Shigesato Itoi reflects on his friendship with Satoru Iwata

After the devastating news of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata’s passing, Shigesato Itoi has updated his daily blog, Today’s Darling, with a post reflecting on his intimate friendship with Iwata. Iwata often stopped by Itoi’s Tokyo office when he was in town, and has appeared many times in interviews on the Hobonichi website, which he helped launch back in 1998. Hobonichi staff have compiled a list of some of the feature interviews they’ve had in the past. The interviews are only in Japanese, but you can find the list here.

The list does, however, include a 11-page interview with Iwata from 2007 that was translated into English, entitled “Mr. Iwata came to our office, and we had a nice talk over supper.”

My unofficial translation of Itoi’s message from today’s blog is below.

When I’m parting with a friend, regardless of the circumstances, I find it best to just say, “See you later.” We’ll meet again. After all, we’re friends.

That’s right—nothing unusual about it. I’ll see you later.

You went on a trip far, far away, even though it was planned for many years from now. You wore your best outfit and said “Sorry for the short notice,” though you didn’t say it out loud.

You always put yourself last, after you’d finished helping everyone else. You were so generous as a friend that this trip might be your very first selfish act.

I still can’t grasp what’s happened. It feels like I could still get a light-hearted e-mail asking me out to lunch at any moment—after you’ve made sure lunch wouldn’t disrupt my schedule, of course.

You can invite me out whenever you want. I’ll invite you, too.

So for now, let’s plan on meeting again. You can call me up whenever you like, and I’ll give you a call, too. I still have a lot to talk to you about, and if I come up with any particularly good ideas, I’ll let you know.

So let’s meet again.
No–I suppose we’re already meeting. Right here, right now.