The historic Nintendo
company brochure that recently surfaced, provides a great record of its main Kyoto offices and factories as they existed in 1970.
Nintendo had just invested significantly in the development of these buildings, located in the Higashiyama district of Kyoto. Today this lot of land is still owned and used by Nintendo. However, the head office and main R&D offices have since moved to the Minami district in Kyoto, and part to Tokyo. Many of the buildings shown here no longer exist today.
Join me as we travel almost fifty years back in time!
We start with an overview picture. The building on the left are the offices.
The circular sign on the front of this building is the Marufuku logo, used by Nintendo for its card products.
Nintendo had used this logo almost from it's start in 1889, is is evident from
this 1915 calendar.
The production facilities can be seen on the right. Check out that huge sign with the Nintendo logo (任天堂) on the roof of one of the buildings.
Nintendo was one of the bigger employers in this area, with a very visible presence.
The site is located close to the Tobakaido railway station. The Keihan Main Line and Nara Line both pass right next to it. A large neon sign with the text "Nintendo Trump" (任天堂 トランプ) has been put up facing the tracks, advertising these playing cards towards the streams of daily commuters.
We now start our tour inside in the office building, and enter the spacious lobby.
