tells Insider the idea of walking 10,000 steps per day originated in 1965 when a Japanese company developed a pedometer called the "Manpo-kei," which means "10,000 steps meter." "The goal of ...

The idea of aiming for 10,000 steps a day dates back to a 1965 marketing campaign for Manpo-kei, a pedometer made in Japan ...

The number is based on the Manpo-kei pedometer designed in Japan in the 1960s. According to Milton, the Japanese character for 10,000 looks like a person walking, thus the name and the number ...