Nintendo's stockholder: "games are a waste"/ Bill S.978 to shutdown games online

[FamicomRetroGamer]

This isn't a prank or a joke in any way, it's what he said.

A Nintendo stockholder recently questioned the point of games, and we question why he even owns Nintendo stock.

"I'm concerned about the falling stock price," the stockholder said at Nintendo's meeting in Japan. "I own stock, but I don't own a single Nintendo product. I believe games are a waste of time."

If he doesn't like games, then why does he own Nintendo stock?

"By the way, the reason I own Nintendo stock is because the name is nice, it's in Kyoto and it was listed in the year of my birth," he continued.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata humored the man, explaining the appeal of games to him: "There are people in this world who don't feel that games are a waste of time, so Nintendo continues to exist. We'd like to eliminate the thinking that playing games by yourself is negative, or when there's a crime you immediately tie it into games. We'd like to raise the social importance of games. We're working to expand the gaming population, yourself included."

Source: http://www.qj.net/wii/news/nintendo-stockholder-games-are-a-waste.html

As a kid he must've liked to play with Barbie and Ken dolls.

He's definitely the douchebag of the day, and the douchebags of the month goes to Bill S.978 which will shutdown anything that infringes the copyright available in the internet (games, films, music, videos, series, you name it).

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hytigOSjJxc&feature=channel_video_titlep

[petik1]

This guy is probably old, has no clue what the internet is, or is just an asshole. Saying playing video games is useless is like saying playing board games, watching movies, or reading books is useless.

[manuel]

That happens a lot. Somebody has too much money, but still wants to increase it, so he buys stock from whatever company some consultant recommends to him.

[Jedi Master Baiter]

But games are a waste of time.

Think of all the kanji you could learn instead.

[manuel]

I learned a LOT of kanji and still am playing games. I'm a multitasking wonder... not... 

[nintendodork]

This guy is probably old

He can't be that old if the Nintendo stock was listed in his birth year. I don't know when that is, but I would assume it was after the 70s.

If games are a waste of time, so is everything else we do for leisure.

[senseiman]

It is possible that the guy is a "soukaiya", which is a kind of Japanese extortionist (usually with ties to the yakuza) who targets shareholders meetings at large firms.  Their numbers have been on the decline for quite a few years, but the basic idea (a silly one) was that stock prices in Japan could be affected by shareholder meeting length.  The longer the meeting the larger the drop in price (because traditionally in Japan a smooth running company would have a quick meeting, while a longer one with more questions indicated problems).  So these Soukaiya will buy one or two shares in a company, then threaten to show up at the meeting and ask stupid questions or attack management for the purpose of lengthening the meeting (unless the company pays them some hush money). 

It is also possible that the guy is simply an idiot or nutcase.

[manuel]

You can't buy just one or 2 shares. The minimum is 100 shares. Although... for Yakuza even 100 shares (around 18.000$ now) would probably be pocket change.
Must be a disguised Sony fan trying to lower Nintendo's stock price. 

[RegalSin]

WhY ThE HeLL ArE wE TAlKiNg AbOut sToCKs?

[senseiman]

You can't buy just one or 2 shares. The minimum is 100 shares. Although... for Yakuza even 100 shares (around 18.000$ now) would probably be pocket change.
Must be a disguised Sony fan trying to lower Nintendo's stock price. 

Really?  Getting a bit off topic here, but I just checked the Companies Act and art. 314 does not stipulate a minimum number of shares for a shareholder to demand explanations from management at the meeting. 

Anyway, either way, probably a Sokaiya.

[manuel]

I have no clue about law and anything, but I once toyed with the idea of buying Nintendo stock (just to frame it an put it on the wall   ), but I read in the explanation that you can only buy shares in bundles of 100.
Of course if it were possible to buy 1 share you could say something at the stockholders' meeting.

Here:
http://www.nikkei.com/markets/company/index.aspx?scode=7974

売買単位 100株

[senseiman]

I have no clue about law and anything, but I once toyed with the idea of buying Nintendo stock (just to frame it an put it on the wall   ), but I read in the explanation that you can only buy shares in bundles of 100.
Of course if it were possible to buy 1 share you could say something at the stockholders' meeting.

Here:
http://www.nikkei.com/markets/company/index.aspx?scode=7974

売買単位 100株

LOL, that makes sense!  A share of Nintendo stock would be an interesting souvenir, though I wonder if they actually issue physical shares to their shareholders anymore!

[manuel]

Probably not.
But in the past at least there were share certificates and they looked cool as hell. 

[fredJ]

So if you buy Nintendo stock you would have to buy for circa $20,000 ? Are you sure? That seems absurd.

[manuel]

No, I'm very sure. If you buy today you have to buy stock for 1.500.000 JPY (about 18600 USD).
I think with this limitation they want to keep their stock from being split up too much.
And let's face reality, for rich people 20.000 $ are peanuts.