Dale Ishimoto was an American actor of Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 descent. He was born in Delta, Colorado

Delta, Colorado

The City of Delta is the county seat and the most populous city of Delta County, Colorado, United States. The population was 8,915 at the 2010 census...

 in 1923 and was raised in Guadalupe, California

Guadalupe, California

Guadalupe is a small city located in Santa Barbara County, California. According to the U.S. Census of 2010, the city has a population of 7,080. It was incorporated as a city on May 19, 1946...

.

Military service

After being sent to the Gila River internment camp

Gila River War Relocation Center

The Gila River War Relocation Center was an internment camp built by the War Relocation Authority for internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War. It was located about southeast of Phoenix, Arizona....

 in Arizona, Ishimoto volunteered to fight in World War II, joining the 442nd Regimental Combat Team

442nd Regimental Combat Team

The 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army, was composed of Japanese-American enlisted men and mostly Caucasian officers. They fought primarily in Europe during World War II, beginning in 1944. The families of many of its soldiers were subject to internment...

. After two years, he was awarded a Purple Heart

Purple Heart

The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...

 and given a medical discharge.

Entertainment career

After starting a business in Chicago, he moved back to California, where he grew up, and started his acting career by acting at the Altadena Playhouse. He became a "familiar figure" for playing "villainous Japanese soldiers".

Over the course of his career, he acted in a wide variety of TV and movies, such as Vice Admiral Boshiro Hosogaya

Boshiro Hosogaya

, was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.-Biography:Hosogaya was born to a farming family in Nozawa, Nagano prefecture in 1888. He graduated from the 36th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1908. He was ranked 16th in a class of 191 cadets. As a midshipman, he...

 in Midway

Midway (film)

Midway is a 1976 war film directed by Jack Smight and produced byWalter Mirisch from a screenplay by Donald S. Sanford. The music score was by John Williams and the cinematography by Harry Stradling, Jr...

(1976) and a Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

n doctor in MASH

MASH (film)

MASH is a 1970 American satirical dark comedy film directed by Robert Altman and written by Ring Lardner, Jr., based on Richard Hooker's novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. It is the only feature film in the M*A*S*H franchise...

(1970).

He became famous in the late 1990s for his appearances in television commercials for Nissan in which he portrayed Mr. K, supposedly Yutaka Katayama

Yutaka Katayama

Yutaka Katayama , also known as Mr K, is a former Japanese automotive executive who was employed by Nissan and served as the first president of Nissan Motor Corporation U.S.A...

, the company's former president.

Personal life

Ishimoto married Miiko Taka

Miiko Taka

is a Japanese American actress best known for co-starring with Marlon Brando as Hana-ogi in the 1957 movie Sayonara.-'Sayonara':Taka was born in Seattle, but raised in Los Angeles, California as a Nisei; her parents had immigrated from Japan. She graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1943...

 in Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

 in 1944, and they had one son and one daughter. They divorced in 1958.

External links

• Go For Broke Monument, showing where Ishimoto's name is on the monument.