Nintendo has appointed Japanese designer Kazuhiko Hachiya to its board of directors. You might not know him by name, but Hachiya is known for his ambitious products, like a flying machine inspired by the works of Miyazaki and his own take on a real version of the hoverboard from the movie Back to the Future.
Hachiya created the “OpenSky” project that led to the creation of a motor glider based on the Mowe plane from the Miyazaki anime Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Hachiya succeeded in creating a glider version of the aircraft and a jet-powered version. Take a look at the plane for yourself in the video below.
Before building his Miyazaki-inspired plane, Hachiya made wearable devices that would allow the wearers to see through each other’s eyes. He also made an “AirBoard,” which was billed as a real-life version of the hoverboard from Back to the Future.
Nintendo did not specifically cite any one reason for its pursuit of Hachiya to join Nintendo’s board of directors, but clearly, the man has passion and ambition.
Prior to his work on experimental airplanes and hovercraft, Hachiya joined Spazio Institute for Advanced Thinking Inc. in 1989, before becoming a top boss at doll company PetWorks Co., a position he still holds today. In addition to being a director at PetWorks, Hachiya is currently a professor of fine arts at Tokyo University of the Arts and the Director of the Art Media Center at Tokyo University of the Arts.
Hachiya is also known for developing the email app PostPet. This software attempts to make corporate emailing more fun by having a little creature–a dancing pink bear named Momo is one of them–who lives in your computer personally deliver emails.
Nintendo will vote on whether or not to confirm Hachiya’s appointment to the board during the company’s Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on June 27, 2025.
This will happen not long after Nintendo releases the Switch 2 on June 5. It’s expected to be popular, but tariffs and other economic concerns might impact sales and availability, Nintendo has warned.
