The Eiffel Tower was inaugurated the same year as what company?

The Eiffel Tower was inaugurated in 1889, the same year Nintendo was founded. Nintendo began in Kyoto, Japan, on September 23, 1889, as a company making handmade hanafuda playing cards.

The Eiffel Tower was built for the Exposition Universelle, the world’s fair held in Paris to celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution. Gustave Eiffel’s company completed the tower’s main structure in 1889, and it opened to visitors during the exposition.

The coincidence is striking because the two organizations began in completely different worlds: one was a temporary Paris landmark demonstrating modern iron engineering, while the other was a small Japanese playing-card business. Nintendo did not enter the electronic-game industry until many decades later, eventually becoming known for franchises such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Pokémon.