Screenshot : Nintendo ( Official UK Site

In the Asahi Shimbun, one of Japan’s largest newspapers, 70-year-old Kuniko Tsusaka recounted how her mother always had a Game Boy nearby to play Tetris. But when her mother turned 95 and her health started to suffer, her Game Boy stopped working.




This was her mother’s third Game Boy, and Tsusaka, who lives in Chiba, wasn’t able to find a store selling the handheld nor could she find any shop able to fix it. Tsusaka’s son mentioned Nintendo’s excellent customer service. What followed proves just that.


This story was recounted on Twitter, where it has racked up over 197,000 likes and has been republished on popular sites like Nico Nico News. As Sora News points out, it first appeared in the February 21 print edition of the Asahi Shimbun.

When the grandson mentioned Nintendo’s excellent customer service, he said kami taiou (神対応), which literally means “god support” or, better yet, “divine interaction, ” with kami (神) meaning “god” or “spirit.” It’s used to describe incredible service or corporate responses.

However, Tsusaka thought her son said the word kami (紙) meaning “paper,” so she wrote Nintendo a letter along with the busted Game Boy. Within a week, she got more than a paper response.

Nintendo didn’t have the spare parts to fix the Game Boy, so instead sent along a new Game Boy discovered in its warehouse along with a letter, wishing the grandmother a long life.


Tsusaka’s mother lived until she was 99 years old, in control of her mental facilities right up until the end and counting her blessings along the way. “Up in the sky, she’s thankful, I think, ” Tsusaka added. No doubt playing Tetris, too.