{"id":326541,"date":"2021-08-17T15:03:13","date_gmt":"2021-08-17T12:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/sudoku-puzzle-creator-maki-kaji-dead-at-69\/"},"modified":"2021-08-17T15:03:13","modified_gmt":"2021-08-17T12:03:13","slug":"sudoku-puzzle-creator-maki-kaji-dead-at-69","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/sudoku-puzzle-creator-maki-kaji-dead-at-69\/","title":{"rendered":"#Sudoku puzzle creator Maki Kaji dead at 69"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#Sudoku puzzle creator Maki Kaji dead at 69<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n        <\/aside>\n<p>Maki Kaji, the beloved creator of the zeitgeist numbers puzzle Sudoku, has died after a battle with bile duct cancer. He was 69.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cGodfather of Sudoku\u201d passed away on Aug. 10 at his home in the Tokyo metro city of Mitaka, his company <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nikoli.co.jp\/en\/\">announced on Tuesday<\/a>. He remained chief executive at Nikoli Co. until July.<\/p>\n<p>Kaji was born in 1951 in S<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>oro and later competed at the National Sports Festival with his high school tennis club. After two and half years studying at Keio University, he dropped out due to numerous class cancellations spurred by the 1970 protests against the Japan-US. Security Treaty, according to his obituary in the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/mainichi.jp\/english\/articles\/20210817\/p2a\/00m\/0na\/011000c\">Japanese news outlet Mainichi<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Kaji established Japan\u2019s first puzzle magazine, Puzzle Tsushin Nikoli, with pals in 1980. His most legendary creation, Sudoku, followed in 1983.<\/p>\n<p>However, it wasn\u2019t until 2004 that Sudoku would became a global sensation, after a fan from New Zealand pitched it to the British <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>paper The Times, the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/lifestyle-business-arts-and-entertainment-723bd1246300dbe094df16cab0a9fe8e\">Associated Press reported<\/a>. Two years after its publication in the UK, Japan rediscovered its own puzzle as a \u201cgyakuyunyu\u201d \u2014 or \u201creimport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want to just be the godfather of Sudoku,\u201d Kaji once said in an interview. \u201cI\u2019d like to spread the fun of puzzles until I\u2019m known as the person who established the puzzle genre in Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kaji also said he created Sudoku to be easy for kids and anyone else who didn\u2019t want to think too hard. The puzzle\u2019s name is made up of the Japanese characters for \u201cnumber\u201d and \u201csingle,\u201d and players place the numbers 1 through 9 in rows, columns and blocks without repeating them.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/maki-kaji-38.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"This undated photo provided by NIKOLI, shows Maki Kaji, chief executive of the company until July, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan.  Kaji, known as the \u201cGodfather of Sudoku,\u201d the numbers puzzle he created that\u2019s drawn fans around the world, has died, a spokesman for his Japanese company said Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021. \" class=\"wp-image-19151445\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/maki-kaji-38.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/maki-kaji-38.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/maki-kaji-38.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Kaji, known as the \u201cGodfather of Sudoku,\u201d the numbers puzzle he created that\u2019s drawn fans around the world, has died, a spokesman for his Japanese company said Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel<\/a>ed to more than 30 countries spreading the \u201cjoy of puzzles,\u201d with Sudoku championships eventually drawing some 200 million people in 100 countries over the years, according to Tokyo-based Nikoli.<\/p>\n<p>Sudoku was actually never trademarked except within Japan, driving its overseas craze, the company has said in a statement: \u201cKaji-san came up with the name Sudoku and was loved by puzzle fans from all over the world. We are grateful from the bottom of our hearts for the patronage you have shown throughout his life.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n    <\/aside>\n<p>Sudoku was originally dubbed \u201cSuji-wa-Dokushin-ni-Kagiru,\u201d which translates to \u201cNumbers should be single, a bachelor.\u201d Now believed to be the world\u2019s most popular pencil puzzle, Sudoku has recently debuted in digital versions to keep up with the times.<\/p>\n<p>Yoshinao Anpuku, who succeeded Kaji as Nikoli\u2019s chief executive, said his old boss made friends easily and had a \u201cunique and playful approach toward life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur mission is to pursue Maki\u2019s vision and possibilities,\u201d Anpuku said of the man Japanese news outlets <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/mainichi.jp\/english\/articles\/20210817\/p2a\/00m\/0na\/011000c\">credited for starting the puzzle sections<\/a> at bookstores, as well as introducing the word \u201cSudoku\u201d into the Oxford English dictionary.<\/p>\n<p>His work has also had potentially long-lasting impact on the human brain: A 2019 study of 19,000 adults over 50 years old finds that older people who do daily number and word puzzles have sharper brains, according to the findings published in the International\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.exeter.ac.uk\/news\/featurednews\/title_716265_en.html\">Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The participants were asked how frequently they did puzzles like Sudoku, and then completed a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a> of tests that examined their attention, reasoning and memory.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe improvements are particularly clear in the speed and accuracy of their performance,\u201d said lead researcher Dr. Anne Corbett, of the University of Exeter Medical School. \u201cIn some areas the improvement was quite dramatic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kaji is survived by his wife Naomi and two daughters. Funeral services have been held among close family and a separate memorial service is being arranged by Nikoli.\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. 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He was 69. The \u201cGodfather of Sudoku\u201d passed away on Aug. 10 at his home in the Tokyo metro city of Mitaka, his company announced on Tuesday&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":326542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/maki-kaji-39.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[114383,70255,80,70256,5200],"class_list":["post-326541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-8-17-21","tag-celebrity-deaths","tag-games","tag-obits","tag-obituaries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}