Why did the 82-year-old Japanese woman recognized as the "world's oldest application developer" advanced to the way of application development?

A Japanese woman, Masako Wakamiya, got a lot of attention among Apple's World Wide Conference "WWDC 2017" held in July 2017. Wakamiya is known for developing an iOS game "hinadan" using Apple's development language "Swift" while being aged 82 years old. From Apple 's CEO Tim Cook is called' the world 's oldest app developer', and how Wakamiya who gets high acclaim, such as saying "You are very encouraging to us" It has been revealed whether it has advanced to the way of application development.

82-Year-Old Japanese Woman Finds Success in Coding
https://www.aarp.org/work/working-at-50-plus/info-2018/worlds-oldest-app-developer-fd.html

Wakamiya who was born in 1935 entered the Mitsubishi Bank (present · Mitsubishi UFJ Bank) at the age of 18 and since that time has been working until retirement at the age of 60. After retiring from retirement, I was absorbed in the world of computer while doing nursing care of my mother who was older at that time, 90 years old. The reason I got a computer is that it is "to connect with the outside world". We repeatedly interacted with many people through personal computer communications and the Internet, and nowMellow ClubParticipating in a community that came to be called, deepened the connection with the wider world than before.


And in the fall of 2016, Mr. Wakamiya started developing iPhone application. "Not only for young people but also games that can be enjoyed by elderly people" was developed by "hinadan" game which assembles "Hina stages" which is a traditional culture transmitted to Japan from the old days in the screen of the iPhone. This game optimized the size of letters for elderly people, and it is said that all operations are tap-only UI design so that people who are not good at swiping will not be perplexed. In addition, various ingenuity is included, such as to display on the screen according to the sound effect so that the person who is far away can understand the progress of the game well.

"Hinadan" on the App Store
https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/hinadan/id1199778491


Wakamiya himself said "It is a decorative app that can be enjoyed by Hi-Sinia made by Obaba past 80," hinadan was released in February 2017 and got a great deal of attention. In December 2017 the English version was released in addition to the previous Japanese version, and in March 2018 the Simplified Chinese version was also released. More than 50,000 downloads have been done from the whole world, and the rating has marked 4.7 points within the full score of 5 points.


In the evaluation of the English version of hinadan it is about to uncover the exceptional score of "5 points". I am planning to release the French version in the future.


For Mr. Wakamiya, it is said that app development is a sign of feeling not to be defeated by "aging". "As old people get older, the feelings will go down" "By bringing such old people to start new things, new pleasures are born and motivation happens, I really like that feeling and I want to share with everyone I think I am thinking, "Mr. Wakamiya started developing the application as one of" new things ".

Wakamiya consulted with Katsushiro Koizumi, president of Tesselakt Co., Ltd. "I would like the elderly to win the young games," he thought of thinking "It is not fun to lose when playing games with young people." Then, Mr. Koizumi said that he was to learn programming himself and develop applications by himself at the trigger that it was told that "It will be a topic if Mr. Wakamiya makes it though it will not be a topic even if I make it" is. Mr. Koizumi received support from Ms. Wakamiya and supported ideas workshops with elderly people. Among them, the idea of ​​"hinadan" was derived.

"I want a game that can win the youth", the reason why 82 year old application developers are paying attention to the world | Nikkei xTECH (CrossTech)
http://tech.nikkeibp.co.jp/it/atcl/column/17/110800498/110900001/?ST=spleaf

Wakamiya first bought five to six reference books for programming and started studying. When something unfamiliar comes out, I asked Ms. Koizumi through Skype and video calling and taught me and I made hinadan over half a year. The hinadan completed in this way was first released on the Japanese App Store, which became a topic in the world. As an elderly developer who rarely sees the world, Apple introduced Wakamiya as "the world's oldest application developer" in the keynote address of WWDC 2017. In addition, Mr. Wakamiya was invited to the venue with the "Scholarship Program" which exempts the participation fee of WWDC which is normally 1,500 dollars (about 170,000 yen), and from the fact that he faced the face with Tim Cook, It became a known person.

WWDC 2017: 82-year-old app developer, Ms. Masako Wakamiya told Tim Cook CEO - YouTube


In addition, Mr. Wakamiya was active in creative activities using computers before developing the application. It is one such work of "Excel art" using Excel, and the presentation at TED who entered in 2014 talks about a part of the work and the reason why he came down to the computer world . The way to do an enjoyable presentation with english and joke is such a splendid thing that the younger generations are unexpectedly impatient.

Now it is time to get your own wings: Masako Wakamiya at TEDxTokyo 2014 - YouTube


In addition, in February 2018, Mr. Wakamiya also made a keynote speech at the United Nations conference on the theme of digital technology and elderly people held at the United Nations headquarters, which is also a news.

"Age after rich" 82-year-old app developer, UN speech: Nikkei newspaper
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO26506150T00C18A2000000/

Significance that Ms. Wakamiya Mrs. spoke at the United Nations Headquarters - orangeitems's diary
http://www.orangeitems.com/entry/2018/02/03/195732

Wakamiya says that hinadan did not expect to get such a big response, but he is still ambitious for developing applications in the future. "There are still many other things I would like to do elsewhere."