Inspiring people with Autism (3): Satoshi Tajiri

A large part of my childhood has been spent watching a trainee Pokemon Master named Ash Ketchum and his friends travel around the world with their Pokemon buddies in the animated depiction of Pokemon (short for Pocket Monsters, or Poketto Monsuta). Our interest not only revolved around watching the series but also through playing the Pokemon Nintendo game. This is the reason why the third installment of my “Inspiring people with Autism’ posts is about Pokemon creator Satoshi Tajiri who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome.

It has been said that Satoshi Tajiri spent most of his childhood capturing insects and bugs. He studied and analysed these creatures, and once dreamt of being an entymologist. It comes to no surprise that he was nicknamed ‘Dr. Bug’ by his peers. He then combined this interest in capturing insects with his love for anime and video games, and started creating Pokemon games for Nintendo. The first Pokemon Game was released in 1996 and it has been a success from then on. Over 200 million copies of the various different games has been sold world-wide, making the Pokemon franchise the second most successful and highest earning video game-based franchise in the world- second only to the SuperMario franchise.

More on Autism:

Vote for Miss Montana, Alexis Wineman

What does Autism mean?

What is PDD-NOS?

Communication difficulties in Autism

Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper: Asperger’s Syndrome’s Poster Boy?

Still unsure if Sheldon has Asperger’s?

The Autistic Me: A BBC Documentary

BBC4’s Growing Children: Autism

Study Shows People with Autism Can Spot Inappropriate Behaviour but ffind it difficult to Verbally Explain Them

Autism in the classroom:

Guide to parents of students with ASD on coping with the first day back to school