Early Years
The Japanese government had banned all foreign playing cards and games in 1633, trying to deter illegal gambling. For the next 250 years the government continued doing the same thing with every new card game that appeared. A couple of years after, the government accepted a new card game “Hanafuda”, which used illustrations instead of numbers. Even though it was something new, the constant banning of these games had taken a toll on the public, reducing the games´ popularity, until a young entrepreneur Fusajiro Yamauchi came up with a new approach to save this game and increase its popularity. His new approach was to use hand crafted artwork instead of general illustrations. This was something totally new for the Japanese culture and significantly increased the games popularity.
Read more about this topic: Fusajiro Yamauchi
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or years:
“I looked at my daughters, and my boyhood picture, and appreciated the gift of parenthood, at that moment, more than any other gift I have ever been given. For what person, except one’s own children, would want so deeply and sincerely to have shared your childhood? Who else would think your insignificant and petty life so precious in the living, so rich in its expressiveness, that it would be worth partaking of what you were, to understand what you are?”
—Gerald Early (20th century)
“The cloud was so dark that it needed all the bright lights that could be turned upon it. But for four years there was a contagion of nobility in the land, and the best blood North and South poured itself out a libation to propitiate the deities of Truth and Justice. The great sin of slavery was washed out, but at what a cost!”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)