Minoru Arakawa was the former president of Nintendo of America (NOA), from 1980 to 2002. Starting in 1985, he and Howard Lincoln were instrumental in rebuilding the video game industry (after the crash of 1983) with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Arakawa also hired Howard Philips, who would be invaluable to the creation of Nintendo Power magazine.

In 2002, after 22 years at the helm of NOA, Arakawa retired. Tatusmi Kimishima, former chief financial officer of Nintendo's Pokémon subsidiary, stepped up to take his place.