Masahiro Sakurai Remembers Satoru Iwata In Weekly Column

A few days after the funeral of former Nintendo Co Ltd CEO and President Satoru Iwata, longtime colleague and friend Masahiro Sakurai shares his memories of the man on his column for Japanese gaming magazine Weekly Famitsu.

Iwata interviewed Sakurai when he first applied for a job at HAL Laboratory, and Sakurai alluded to the shifting roles the two held during the many years they worked together. He remembers Iwata as his best boss, and someone who understood him more than anyone else.

Sakurai’s last memory of being with Iwata was last January, and he does remember Iwata being healthy, in contrast with much speculation that Iwata’s health continuously deteriorated. They had dinner at a hotel in Tokyo, and then he drove Iwata to Narita International Airport so he could go to a Seattle business trip. Iwata mused that he was healthy enough to eat so much meat, and they laughed and talked about many things.

Sakurai described Iwata in five ways, which we will share unexpurgated below. What are your memories of Satoru Iwata? Please do not hesitate to share with us in the comments.

Image is of the young Iwata and Sakurai, with then fellow HAL Laboratory employees Seki and Kaneda, in a press photo for MSX translation/word processor program HalNote, from 1987.

He was a man of virtue. Where a normal person would get annoyed or angry, he would never show such emotions and would instead analyze, organize, and offer ideas. He was someone who could bow his head and apologize for things that weren’t his fault. I often worried about his stress levels, but he always talked with a smile.

He had a brilliant mind. Even when people would talk at length or without focus he was able to quickly say, “so, what you’re trying to say is…” and quickly summarize their point. He was able to see to the heart of people and things and was a master of simplifying them so that anyone could understand their point. He could immediately make a call on changes to improve. I have no doubt that many people were saved by this quality.

He was a man of effort. Even though he didn’t start out in the managing field, he read numerous management books, he would ask for advice from the necessary people that he would take to heart, and managed to become the president of Nintendo. What he gained from his years as a programmer allowed him to take many long-term projects to successful fruition.

He was open and generous. Things like his Iwata Asks, and Nintendo Direct weren’t things that necessarily required the president of Nintendo to stand at the front and do. There was always the risk of frivolous criticism. And yet, by being the spokesperson, I believe he showed the importance of properly conveying a message to his audience.

He was empathetic. After he became the president of Nintendo, he would write emails to all employees to communicate and as hard as it was, took a stance to try to treat everyone as equals. He would often ask third parties to see how people were doing. As an individual, he had no self-righteous qualities.