Born in Iwate, 1958. Af ter graduat ing f rom Okayama Universi ty of Science, the Facul ty of Engineer ing, the Department of Electrical Engineering, entered SEGA Enterprises (now SEGA Corp.). Two years later, introduced the world&rsquo's first sensory arcade game, HANG-ON. Has created several popular games such as the 3-D CG fighting game, VIRTUA FIGHTER (1993), and a family game, SHENMUE (1999). At present, the Creative Officer and the chief of the AM Plus R&D Division for the SEGA Corp.