The well-formed, almost six-year-old Nintendo DS – which has thus far boasted brain training games, dictionaries, classic literature, translation tools, flash cards, and cookbooks – is apparently on its way to become an educational tool in the elementary and junior high schools in Japan!

In an interview with the Associated Press in London on Friday, Shigeru Miyamoto - one of the most well-known Nintendo software developers – revealed that he intends working on move to assimilate the DS as a learning tool in Japanese schools, particularly at the elementary and junior high school level.

During the interview - which came before Miyamoto, who is entertainingly known for “accidently” stimulating several ideas, received the 2010 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) fellowship -, the veteran Nintendo software developer said that education “is maybe the area where I am devoting myself the most.”

Thus far, the extent of Nintendo DS utilization covers its use as a virtual tour guide in museums, aquariums, and galleries. Moreover, the console also boasts the ability to effectively search through sports news and order food at a Seattle Mariners game.

Though it still remains to be seen how Miyamoto will convert the popular portable DS game console into a tool for academic purposes, the idea has already picked up pace with the Japanese authorities who intend putting the device into the elementary and junior high school systems for the 2010-2011 school year.