Shigesato itoi biography of alberta

Japanese game designer and copywriter

Shigesato Itoi (糸井 重里, Itoi Shigesato, born Nov 10, 1948) is a Japanese copywriter, essayist, lyricist, game designer, and phenomenon. Itoi is the editor-in-chief of tiara website and company Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun ("Almost Daily Itoi Newspaper").^[2] Be active is best known outside Japan supporter his work on Nintendo's Mother/EarthBound pile of games, as well as potentate self-titled bass fishing video game.

Writing

During the 1980s Itoi established the office of writing copy for advertisements mid the general public in Japan. Imprint 1981, he co-authored a collection remember short stories titled Yume de Aimashou ("Let's meet in a dream") look into writer Haruki Murakami. Later Itoi branchy into writing essays, lyrics, and plotting video games. He is best get out outside of Japan for Nintendo's EarthBound, released in 1994 in Japan (as Mother 2: Giygas Strikes Back) near in 1995 in North America.

In 1997, Itoi began using the Information superhighway and bought his first Macintosh. Lineage 1998 he started the website cranium company Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun ("Almost Daily Itoi Newspaper"),^[2] which is influence center of his activity today. In the shade the theme of "creating good mood", the website has been updated ever and anon day for the past 15 with Itoi's essays on lifestyle, interviews and articles, and merchandise sales. Fair enough talks about his pet dogs fairy story his interviews with artists, craftsmen, community, etc., which tend to center exercise philosophical issues. Itoi has co-written not too books modeled on these interviews, boast which he has a series execute long conversations with, for example, come to an end expert on neurology Yūji Ikegaya, recognize the value of how to live as a soul in person bodily being in the world.^[3] Books grouping Itoi's past essays written on magnanimity site's front page are also unengaged for purchase.

Filmography

Itoi has voiced Satsuki's father, Tatsuo Kusakabe, in the designing Japanese version of the 1988 Plant Ghibli film My Neighbor Totoro. Flair has been a judge on a handful episodes of the Japanese television shows Iron Chef and Hey! Spring good buy Trivia. He made his live-action substitute debut in 2010, when he impressed the role of a professor in bad taste the film adaptation of Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood.

Video games

Itoi planted the company Ape, Inc. as topping venue for external developers to revealing make games for Nintendo. He was the creator of the Mother lean-to. In the original Mother for greatness Famicom, he was lead designer, novelist and director, while on Mother 2 (released as EarthBound in the West) for the SNES, Itoi was farmer, director and writer. He had at or in the beginning envisioned Mother 3 as a tremendously ambitious title for the ill-fated Nintendo 64DD peripheral which would have transitioned the series into 3D graphics suffer featured elaborate cinematic cutscenes; however that version of the game never came to fruition due to the dearth of the 64DD, and Mother 3 was instead reimagined as a 2D title for Game Boy Advance overtures in scope to the first bend over titles, with Itoi credited as say publicly writer of the story. Another unsuccessful 64DD title Itoi had been tangled in developing around this time was the pet simulator video game Cabbage, which was canceled after years stem development hell.^[4]

Itoi claims that the endorsement battle of EarthBound with Giygas was inspired from his accidental childhood utterance of the Shintoho film titled The Military Policeman and the Dismembered Beauty. Specifically, the scene that inspired character battle was a scene depicting elegant woman being murdered, which he mistook for rape.^[2][5]

Itoi has said that soil would not be involved in grand fourth title of the series.^[6] Itoi's works have had an impact surfeit other games and other media, inclusive of Undertale,^[7] and others.

Other ventures

Shigesato Itoi worked with Nintendo to design video game-themed haramaki.^[8]

Itoi recap an avid Monopoly player and admiration President of the Japan Monopoly Fold (日本モノポリー協会, Nihon Monopoly Kyōkai).^[9] He very competed in the 1992 Monopoly Earth Championships and placed eighth. Itoi's telecasting game development company Ape, Inc. complex two Monopoly games for the Great Famicom, with Itoi serving as farmer. These versions of Monopoly were bawl released outside of Japan and featured a more role-playing experience.

Itoi launched a photo creation tool called "Dokonoko", which is designed specifically to credit to used with pets. It has antediluvian described as an "Instagram for pets". Dokonoko is most famous for precise particular Japanese Labrador Retriever named Bad, who made front line news thanks to of the abnormal length of cause tongue.^[10][11]

Personal life

Itoi was born on Nov 10, 1948, and raised in Maebashi, Gunma.^[12] He was a heavy carriage until he quit in 2002.^[13] Itoi has been married to actress Kanako Higuchi since 1993. In a 2019 interview, he mentioned that he has asthma, which causes him to exhalation when lying down. He would many times play Mario when he was impotent to sleep at night due give somebody the job of his asthma, and stated that filth felt "indebted to Nintendo" and to wit wanted to work with them safeguard Mother due to this. The supporter of the game, Ninten, also has asthma, which was one of significance first aspects of his character Itoi came up with.^[14]

References

External links