is a Japanese businessperson and auto racing driver. He founded Yuke's, a video game developer company, in Sakai, Osaka in 1993.

Early career As a child, Taniguchi became an enthusiastic arcade gamer, spending much time on early arcade games such as Space Invaders. By the time of high school, he was programming his own game and started working under contract for a local game company in Hiroshima. Two years later, he transferred to a highschool in U.S. and graduated from it in 1989. He entered into Osaka Prefecture University as an Engineering student but at the same time, he obtained a post as the chief of Osaka development department of Compile. In 1993, when he was 24 and in his third year of university, he set up his own company, Yuke's, in his own flat in Osaka and developed about 20 games before he graduated from the university.

Yuke's

Professional wrestling In 1993, Taniguchi founded his own company, Yuke's, at his apartment in Sakai, Osaka. He developed about 20 games before graduating from the university. After graduating, he hit on the development of professional wrestling games to make use of 3D graphics performance of PlayStation thus his company's Toukon Retsuden, put on the market from Tomy in 1995. Unlike other 3D fighting games in the market which emphasised button mashing, Tokonretuden's game mechanics combined Submission-grapple-attacks like rock-paper-scissors, launching the title in Japan and selling over a million copies.

The success of the Toukon Retsuden series made Yuke's obtain capital and the company developed Evil Zone the first game to sell under the name of the Yuke's. The game did not succeed in Japan but the loss has recovered by sales in foreign countries, particularly from the USA. Because of this experience, he determined to aim at a United States market and developed WWF SmackDown!. The game that had been put on the market in 2000 not only sold 2 million in the United States but also made success also in Japan. In Japan, the game contributed to the eminence improvement of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) that was the base of the game.

In 2005, Taniguchi bought controlling 51% stake of slumping New Japan Pro-Wrestling (which Tokonretuden was based on) as a white knight. This action has further raised his eminence among the professional wrestling fans in Japan.

Racing career

Taniguchi supported Nobushige Kumakubo's Team Orange (Team Yuke's) in the D1 Grand Prix and Yuke's developed game series of the event.

Taniguchi entered in some spec racing series as a driver. In 2005, he competed in Super Taikyu on Nissan 350Z with Tarzan Yamada and became series champion. In 2007, he competed in the Japan Le Mans Challenge, and won a race and became runner-up in the season.

In 2008 Taniguchi competed in two rounds of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in a Honda Accord for the N. Technology team alongside regular driver James Thompson. After a break, Taniguchi returned to the WTCC in 2010 with Bamboo Engineering, racing in the final three events of the season in a Chevrolet Lacetti, previously driven by Harry Vaulkhard. He joined Wiechers-Sport for the 2013 FIA WTCC Race of Japan to replace their regular driver Fredy Barth who had other commitments.

Racing record

Complete World Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DC Points 2008 N.Technology Honda Accord Euro R BRA1 BRA2 MEX1 MEX2 ESP1 ESP2 FRA1 FRA2 CZE1 CZE2 POR1 POR2 GBR1 GBR2 GER1 GER2 EUR1 EUR2 ITA121 ITA2Ret JPN120 JPN219 MAC1 MAC2 NC 0 2010 bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Lacetti BRA1 BRA2 MAR1 MAR2 ITA1 ITA2 BEL1 BEL2 POR1 POR2 GBR1 GBR2 CZE1 CZE2 GER117 GER214 ESP117 ESP218 JPN19 JPN216 MAC113 MAC2Ret 18th 4 2011 bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Lacetti BRA118 BRA215 20th 6 Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T BEL114 BEL2DSQ ITA113 ITA211 HUN111 HUN211 CZE115 CZE214 POR115 POR215 GBR116 GBR213 GER117 GER214 ESP114 ESP216 JPN17 JPN214 CHN120 CHN2DNS MAC1WD MAC2WD 2013 Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TC ITA1 ITA2 MAR1 MAR2 SVK1 SVK2 HUN1 HUN2 AUT1 AUT2 RUS1 RUS2 POR1 POR2 ARG1 ARG2 USA1 USA2 JPN117 JPN216 NC 0 Campos Racing SEAT León WTCC CHN121 CHN223 NIKA Racing Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T MAC117 MAC2Ret 2014 NIKA Racing Honda Civic WTCC MAR1 MAR2 FRA1 FRA2 HUN117 HUN217 SVK1 SVK2 AUT1 AUT2 RUS1 RUS2 BEL1 BEL2 ARG1 ARG2 BEI1 BEI2 CHN1 CHN2 JPN1 JPN2 MAC1 MAC2 NC 0 * Season still in progress.

Complete Super GT results Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points 2012Hitotsuyama RacingAudi R8 LMSGT300OKAFUJ15SEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOTNC0

References

External links

As president of Yuke's -