Shigesato Itoi
Encyclopedia
is one of the most influential cultural figures in Japan, known for his copywriting, essays, lyrics, Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....

 game creation, and as editor-in-chief of his popular website “Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun.” (“Almost” Daily Itoi News) He is best known outside of Japan as a game designer for his work on Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....

's EarthBound
EarthBound (series)
EarthBound, known in Japan as Mother, is a role-playing game series created by Shigesato Itoi for Nintendo. The series started in 1989 with the Japan-only release of Mother for the Famicom, and was then followed up by a sequel, released in North America as EarthBound for the Super NES in 1995, and...

series of games, as well as his bass fishing video game
Shigesato Itoi's No. 1 Bass Fishing
is a fishing-based video game developed and released only in Japan for the Super Famicom on February 21, 1997 and updated for broadcast as eight different episodes on the Satellaview subsystem between April and November 1997. On March 31, 2000 the latest version of the game was released for the...

.

Itoi, with his copywriting work in the 1980s, established the profession among the general public in Japan. His copies epitomize the era, and are quoted regularly as a best-selling song would. Multi-talented Itoi quickly expanded his horizons into essays, lyrics, and eventually to Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....

 game creation. He is best known in the US for Nintendo's EarthBound
EarthBound
EarthBound, also known as EarthBound: The War Against Giygas! and released as in Japan, is a role-playing video game co-developed by Ape and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console...

, released in the 1990s (released as MOTHER 2 in Japan).

He has voiced
Seiyu
Voice acting in Japan has far greater prominence than in most other countries. Japan's large animation industry produces 60% of the animated series in the world; as a result, Japanese voice actors, or , are able to achieve fame on a national and international level.Besides acting as narrators and...

 Mei and Satsuki's father, Tatsuo Kusakabe, in the Japanese version of the My Neighbor Totoro
My Neighbor Totoro
, is a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film follows the two young daughters of a professor and their interactions with friendly wood spirits in postwar rural Japan...

anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 film, has been a judge on a few episodes of the Japanese shows Iron Chef
Iron Chef
is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1992, is a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle built around a specific theme ingredient. The series ended...

 and Hey! Spring of Trivia
Hey! Spring of Trivia
Hey! Spring of Trivia is the name given by Spike TV to the show a Japanese variety show on Fuji TV.-Concept:"Trivia" consists of a series of video segments that introduce and confirm the validity of unusual trivia. Past trivia has included exploding erasers, spiders affected by caffeine, and...

, and has also co-authored a collection of short stories titled Yume de aimashou ("Let's meet in a dream") with writer Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami
is a Japanese writer and translator. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered him critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize and Jerusalem Prize among others.He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature...

.

In 1997, Itoi met the Internet, bought his first Mac, and in 1998 opened the website “Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun” (“Almost Daily Itoi News”), which is the center of his activity today. Under the theme “creating good mood,” the website has been updated every day for the past twelve years, with Itoi’s own essays on lifestyle, interviews and articles, and merchandise sales. He talks about his dog, Bouillon, and also his interviews with artists, craftsmen, businessmen, etc., which tend to center on philosophical issues. Itoi has also co-written several books modeled on these interviews, in which he has a series of long conversations with, for example, an expert on neurology (Kaiba, The Hippocampus), about how to live as a human being in the world.

His latest book, Atama no naka ni aru kouen ("A park in your mind"), is the fourth anthology issue of writings collected from the Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun. "Hobo Nichi" (as it is called) provides its articles for free without any advertisement on the website. Merchandising of original lifestyle goods and publishing are the main business. The Hobonichi Day Planner, selling 342 thousand units, is Japan’s best-selling in the category. Other products include T-shirts, towels, “Haramaki” (belly warmer), calendars, and pottery.

External links

  • Shigesato Itoi's Website
  • Shigesato Itoi profile at MobyGames
    MobyGames
    -Platforms not yet included:- Further reading :* Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media; 2 edition , ISBN 0-07-223172-6...

  • Super Mario 25th Anniversary Itoi discusses Mario Bros.
    Mario Bros.
    is an arcade game published and developed by Nintendo in 1983. It was developed by Shigeru Miyamoto. It has been commonly featured as a minigame in the Super Mario Advance series and other games...

     with its creator Shigeru Miyamoto
    Shigeru Miyamoto
    is a Japanese video game designer and producer. Miyamoto was born and raised in Kyoto Prefecture; the natural surroundings of Kyoto inspired much of Miyamoto's later work....

  • Johnny Weir!!! Itoi interviews US Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir
    Johnny Weir
    John Garvin "Johnny" Weir is an American figure skater. He is a three-time U.S. National Champion , the 2008 Worlds bronze medalist, a two-time Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, and the 2001 World Junior Champion....

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