Recently in Tokyo, the mainstream Japanese media attended an exhibit about the history of video games and had no clue it was talking to one of the most well-known people in, well, gaming. D’oh!
Instead of stating “Shuhei Yoshida President of Sony’s Worldwide Studios for Sony Computer Entertainment,” television program Mezamashi TV introduced him simply as a “50-something year-old man” (５０代男性 or 50-dai dansei) and asked him about Space Invaders even though he was there to promote PlayStation VR.
The incident was spotted by Japanese Twitter user ATUSIBOX.
In a country where positions and job titles are so important, the show seemed blissfully unaware of who Yoshida was.
Nowhere does it mention that this is Shuhei Yoshida, one of the most important game execs in Japan. Heh.
[Image: ATUSIBOX]
If the program had known it was talking to such a high-level Sony exec, it most certainly would’ve made note of such, instead of only labeling him a “50-something year-old man.”
[Image: ATUSIBOX]
This “50-something year-old man” is now remembering when he was younger.
[Image: ATUSIBOX]
The characters 真剣 (shinken) mean “serious” or “earnest.” Dude’s playing Space Invaders, whaddaya expect?
Via Twitter, Yoshida said that he was playing the retro game when the show asked him some questions. The Sony exec seems to have a good sense of humor about the whole thing, changing his Twitter profile to read “50-something year-old man” and include a still from the show of him playing Space Invaders.
Later, he added that he’s totally fine being an old dude gamer that plays Space Invaders.
[Image: Some 50-Something Year-Old Guy]
To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter@Brian_Ashcraft.
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.