Japanese game designer who created Pokémon, the highest-grossing media franchise in the world. He grew up in the suburbs of Tokyo. As a child he was obsessed with collecting insects, but urban development quickly swallowed nearby fields and ponds. He hoped Pokémon would allow children to explore and collect creatures in a digital world, even as the natural one disappeared. The first Pokémon video games were released in Japan in February 1996.
Snacktrek, n.: The peculiar habit, when searching for a snack, of constantly returning to the refrigerator in hopes that something new will have materialized.