An elderly Japanese woman created an iPhone app called Hinadan, an iPhone game for seniors based on Japan’s traditional festival Hinamatsuri, or Doll’s Day, which is celebrated in early March. It’d blow your mind to know Masako Wakamiya began to learn how to use a computer at the age of 60 and she was compelled to do something after noticing a shortage of fun apps for people her age.
“We easily lose games when playing against young people, since our finger movements can’t match their speed,” Wakamiya told CNN.
“I wanted to create a fun app to get elderly people interested in smartphones,” she said. “It took about half a year to develop.”
In 1996, when computers weren’t so user-friendly, Masako Wakamiya was only 60-year-old when she had just quit her job in banking after 43 years in the sector. Masako was forced to retire because of her age and was taking care of her mother at that time.
She calls herself a technology evangelist and even wrote her own PC textbooks because she found the options available to her were too boring. Wakamiya now gives computers classes and blogs regularly in Japanese (and English with the help of Google’s translation tool). Hinadan is her first app and probably won’t be her last.
‘Hinadan’ is available in the App Store from the 23rd of February, from where it can be downloaded free of charge. It is possible to celebrate the ‘Hinamatsuri’, the girls ‘ day and dolls in Japan that takes place on the 3rd of march.
Source: CNN
