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| - Keiko Erikawa (襟川 恵子, Erikawa Keiko, born on January 3, 1949 in Hiyoshi, Kanagawa) is one of the founders of Koei and a design graduate of Tama Art University who was originally studying for a fashion career. She is Kou Shibusawa's wife, making them one of the richest married couples in the video game industry. They have two daughters, Mei and Ai. Mei works at the company as an executive director for Ruby Party games while Ai is named a corporate director for the company.
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| abstract
| - Keiko Erikawa (襟川 恵子, Erikawa Keiko, born on January 3, 1949 in Hiyoshi, Kanagawa) is one of the founders of Koei and a design graduate of Tama Art University who was originally studying for a fashion career. She is Kou Shibusawa's wife, making them one of the richest married couples in the video game industry. They have two daughters, Mei and Ai. Mei works at the company as an executive director for Ruby Party games while Ai is named a corporate director for the company. Erikawa was the executive director of the company until she stepped down with her husband in 2002. As of April 1, 2015, she is the Honorary Chairman of the Board of Directors. Unlike her husband, Erikawa doesn't and hasn't referred to herself under any pen name for her game credits. Before KOEI's creation, Erikawa lived in Hiyoshi. Once she learned of her father-in-law's financial woes with his company, the married couple didn't want to be the ones to file for the company's bankruptcy. Both were looking forward to becoming entrepreneurs and didn't want to be involved with the Erikawa family's financial burdens. After her father-in-law insisted that he was handing them "an opportunity," they resigned to rejuvenate the fallen company and carry out her father-in-law's legacy in a positive light. While the Erikawa couple went to Asakura, their parents retired to Erikawa's home in Hiyoshi and opened a computer store. Shibusawa felt he wasn't made for executive paperwork and spent many days mulling over his new assumed responsibility. He carried around a "dream box" of written ideas but didn't feel confident pursuing them. Wishing to cheer her husband from his stress, Erikawa splurged and purchased the Sharp MZ for his birthday. Her spontaneous gift and his following fascination with it became the catalysts for Shibusawa's desire to start a video game developing company. Though Shibusawa was happy to do something for his dreams, Erikawa had to constantly remind him that they were nearly broke and needed to make a profit. Her husband wanted to make payments for the first Nobunaga's Ambition optional; Erikawa sternly demanded him to put a price tag on it. Erikawa was the first to reach out to other manufactures and companies for expanding their user base. When she first started pitching her ideas to Nintendo in the 1980s, none of the representatives took her seriously. Despite the lukewarm reception, she persevered and many of her business decisions fostered and stabilized the company. Erikawa comments in retrospect that she is responsible for Koei's "bad reputation" during its early years but was "too young and fearless" at the time to let it affect her.
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