be honest.

 

[NSESN]

Obviously not. Manga artists, film directors and musicians are easily celebrities over there.

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But manga creators rarely show their faces and sometimes even use fake names

 

[Siggy-P]

Every single person in Japan is a hardcore Nintendo gamer and Manga reader and knows every creator off by heart. All 127 million of them. Fact.

 

[Homura]

I wouldn't be surprised if Koyoharu Gotouge is more known than Miyamoto in Japan.

 

[werezompire]

Since a few people have mentioned him, I can't imagine that Kojima is even remotely as well known as Miyamoto, except maybe among hardcore MGS fans (and if you're hardcore enough of a MGS fan to know Kojima's name, you probably are into videogames enough that you also know who Miyamoto is).

 

[Deleted member 431]

Only enthusiast and hardcore gamers around the world knows who is Shigeru Miyamoto.
It's videogames, not music, movies or books. Videogames are still not at the same level of cultural impact.

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What do we mean cultural impact? In terms of dollar value, video games are bigger than all of those. He's just not widely known because he's more behind the scenes in production.

 

[Kabukimurder]

He's the Bob Saget of Japan.

 

[klier]

I can't believe there's still people that don't know this copypasta lol

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Like, how the hell would I know? It sounded very real somehow.

SORRY MR MIYAMOTO SAN for questioning your sanity.

 

[StrangeRoboMemory]

It's not like he's so incredibly famous in the West. My parents wouldn't know he is.

 

[oliverandm]

People that aren't involved with comics don't know about Stan Lee, and they certainly don't know Jack Kirby.

I don't think people care much for the people behind products, unless their Steve Jobs or Walt Disney, and they're reputation is based in a romanticized notion of their work e.g. Steve Jobs or Elon Musk.

I suspect he is about as popular as you would expect.

 

[Combo]

Does this have anything to do with the nail that sticks out must be hammered in? I.e. less glorification of individual talent?

 

[Combo]

What in the actual fuck, LMAO

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"I Saw Flying Lotus in a Grocery Store..." Copypasta

“I Saw Flying Lotus at a Grocery Store…” refers to a popular copypasta in which the poster tells a story of a famous person acting like a jerk in a grocery store. The subject of the copypasta is usually a very well-liked celebrity, thus pranking people into thinking someone they really like is...

knowyourmeme.com

Miyamoto is unlikely to steal Kit Kats.

 

[klier]

Miyamoto is unlikely to steal Kit Kats.

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I read that in a Worf voice, and it worked so well.

 

[Deleted member 8468]

I've got a lot of love and respect for Miyamoto, but I don't know that too many folks outside gaming interests know who he is in the states either. I shared that New Yorker article last month with a few non-gaming friends and they'd never heard of him, only Mario and Nintendo.

 

[Starlatine]

He also won the Principe de Asturias de humanidades y comunicaciones award and the French knighthood on letters and arts (similar honorable awards in both countries).

Its not as famous as normal famous people, but he is not an unkown as some people in this thread are selling.
Like you dont need to go in depth to explain to people who he is, they understand super fast when you tell them "is the creator of mario", "basically the walt disney of videogames" even if that last one is a little bit of an exageration it gets the point across to any casual player or even people who do not normally play videogames.

Theres a ton of people i know that wouldnt know george lucas by name, but just saying "the creator of star wars" know who he is and why he is famous. Theres a ton of famous people like that.

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People dont know these awards either so its pointless that he won them
He is very unknown, Mario (and Nintendo) isnt. theres a clear difference between creator and creation. if its required to explain beforehand that he is the creator, then duh.

George R. R. Martin could walk around in the streets and buy lemonade on kids stands without being bothered despite everyone and their mother watching Game of Thrones not that long ago. If i need to tell people "hey, that's George R. R. Martin" "so what?" "he wrote game of thrones" then he is not that famous, his art is.

 

[Rare Opiums]

Miyamoto has made some pretty high key public appearances. Off the top of my head, The Apple conference where they introduced Mario Run, the subsequent appearance on Jimmy Fallon, he once made an appearance on Conan. I think he is probably the most famous/well known game developer. Whether thats true among the general public I can only guess.

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Those events was held/broadcasted in the US

 

[MrNewVegas]

I'm an expert in Japanese culture and let me tell you, Miyamoto has his own national holiday in Japan. May 6 in Japan is known as Constitutional Mario Day.

 

[datschge]

I feel like most people wouldn't know who Stan Lee is either though

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That's me. Had to look the name up and shrugged. The american comic writers I care about are named Keno Don Rosa and Carl Barks, and I'm not going to kid myself that anybody outside of very specific circles has heard of them either.

 

[Coi]

What do we mean cultural impact? In terms of dollar value, video games are bigger than all of those. He's just not widely known because he's more behind the scenes in production.

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I said cultural impact, not commercial impact.

 

[blame space]

what about deep impact

 

[codeKnighter]

"Principe de Asturias" awards have a nationwide recognizement in Spain but are awarded and celebrated on my relatively small hometown in northern Spain.

Purely anecdotal, but given how popular he was with the younger generations, and how much attention his nomination was garnering, they decided to organize one special event with him on stage on the local theater, a couple of days prior to the award. I was able to get one invitation and the streets/theatre were full packed of people, which surprised me quite a bit as I didn't expect my hometown of all places to be so full of Miyamoto fans as it seemed. For one day it was all full of people dressing as Mario, Link, and the like.

Then one year later I had to move to Japan for a year, and no one of my japanese friend knew who he was, even among gamers. In fact of my group of local friends I think I was the one most interested on non-mobile gaming by far, which was quite the clash for the 25 year old me and the ideas of Japan I brought with me back then.

 

[Deleted member 431]

I said cultural impact, not commercial impact.

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how do you measure "cultural" impact then?

 

[Hilarious_Bearious]

Most of my Japanese friends did not know who Miyamoto was when I asked (yes, I was that cringeworthy weeb who asked all their Japanese friends about games and Anime). They seemed to know more about people who make Dragon Quest. All of them could sing the NGE intro, which I loved.

My sample is limited to "Japanese people born in the 80s who attended University in Australia in the 2000s". Not exactly a robust sample population.

 

[Saicho]

From my experiences in Japan and japanese friends I truly believe Yuji Horii is lightyears more famous than Miyamoto.

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I can believe that.

People that aren't involved with comics don't know about Stan Lee, and they certainly don't know Jack Kirby.

I don't think people care much for the people behind products, unless their Steve Jobs or Walt Disney, and their reputation is mostly supported by a romanticized idea of their lives.

I suspect he is about as popular as you would expect.

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I have to google him which proves your point.

 

[styl_oh]

as god intended, only cool rockstars are famous*

*idol groups

 

[tadaima]

To people saying the average person in Japan doesn't know who Miyamoto is, I don't think that is true.

Recently I was able to connect with him indirectly through a friend and I told about this experience to many people, including people of different age ranges and backgrounds who do not play video games.

Although many took a moment, people quickly understood who I was talking about and made the connection.

Video game fans knew who he was from the video of him more or less instantly.

Of course he is not as well known as other creators, but that is the case with most video game creators when compared with their counterparts in other mediums everywhere.

I would say he is roughly as well known in Japan as he is anywhere else in the world.

 

[pakbeka]

Isn't Yuji Horii more well known in Japan?