Satoshi Taijiri

🇯🇵 Satoshi Taijiri

🐛 From Bug Collector to Pokémon Creator

Born in Tokyo, Satoshi Tajiri turned his childhood passion for catching insects into the Game Freak fanzine—and then a game studio. With mentor Shigeru Miyamoto, he spent six years refining the idea of trading creatures via the Game Boy link cable, until Pocket Monsters launched in 1996.

Today, Pokémon is the world’s highest-grossing media franchise: 480+ million games sold and a brand value over $100 billion. Pokémon Scarlet & Violet (24M+ units) and Pokémon GO keep the brand on top, even though the reclusive Tajiri rarely appears in public.

💡 Fun fact: In Japan, the protagonist is named “Satoshi” and his rival “Shigeru”—a nod to Tajiri and his Nintendo mentor, Shigeru Miyamoto.

👉 Lesson learned: A strong personal childhood passion can become the source of a universal concept. Tajiri turned his love of collecting insects into the worldwide desire: “Gotta catch ’em all!”