Coordinates	48°29′″N135°04′″N
Company name	Nintendo Co., Ltd.
Company logo
Company type	PublicOsaka SE: 7974
Foundation	September 23, 1981
Location	Original office Kyoto, Japan International offices:Redmond, Washington, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Großostheim, Germany Scoresby, Victoria, AustraliaSuzhou, PRC (as iQue, Ltd.)Seoul, South Korea Taiwan, ROC (via Nintendo Co., Ltd. and Haku Yu) Windsor, Berkshire, UKSao Paulo, Brazil
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Satoru Iwata: President and CEOReggie Fils-Aime: President and COO of NOAShigeru Miyamoto: Game DesignerConrad Abbott: President of NOCRose Lappin: Managing Director of Nintendo AustraliaGunpei Yokoi (deceased): Creator of Game Boy, ''Game & Watch'' and ''Metroid'' video game series Hiroshi Yamauchi: Former President and ChairmanMinoru Arakawa: Former head of NOASatoru Shibata: President of NOE Satoshi Tajiri: Creator of the Pokémon franchise
Num employees	4,712 (2011)
Industry	Card games (previously)Video games
Products	Game Boy line, Color TV Game, NES, SNES, Virtual Boy, Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and various video games
Revenue	¥1 trillion (2011)
Operating income	¥171 billion (2011)
Net income	¥77.6 billion (2011)
Assets	¥1.6 trillion (2011)
Equity	¥1.2 trillion (2011)
Homepage	Nintendo JapanNintendo of AmericaNintendo of Canada (English)Nintendo of EuropeNintendo AustraliaNintendo TaiwanNintendo of Korea }}

is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel.

Nintendo developed into a video game company, becoming one of the most influential in the industry, and Japan's third most valuable listed company, with a market value of over US$85 billion. Also, Nintendo of America is the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners Major League Baseball team.

The name ''Nintendo'' can be roughly translated from Japanese to English as "leave luck to heaven". As of October 18, 2010, Nintendo has sold over 565 million hardware units and 3.4 billion software units.

History

As a card company (1889–1956)

Nintendo was founded as a card company in late 1889, originally named ''Nintendo Koppai''. Based in Kyoto, Japan, the business produced and marketed a playing card game called Hanafuda. The handmade cards soon became popular, and Yamauchi hired assistants to mass produce cards to satisfy demand. Nintendo continues to manufacture playing cards in Japan and organizes its own contract bridge tournament called the "Nintendo Cup".

New ventures (1956–1974)

In 1956, Hiroshi Yamauchi (grandson of Fusajiro Yamauchi) visited the U.S. to talk with the United States Playing Card Company, the dominant playing card manufacturer there. He found that the world's biggest company in his business was only using a small office. This was a turning point when Yamauchi realized the limitations of the playing card business. He then gained access to Disney's characters and put them on the playing cards to drive sales.

In 1963, Yamauchi renamed Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd. to Nintendo Co., Ltd. The company then began to experiment in other areas of business using newly injected capital. During this period of time between 1963 and 1968, Nintendo set up a taxi company, a love hotel chain, a TV network, a food company (selling instant rice, similar to instant noodles) and several other things. All of these ventures eventually failed, and after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, playing card sales dropped, and Nintendo's stock price plummeted to ¥60.

In 1966, Nintendo moved into the Japanese toy industry with the Ultra Hand, an extendable arm developed by its maintenance engineer Gunpei Yokoi in his free time. Yokoi was moved from maintenance to the new "Nintendo Games" department as a product developer. Nintendo continued to produce popular toys, including the Ultra Machine, Love Tester and the ''Kousenjuu'' series of light gun games. Despite some successful products, Nintendo struggled to meet the fast development and manufacturing turnaround required in the toy market, and fell behind the well-established companies such as Bandai and Tomy.

In 1973, its focus shifted to family entertainment venues with the Laser Clay Shooting System, using the same light gun technology used in Nintendo's ''Kousenjuu'' series of toys, and set up in abandoned bowling alleys. Following some success, Nintendo developed several more light gun machines for the emerging arcade scene. While the Laser Clay Shooting System ranges had to be shut down following excessive costs, Nintendo had found a new market.

Electronic era (since 1974)

Nintendo's first venture into the video-gaming industry was securing rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey video game console in Japan in 1974. Nintendo began to produce its own hardware in 1977, with the Color TV Game home video game consoles. Four versions of these consoles were produced, each including variations of a single game (for example, Color TV Game 6 featured six versions of ''Light Tennis'').

A student product developer named Shigeru Miyamoto was hired by Nintendo at this time. He worked for Yokoi, and one of his first tasks was to design the casing for several of the Color TV Game consoles. Miyamoto went on to create, direct and produce some of Nintendo's most famous video games and become one of the most recognizable figures in the video game industry.

In 1975, Nintendo moved into the video arcade game industry with ''EVR Race'', designed by their first game designer, Genyo Takeda, and several more titles followed. Nintendo had some small success with this venture, but the release of ''Donkey Kong'' in 1981, designed by Miyamoto, changed Nintendo's fortunes dramatically. The success of the game and many licensing opportunities (such as ports on the Atari 2600, Intellivision and ColecoVision) gave Nintendo a huge boost in profit.

In 1980, Nintendo launched ''Game & Watch''—a handheld video game series developed by Yokoi where each game was played on a separate device—to worldwide success. In 1983, Nintendo launched the Family Computer (commonly shortened "Famicom"), known outside Japan as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), home video game console in Japan, alongside ports of its most popular arcade titles. In 1985, the NES launched in North America, and was accompanied by ''Super Mario Bros.'', currently one of the best-selling video games of all time.

In 1989, Yokoi developed the Game Boy handheld game console.

The Nintendo Entertainment System was superseded by the Super Famicom, known outside Japan as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). This was Nintendo's console of the 16-bit generation, following the Famicom of the 8-bit generation, whose main rival was the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. A fierce console war between Sega and Nintendo ensued. The SNES eventually sold 49.10 million consoles, around 20 million more than the Mega Drive/Genesis.

During the dominance of the Game Boy line, its creator, Yokoi, designed the Virtual Boy, a table-mounted semi-portable console featuring stereoscopic graphics. Users view games through a binocular eyepiece and control games using a gamepad. Rushed to market in 1995 to compensate for development delays with the upcoming Nintendo 64, the Virtual Boy was a commercial failure due to poor third-party support and a large price point. Amid the systems's failure, Yokoi was asked to leave Nintendo.

The company's next home console, the Nintendo 64, was released in 1996 and features 3D graphics capabilities and built-in multiplayer for up to four players. The system's controller introduced the analog stick. Nintendo later introduced the Rumble Pak, an accessory for the Nintendo 64 controller that produced force feedback with compatible games. It was the first such device to come to market for home console gaming and eventually became an industry standard.

The Nintendo GameCube followed in 2001 and was the first Nintendo console to utilize optical disc storage instead of cartridges. The most recent home console, the Wii, uses motion sensing controllers and has on-board online functionality used for services such as Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and Internet Channel (in contrast to GameCube's limited functionality on select games with an additional modem accessory). The Wii's success, as well as the success of the DS, introduced an expansion of audience to broader and non-traditional demographics, a business model with which Nintendo has had success. Contrarily, the new business model has also resulted in some long-time gamers abandoning the Nintendo console for its competitors.

Nintendo unveiled their newest home console, the Wii U, on June 7, 2011 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Handheld console history

After the successful ''Game & Watch'', the handheld development continued with the Game Boy, the Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Color, with the latter two differing in fairly minor aspects. The Game Boy, the best-selling handheld and third best-selling console of all time, continued for more than a decade until the release of the Game Boy Advance, featuring improved technical specifications similar to those of the SNES. The Game Boy Advance SP, a frontlit (backlit in later editions), flip-screen version, introduced a rechargeable, built-in battery, which ended the need for AA batteries in previous consoles. The Game Boy Micro was released in 2005, after the Nintendo DS's release, but did not sell as well as its predecessors.

The Nintendo DS replaced the Game Boy line sometime after its initial release in 2004, originally advertised as an alternative to the Game Boy Advance. It was distinctive because it had two screens and a microphone, in a clamshell design continuing on from the Game Boy Advance SP.

The Nintendo DS Lite, a remake of the DS, improved several features of the original model, including the battery life and screen brightness. It was designed to be sleeker, more beautiful, and more aesthetically pleasing than the original, in order to appeal to a broader audience. On November 1, 2008, Nintendo released, in Japan, the Nintendo DSi, an improved version featuring larger screens, improved sound quality, an AAC music player and two cameras—one on the outside and one facing the user. It was released in North America, Europe, and Australia at the start of April, 2009. The successor of the DSi, with an expanded screen, is the Nintendo DSi XL, which was released on November 21, 2009 in Japan and the first half of 2010 in other regions.

The successor to the Nintendo DS line, the Nintendo 3DS, uses the process of autostereoscopy to produce a stereoscopic three-dimensional effect and was released in Japan on February 26, 2011, launched in Europe on March 25, 2011 and North America on March 27, 2011. The console got off to a slow start, initially missing many key features that were promised before the system launched. Between the lack of features and many missing first-party games from Nintendo, the 3DS has not sold on par with Nintendo's expectations.

Infrastructure

Key Executives

Satoru Iwata, President and Representative Director

Yoshihiro Mori, Senior Managing Director, General Manager of Corporate Analysis & Administration Division, and Representative Director

Shinji Hatano, Senior Managing Director, General Manager of Licensing Division, and Representative Director

Masaharu Matsumoto, Managing Director

Shigeru Miyamoto, Senior Managing Director and Representative Director

Offices and locations

Nintendo Co., Ltd. (NCL) is based in Minami-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan (). Its pre-2000 office, now its research and development building, is located in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan (). Its original Kyoto headquarters can still be found at ().

Nintendo of America, Incorporated (NOA), its U.S. division, is based in Redmond, Washington. It has distribution centers in Atlanta, Georgia (Nintendo Atlanta) and North Bend, Washington (Nintendo North Bend).

Nintendo of Canada, Ltd. (NOCL) is based in Vancouver, BC, with its distribution center in Toronto, Ontario.

Nintendo Australia Pty Ltd (NAL) is based in Melbourne, Victoria. It handles the distribution, sales and marketing of Nintendo products in Australia and New Zealand. It also manufactures some of the Wii games locally.

Nintendo of Europe (NOE) is based in Großostheim (established in 1990), close to Frankfurt, Germany.

Nintendo UK is based in Windsor, Berkshire.

iQue, Ltd., a Chinese joint venture between its founder, Doctor Wei Yen, and Nintendo, manufactures and distributes official Nintendo consoles and games for the mainland Chinese market, under the iQue brand.

Nintendo also established Nintendo of Korea (NoK) on July 7, 2006.

Software development studios

First-party studios

EAD Comprehensive Group –''Super Mario 64 DS'', '' Star Fox 64 3D'',

EAD Group 1 – ''Mario Kart'' series, ''Nintendogs'' series, ''Luigi's Mansion'',

EAD Group 2 – ''Animal Crossing'' series, Wii-branded games

EAD Group 3 – ''The Legend of Zelda'' series

EAD Group 4 – ''Pikmin'' series, ''New Super Mario Bros.'', ''Big Brain Academy''

EAD Group 5 – ''Wii Fit'', ''Steel Diver'' with Vitei

EAD Tokyo – ''Donkey Kong Jungle Beat'', ''Super Mario Galaxy''

Nintendo SPD – ''WarioWare'' series, ''Friend Collection'', ''Rhythm Heaven'' series, ''Metroid: Other M'' with Team Ninja

Nintendo NSD – ''Personal Trainer: Walking'',

Nintendo SDD – ''Brain Age'' series

Nintendo Software Technology - ''Mario vs. Donkey Kong'', ''Crosswords DS'', ''Metroid Prime Hunters'' Monolith Soft – ''Disaster: Day of Crisis'', ''Xenoblade'' Retro Studios – ''Metroid Prime'' series, ''Donkey Kong Country Returns''

Brownie Brown – ''Mother 3'', ''A Kappa's Trail''

Intelligent Systems – ''Paper Mario'' series with Nintendo, ''Fire Emblem'' series, ''Advance Wars'' series, ''WarioWare'' series

Project Sora – ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'', ''Kid Icarus Uprising''

Nd Cube – ''Wii Party''

HAL Laboratory – ''Kirby'' series, ''Mother'' series, ''Super Smash Bros'' series,

Second-party studios

Since the 1980s, Nintendo has built up a large group of second-party partners, through publishing agreements or collaboration.

AlphaDream – ''Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time'', ''Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story''

Ambrella – ''Pokémon Dash'', ''Pokémon Rumble'', ''Pokémon Channel'', ''My Pokémon Ranch'',

Arika - ''Endless Ocean'' series

Creatures Inc. – ''EarthBound (Mother)'' series

Camelot Software Planning – ''Golden Sun'' series, ''Mario Power Tennis''

Eighting - ''Kuru Kuru Kururin'' series

Game Freak - ''Pokémon''

Genius Sonority – ''Pokémon Colosseum'', ''Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness'', ''Pokémon Battle Revolution''

Good-Feel – ''Wario Land Shake It'', ''Kirby's Epic Yarn'' with HAL Laboratory

Grezzo - ''The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D''

Monster Games – ''Excitebike'' series, ''Pilotwings Resort''

n-Space, Inc. - ''Geist''

Next Level Games – ''Super Mario Strikers'', ''Punch-Out!! (Wii)'', ''Luigi's Mansion 2''

Noise – ''Custom Robo'' series

Paon – ''Donkey Kong Barrel Blast'', ''DK Jungle Climber'', ''DK King of Swing''

Suzak - ''Wario: Master of Disguise'', ''F-Zero: Climax'', ''F-zero: GP Legend''

Tose - ''The Legendary Starfy'' series, ''Game & Watch Gallery'' series, Super Princess Peach

Skip Ltd. – ''Chibi-Robo!'' series

Vitei - ''Steel Diver'' with EAD Group 5

Treasure - ''Sin & Punishment'', ''Sin & Punishment: Star Successor''

Former affiliates

Rare - ''Donkey Kong Country'', ''GoldenEye 007'', ''Star Fox Adventures'', ''Diddy Kong Racing''

:Sold to Microsoft Game Studios in 2002.

Cing – ''Hotel Dusk: Room 215'', ''Another Code: Two Memories''

:Filed for bankruptcy in 2010.

Silicon Knights – ''Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem''

:Publishing contract with Nintendo ended in 2004.

Factor 5

:Closed in 2009.

Left Field Productions – ''Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside'' series

:Bought out Nintendo's stake in the company in 2002.

Marigul Management

:Closed in 2003.

St.GIGA - Games for the Satellaview

:Stopped making games for Nintendo when the Satellaview was discontinued. Eventually, they went out of business.

==Policy==

Emulation

Nintendo, particularly ''Nintendo of America'', is known for a "no tolerance" stance for emulation of its video games and consoles, stating that it is the single largest threat to the intellectual rights of video game developers. Nintendo claims that copyright-like rights in mask works protect its games from the exceptions that United States copyright law otherwise provides for personal backup copies. Nintendo uses the claim that emulators running on personal computers have no use other than to play pirated video games, though a use that doesn't involve intellectual property in this way is seen in the development and testing of independently produced "homebrew" software on Nintendo's platforms. It is also claimed that Nintendo's claims contradict copyright laws, mainly that ROM image copiers are illegal (they are legal if used to dump unprotected ROM images on to a user's computer for personal use, per (a)(1) and foreign counterparts) and that emulators are illegal (if they do not use copyrighted BIOS, or use other methods to run the game, they are legal; see Console emulator for further information about the legality of emulators). This stance is largely apocryphal, however; Nintendo remains the only modern console manufacturer that has not sued an emulator manufacturer.

Emulators have been used by Nintendo and licensed third party companies as a means to re-release older games (e.g. Virtual Console).

===Content guidelines=== For many years, Nintendo had a policy of strict content guidelines for video games published on its consoles. Although Nintendo of Japan allowed graphic violence in its video games, nudity and sexuality were strictly prohibited. Former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi believed that if the company allowed the licensing of pornographic games, the company's image would be forever tarnished. Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe went further in that games released for Nintendo consoles could not feature nudity, sexuality, profanity (including racism, sexism or slurs), blood, graphic or domestic violence, drugs, political messages or religious symbols (with the exception of widely unpracticed religions, such as the Greek Pantheon). The Japanese parent company was concerned that it may be viewed as a "Japanese Invasion" if it introduced adult content to North American and European children. U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman praised this zero tolerance policy, but others criticized the policy, claiming that gamers should be allowed to choose the content they want to see. Despite the strict guidelines, some exceptions have occurred: ''Bionic Commando'' (though swastikas were eliminated in the US version), ''Smash TV'' and ''Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode'' contained human violence, the latter also containing implied sexuality and tobacco use; ''River City Ransom'' and ''Taboo: The Sixth Sense'' contained nudity, and the latter also contained religious images, as did ''Castlevania II'' and ''III''.

A known side effect of this policy was the Sega Genesis version of ''Mortal Kombat'' selling over double the number of the Super NES version, mainly because Nintendo had forced publisher Acclaim to recolor the red blood to look like white sweat and replace some of the more gory graphics in its release of the game, making it non-violent. By contrast, Sega allowed blood and gore to remain in the Genesis version (though a code was required to unlock the gore). Nintendo allowed the Super NES version of ''Mortal Kombat II'' to ship uncensored the following year with a content warning on the packaging.

In 1994 and 2003, when the ESRB and PEGI (respectively) video game ratings systems were introduced, Nintendo chose to abolish most of these policies in favor of consumers making their own choices about the content of the games they played. Today, changes to the content of games are done primarily by the game's developer or, occasionally, at the request of Nintendo. The only clear-set rule is that ESRB AO-rated games will not be licensed on Nintendo consoles in North America, a practice which is also enforced by Sony and Microsoft, its two greatest competitors in the present market. Nintendo has since allowed several mature-content games to be published on its consoles, including: ''Perfect Dark'', ''Conker's Bad Fur Day'', ''Doom'' and ''Doom 64'', ''BMX XXX'', the ''Resident Evil'' series, ''killer7'', ''Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem'', ''BloodRayne'', ''Geist'' and ''Dementium: The Ward''. Certain games have continued to be modified, however. For example, Konami was forced to remove all references to cigarettes in the 2000 Game Boy Color game ''Metal Gear Solid'' (although the previous NES version of ''Metal Gear'' and the subsequent Gamecube game ''Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes'' both included such references, as did Wii title ''MadWorld''), and maiming and blood were removed from the Nintendo 64 port of ''Cruis'n USA''. Another example is in the Game Boy Advance game ''Mega Man Zero 3'', in which one of the bosses, called Hellbat Schilt in the Japanese and European releases, was renamed Devilbat Schilt in North America. localization. In North America releases of the ''Mega Man Zero'' games, enemies and bosses killed with a saber attack would not gush blood as they did in the Japanese versions. However, the release of the Wii has been accompanied by a number of even more controversial mature titles, such as ''Manhunt 2'', ''No More Heroes'', ''The House of the Dead: Overkill'' and ''MadWorld'', the latter three of which are published exclusively for the console. The Nintendo DS also has violent games, such as ''Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars'', ''Dementium: The Ward'', ''Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3'' and ''Resident Evil: Deadly Silence''.

License guidelines

Nintendo of America also had guidelines before 1993 that had to be followed by its licensees to make games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, in addition to the above content guidelines:. Guidelines were enforced through the 10NES lockout chip.

Licensees were not permitted to release the same game for a competing console until two years had passed.

Nintendo would decide how many cartridges would be supplied to the licensee.

Nintendo would decide how much space would be dedicated for articles, advertising, etc. in the ''Nintendo Power'' magazine.

There was a minimum number of cartridges that had to be ordered by the licensee from Nintendo.

There was a yearly limit of five games that a licensee may produce for a Nintendo console. This rule was created to prevent market over-saturation, which caused the North American video game crash of 1983.

The last rule was circumvented in a number of ways; for example, Konami, wanting to produce more games for Nintendo's consoles, formed Ultra Games and later Palcom to produce more games as a technically different publisher. This disadvantaged smaller or emerging companies, as they could not afford to start additional companies. In another side effect, Square Co. (now Square Enix) executives have suggested that the price of publishing games on the Nintendo 64 along with the degree of censorship and control that Nintendo enforced over its games, most notably ''Final Fantasy VI'', were factors in switching its focus towards Sony's PlayStation console.

Seal of Quality

The gold starburst seal was first used by Nintendo of America, and later Nintendo of Europe. It is displayed on any game, system, or accessory licensed for use on one of its video game consoles, denoting the game has been properly licensed by Nintendo.

NTSC regions

In NTSC regions, this seal is an elliptical starburst titled "Official Nintendo Seal". Originally, for NTSC countries, the seal was a large, black and gold circular starburst. The seal read as follows: "This seal is your assurance that NINTENDO has approved and guaranteed the quality of this product." This seal was later altered in 1988: "approved and guaranteed" was changed to "evaluated and approved". In 1989, the seal became gold and white, as it currently appears, with a shortened phrase, "Official Nintendo Seal of Quality". It was changed in 2003 to read "Official Nintendo Seal".

PAL regions

In PAL regions, the seal is a circular starburst titled, "Original Nintendo Seal of Quality". Text near the seal in the Australian Wii manual states:

This seal is your assuranace that Nintendo has reviewed this product and that it has met our standards for excellence in workmanship, reliability and entertainment value. Always look for this seal when buying games and accessories to ensure complete compatibility with your Nintendo product.

Environmental record

Greenpeace's October 2010 "Guide to Greener Electronics" report ranks Nintendo last on a list of electronics manufacturers, with the same score (1.8 out of 10) as in the previous version of the guide (May 2010). The report cites increasing carbon dioxide emissions (failed to be reduced per target) and a lack of waste management. Limited praise focuses on satisfactory energy efficiency of the DSi's AC adapter, the reduction of PVC usage in wiring (and new chemical regulations) and the disclosure of carbon dioxide emissions.

In the January 2010 version of the ranking, Nintendo scored 1.4 points, at which, three days later, Nintendo issued a response that addressed primary concerns, highlighting a policy to indicate the materials used in each product, which makes end-of-life recycling of products easier.

See also

History of video games

History of Nintendo

''Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. v. Nintendo of America, Inc.''

List of divisions of Nintendo

List of Nintendo characters

Nintendo development teams

List of Nintendo games

List of video games published by Nintendo

Multinational corporation

Nintendo World Store

Nintendo DS

Player's Choice

''Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd.''

Video games censored by Nintendo of America

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

(country selector)

Nintendo Software Development Support Group

Nintendo Australia

''Nintendo Power''

''Official Nintendo Magazine'' (UK)

NinDB

The History of ''Nintendo'' at Jap-Sai.com

Nintendo in Depth Archive by ''The Daily Telegraph''

Category:Playing card manufacturers Category:Companies established in 1889 Category:Companies of Japan Category:Companies based in Kyoto Prefecture Category:Companies based in Washington (state) Category:Companies based in Redmond, Washington Category:Video game companies of Japan Category:Video game publishers Category:Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences members Category:Video game developers Category:Entertainment Software Association Category:Seattle Mariners owners Category:Toy companies of Japan Category:1889 establishments in Japan

als:Nintendo ar:نينتندو zh-min-nan:Nintendo bar:Nintendo bs:Nintendo br:Nintendo ca:Nintendo cs:Nintendo da:Nintendo de:Nintendo el:Nintendo es:Nintendo eo:Nintendo eu:Nintendo fa:نینتندو fr:Nintendo gl:Nintendo ko:닌텐도 hr:Nintendo id:Nintendo is:Nintendo it:Nintendo he:נינטנדו ka:Nintendo lo:ນິນເທັນໂດ la:Nintendo lv:Nintendo lb:Nintendo lt:Nintendo jbo:nintendos hu:Nintendo ms:Nintendo nl:Nintendo ja:任天堂 no:Nintendo nn:Nintendo oc:Nintendo pl:Nintendo pt:Nintendo ro:Nintendo ru:Nintendo sq:Nintendo simple:Nintendo sk:Nintendo sl:Nintendo sr:Nintendo sh:Nintendo fi:Nintendo sv:Nintendo tl:Nintendo th:นินเทนโด tr:Nintendo uk:Nintendo vi:Nintendo yi:נינטענדא zh-yue:任天堂 zh:任天堂

A centenarian is a person who is or lives beyond the age of 100 years. Because current average life expectancies across the world are less than 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. Much rarer, a supercentenarian is a person who has lived to the age of 110 or more, something only achieved by about one in a thousand centenarians. Even rarer is a person who has lived to 115 years old; only 1 in 50,000 centenarians make it to this age.

Current incidence

The United States currently has the greatest number of centenarians in the world, estimated at 70,490 on September 1, 2010. This statistic is partly a result of America's large population in 1890–1910, its large farm population a century ago, and its increased emphasis on long-term care facilities.

Japan has the second largest number of centenarians, with 44,449 reported as of September 2010. Japan started its surveys in 1963, at which time the number of Japanese centenarians was found to be 153. This number surpassed the 10,000 mark in 1998; 20,000 in 2003 and 40,000 in 2009. According to a UN Demographic survey, by 2050 Japan is expected to have 272,000 centenarians. However, some sources suggest that the number could be closer to 1 million. Many experts attribute Japan's high life expectancy to the Japanese diet, which is particularly low in refined simple carbohydrates, and to hygienic practices. In addition, the number of centenarians in relation to the total population was, in September 2010, 114% higher in Shimane Prefecture than the ratio for the whole of Japan. This ratio was also 92% higher in Okinawa Prefecture. Okinawa Prefecture used to have the highest percentage of centenarians in Japan. Early estimates were possibly exaggerated, but the corrected ratio was still 139% higher than the average for Japan in September 2006. In addition to diet, there are four other factors that have been found to increase the life expectancy for Okinawans, as noted later in the "research into centenarians" section of this article.

The incidence of centenarians in Japan was 1 per 3,522 people in 2008 (but much higher in Okinawa, at 1 per 1,838 people in 2006), and 1 per 4,400 in the United States.

However, the number of Japanese centenarians was called into question in 2010 following a series of reports showing that hundreds of thousands of elderly people had gone "missing" in the country. The deaths of many centenarians had not been reported, casting doubt on the reliability of not only the Japanese statistics, but also the country's reputation for having a large population of centenarians.

Traditions

In many countries, people receive a gift or congratulations on their 100th birthday. In the United States, centenarians traditionally receive a letter from the president, congratulating them for their longevity. NBC's ''The Today Show'' show has also named new centenarians on air since 1983. In the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Realms, the Queen sends greetings (formerly as a telegram) on the 100th birthday and on every birthday starting with the 105th. Centenarians born in Ireland receive a €2,540 "Centenarians' Bounty" and a letter from the President of Ireland, even if they are resident abroad. Japanese centenarians receive a silver cup and a certificate from the Prime Minister of Japan upon their 100th birthday, honouring them for their longevity and prosperity in their lives. Swedish centenarians receive a telegram from the King and Queen of Sweden. Centenarians born in Italy receive a letter from the President of Italy.

An aspect of blessing in many cultures is to offer a wish that the recipient lives to 100. Among Hindus, people who touch the feet of elders are often blessed with "May you live a hundred years". In Sweden, the traditional birthday song states, ''May he/she live for one hundred years.'' In Judaism, the term ''May you live to be 120 years old'' is used for blessing someone. In Poland, ''Sto lat'', a wish to live a hundred years, is a traditional form of praise and good wishes, and the song "sto lat, sto lat" is sang on the occasion of the birthday celebrations--arguably, it is the most popular song in Poland and among Poles around the globe. Chinese emperors were hailed to live ten thousand years, while empresses were hailed to live a thousand years. In Italy, "A hundred of these days!" (''cento di questi giorni'') is an augury for birthdays, to live to celebrate 100 more birthdays. Some Italians say "Cent'anni!", which means "a hundred years", in that they wish that they could all live happily for a hundred years. In Greece, wishing someone Happy Birthday ends with the expression ''na ta ekatostisis'', which can be loosely translated as "may you make it one hundred birthdays".

In Japan, September 15 is "National Respect for the Aged Day".

Centenarians in ancient times

While the density of centenarians per capita was much less in ancient times than today, the data suggest that reaching the age of 100 was not unheard of. However, ancient demographics are biased in favor of wealthy or powerful individuals rather than the ordinary person. Grmek and Gourevitch speculate that during the Classical Greek Period, anyone who made it past the age of five years — surviving all the common childhood illness of that day — had a reasonable chance of living to a ripe old age. Life expectancy at 400 B.C. was estimated to be around 30 years of age. One demographer of ancient civilizations reported that Greek men lived to 45 years (based on a sample size of 91), while women lived to 36.2 years (based on a sample size of 55). Curiously, the gender statistics are inverted compared to today, since child-birth was a much more traumatic experience at that time than now, and it certainly skewed female statistics downward. It was common for average citizens to take great care in their hygiene (sanitation), Mediterranean diet (fish, figs, olive oil, wine, etc.), and exercise program (sports/gymnasium), although there was much more male trauma per capita than today, due to military service being virtually universal for citizens. This also biased the statistics for men downward.

Diogenes Laertius (c. 250) gives one of the earliest references regarding (''plausible'' centenarian) longevity given by a scientist, the astronomer Hipparchus of Nicea (c. 185 – c. 120 B.C.), who, according to the doxographer, ''assured'' that the philosopher Democritus of Abdera (c. 470/460 – c. 370/360 B.C.) lived 109 years. All other accounts about Democritus given by the ancients appear to agree on the fact that the philosopher lived over 100 years. Such longevity would not be dramatically out of line with that of other ancient Greek philosophers thought to have lived beyond the age of 90 (e.g.: Xenophanes of Colophon, c. 570/565 – c. 475/470 B.C.; Pyrrho of Ellis, c. 360 - c. 270 B.C.; Eratosthenes of Cirene c. 285 – c. 190 B.C., etc.). The case of Democritus differs from the case of, for example, Epimenides of Crete (7th, 6th centuries B.C.), who is said to have lived an implausible 154, 157 or 290 years, depending on the source.

The sixth dynasty Egyptian ruler Pepi II is believed by some Egyptologists to have lived to the age of 100 or more (c. 2278 BC - c. 2184 BC), as he ruled for 94 years. However this is under dispute, as others claim the length of his reign was actually 64 years.

The Indian Sufi poet, Kabir (1398-1518?) is believed by some to have lived to an unnatural age of 120 while others believe that he lived for no more than 80 years.

Ultimately, there is no reason to believe that centenarians did not exist 2500 years ago, even if they were not commonplace.

Hosius of Córdoba, the man who convinced Constantine the Great to call the First Council of Nicaea, reportedly lived to age 102.

The ''Chronicon'' of Bernold of Constance records the death in 1097 of ''Azzo marchio de Longobardia, pater Welfonis ducis de Baiowaria'', commenting that he was ''iam maior centenario''.

Conchobar Mac Con Rí of Galway, Ireland, (died 1580), is said to have ''"died at the extraordinary age of two hundred and twenty years"''.

Research into centenarians

Research carried out in Italy suggests that healthy centenarians have high levels of vitamin A and vitamin E and that this seems to be important in guaranteeing their extreme longevity. Other research contradicts this, however, and has found that these findings do not apply to centenarians from Sardinia, for whom other factors probably play a more important role. A preliminary study carried out in Poland showed that, in comparison with young healthy female adults, centenarians living in Upper Silesia had significantly higher red blood cell glutathione reductase and catalase activities and higher, although insignificantly, serum levels of vitamin E. Researchers in Denmark have also found that centenarians exhibit a high activity of glutathione reductase in red blood cells. In this study, those centenarians having the best cognitive and physical functional capacity tended to have the highest activity of this enzyme.

Other research has found that people having parents who became centenarians have an increased number of naïve B cells. It is well known that the children of parents who have a long life are also likely to reach a healthy age, but it is not known why, although the inherited genes are probably important. A variation in the gene FOXO3A is known to have a positive effect on the life expectancy of humans, and is found much more often in people living to 100 and beyond - moreover, this appears to be true worldwide.

Men and women who are 100 or older tend to have something else in common, an extroverted personality, says Thomas T. Perls, M.D., M.P.H., the director of the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University. Centenarians will often have many friends, strong ties to relatives and a healthy dose of self-esteem.

Some research suggests that centenarian offspring are more likely to age in better cardiovascular health than their peers.

In John W. Santrock's book "A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development", there are five factors that research has suggested that are most important to longevity in centenarians: 1) heredity and family history 2) health, i.e. weight, diet, whether or not a person smokes, amount of exercise 3) education level 4) personality 5) lifestyle.

Santrock's book also noted that the largest group of centenarians are women who have never been married. Also, people who have been through traumatic life events, such as Holocaust survivors, learn to cope better with stress and poverty and are more likely to reach centenarian status.

In Okinawa, Japan, studies have shown five factors that have contributed to the large number of centenarians in that region: # A diet that is heavy on grains, fish, and vegetables and light on meat, eggs, and dairy products. # Low-stress lifestyles, which are proven significantly less stressful than that of the mainland inhabitants of Japan. # A caring community, where older adults are not isolated and are taken better care of. # High levels of activity, where locals work until an older age than the average age in other countries, and more emphasis on activities like walking and gardening to keep active. # Spirituality, where a sense of purpose comes from involvement in spiritual matters and prayer eases the mind of stress and problems.

Although these factors vary from those mentioned in the previous study, the culture of Okinawa has proven these factors to be important in its large population of centenarians.

Numbers of centenarians

The total number of centenarians in the world is not well known. It has been estimated by the Population Division of the United Nations as 23,000 in 1950, 110,000 in 1990, 150,000 in 1995, 209,000 in 2000 and 324,000 in 2005. There were an estimated 455,000 centenarians in the world in 2009. But these estimates do not take into account the recent downward adjustments of national estimates made by several countries, such as the United States.

{|class="wikitable" |- !Country !! Latest number of centenarians (year) !! Earliest number of centenarians (year) |- |Australia|| 3,700 (30 June 2010) || 203 (30 June 1971) |- |Belgium|| 1,559 (1 January 2010) || 546 (1990) |- |Brazil|| 23,760 (17 September 2010) || 13.865 (1991) |- |Canada|| 6,530 (1 July 2010) || 3,125 (2001) |- |China || 17,800 (2007) || - |- |Czech Republic || 404 (Nov.2006) || - |- |UK || 11,600 (2009) || 102 (1911) |- |France|| 16,791 (1 January 2011) || 7,754 (1 January 1999) |- |Germany||8,839 (2006)||232 (1885) |- |Italy || 6,313 (2001) || - |- |Japan || 44,449 (September 2010) || 155 (1960) |- |Netherlands|| 1,743 (2010) || 10 (1900) |- |Peru|| 1,682 (7 February 2011) || - |- |Poland|| 2,414 (25 July 2009)|| 500 (1970) |- |South Korea|| 961 (2005) || - |- |Spain || 5,891 (1 January 2009)|| - |- |Switzerland || 796 (2000)|| 10 (1860) |- |USA|| 70,490 (September 2010)|| 2,300 (1950) |}

Centenarian controversy in Japan

In July 2010, a centenarian listed as the oldest living male in Tokyo, registered to be at age of 111, was found to have died some 30 years ago. The body was found mummified in its bed, resulting in the launching of a police investigation regarding centenarians who are over 105.

Soon after the discovery, the Japan police further found that at least 200 Japanese centenarians are missing, with the total likely to rise amid a nationwide search that began in early August 2010. In one case, the remains of a mother thought to be 104 had been stuffed into her son's backpack for nearly a decade.

There are growing concerns that Japan's welfare system can be exploited by unscrupulous family members keen to continue receiving benefits after the pensioners die. In one case, a man received around 9.5 million yen in pension payments despite his wife having died six years previously.

See also

Lists of centenarians

New England Centenarian Study

Okinawa Centenarian Study

Oldest people

Queensland Community Care Network for the 100+ Club

Research into centenarians

References

Further reading

External links

The Okinawa Centenarian Study

New England Centenarian Study

Living to 100 and Beyond: Search for Predictors of Exceptional Human Longevity

Mortality of Centenarians

U.S. politicians who lived the longest

Noted Nonagenarians and Centenarians

Centenarian research & celebration

Table of numbers of centenarians for select nations, 1960 and 1990

Centenarians’ Road

*Centenarians

es:Centenario (persona) eo:Centjarulo fa:افراد صدساله fr:Centenaire ko:백세인 it:Centenario pl:Stulatek ru:Знаменитые долгожители simple:Centenarian zh:人瑞