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{
    "url_title": "Chris Ishii",
    "title_sort": "ishiichris",
    "links": {
        "json": "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/articles/Chris%20Ishii/",
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    "modified": "2024-05-24T02:31:47",
    "title": "Chris Ishii",
    "body": "<div class=\"mw-parser-output\">\n <div id=\"databox-PeopleDisplay\">\n  <table class=\"infobox\" width=\"200px;\">\n   <tbody>\n    <tr>\n     <th scope=\"row\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\n      Name\n     </th>\n     <td style=\"text-align:left;\">\n      Chris Ishii\n     </td>\n    </tr>\n    <tr>\n     <th scope=\"row\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\n      Born\n     </th>\n     <td style=\"text-align:left;\">\n      August 11 1919\n     </td>\n    </tr>\n    <tr>\n     <th scope=\"row\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\n      Died\n     </th>\n     <td style=\"text-align:left;\">\n      November 6 2001\n     </td>\n    </tr>\n    <tr>\n     <th scope=\"row\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\n      Birth Location\n     </th>\n     <td style=\"text-align:left;\">\n      Fresno, California\n     </td>\n    </tr>\n    <tr>\n     <th scope=\"row\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\n      Generational Identifier\n     </th>\n     <td style=\"text-align:left;\">\n      <p>\n       <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Nisei/\" title=\"Nisei\">\n        Nisei\n       </a>\n      </p>\n     </td>\n    </tr>\n   </tbody>\n  </table>\n </div>\n <div id=\"databox-People\" style=\"display:none;\">\n  <p>\n   FirstName:Kishio Christopher;\nLastName:Ishii;\nDisplayName:Chris Ishii;\nBirthDate:1919-08-11;\nDeathDate:2001-11-06;\nBirthLocation:Fresno, California;\nGender:Male;\nEthnicity:JA;\nGenerationIdentifier:Nisei;\nNationality:;\nExternalResourceLink:;\nPrimaryGeography:;\nReligion:;\n  </p>\n </div>\n <div class=\"floatright\">\n </div>\n <div class=\"floatright\">\n </div>\n <p>\n  Painter, animator, illustrator Kishio Christopher Ishii (1919-2001) was born in Fresno, California, on August 11, 1919. He was the fourth of six children born to Koshiro and Naka Ishii, who were farmers. Shortly after he was born, his family went to visit his father's mother in Toyotamura Kagawa-ken and returned to the United States in the summer of 1920.\n </p>\n <p>\n  After graduating from Caruthers Union High School in Fresno County, Ishii attended Chouinard School of Art in Los Angeles where he excelled at watercolor painting and commercial art, studying under teachers Phil Paradise,\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Gyo_Fujikawa/\" title=\"Gyo Fujikawa\">\n   Gyo Fujikawa\n  </a>\n  , Carl Beetz, and Ed Northridge. Upon graduation, Ishii was hired by Walt Disney Studios and worked on numerous animated films such as\n  <i>\n   Fantasia\n  </i>\n  ,\n  <i>\n   The Reluctant Dragon\n  </i>\n  ,\n  <i>\n   Dumbo\n  </i>\n  , as well as on Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse shorts. In late May 1941, a strike was called against Disney that resulted in employees receiving the right to unionize.\n  <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref1_1-0\">\n   <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref1-1\">\n    [1]\n   </a>\n  </sup>\n </p>\n <p>\n  In April 1942, following the signing of\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Executive_Order_9066/\" title=\"Executive Order 9066\">\n   Executive Order 9066\n  </a>\n  , Ishii was forced to leave Disney and was detained at the\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Santa_Anita_(detention_facility)/\" title=\"Santa Anita (detention facility)\">\n   Santa Anita\n  </a>\n  Assembly. When the\n  <i>\n   <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Santa_Anita_Pacemaker_(newspaper)/\" title=\"Santa Anita Pacemaker (newspaper)\">\n    Pacemaker\n   </a>\n   ,\n  </i>\n  the assembly center newsletter, was launched, Ishii joined as the staff cartoonist, producing a regular cartoon that featured a young Japanese American kid. The name of the cartoon, \"Li'l Neebo,\" was chosen through a contest to name the camp newsletter's \"mascot.\" The name itself was fabricated by writer\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Mary_Oyama_Mittwer/\" title=\"Mary Oyama Mittwer\">\n   Mary Oyama Mittwer\n  </a>\n  and is derived from \"little Nisei boy.\" He also taught art at Santa Anita; one of his students was renowned postwar artist Ruth Asawa.\n  <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref2_2-0\">\n   <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref2-2\">\n    [2]\n   </a>\n  </sup>\n </p>\n <p>\n  When the assembly center closed in September 1942, Ishii was transferred to the U.S. concentration camp in\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Amache_(Granada)/\" title=\"Amache (Granada)\">\n   Amache\n  </a>\n  , Colorado. Li'l Neebo continued to appear in the camp's newspaper, the\n  <i>\n   <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Granada_Pioneer_(newspaper)/\" title=\"Granada Pioneer (newspaper)\">\n    Granada Pioneer\n   </a>\n  </i>\n  , where it was expanded into a comic strip. The cartoon character was intended to chronicle the life of a little Nisei boy living in camp while providing the paper's readers with light comic relief from their grim situation. Li'l Neebo grew so popular that he soon commanded a full-page in the paper and was used as a character in puppet shows held in Amache. When Ishii left in December 1942, the comic strip was continued by Tom Okamoto, another Disney animator and Chouinard graduate, and later by Jack Ito, due to its popularity. Ishii and Okamoto also taught fine art classes at Amache adult night school.\n  <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref3_3-0\">\n   <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref3-3\">\n    [3]\n   </a>\n  </sup>\n </p>\n <p>\n  In the fall of 1942, Ishii was among the handful of volunteers from the concentration camps recruited for the U.S. Army's Military Intelligence Service. He ended up working as an artist for the Office of War Information and the Psychological Warfare Unit, illustrating propaganda posters while stationed in India, Burma, and China from 1943–46. He met and married his wife, Ada Suffiad in Shanghai, and brought her to the U.S. with him at demobilization. The couple lived in Los Angeles from 1946–49, where Ishii returned to work for the Walt Disney Studios for a year, before he and a partner started their own commercial art studio in Hollywood. During his years in Los Angeles, Ishii became involved with\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Nisei_Progressives/\" title=\"Nisei Progressives\">\n   Nisei for Wallace/Nisei Progressives\n  </a>\n  and did layouts and illustrations for the group's publication,\n  <i>\n   The Independent\n  </i>\n  as well as for\n  <i>\n   The Vanguard\n  </i>\n  , newsletter of the Los Angeles chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League. He also contributed political cartoons to the English language Japanese American newspaper\n  <i>\n   Crossroads\n  </i>\n  . He later covered the trial of\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Iva_Toguri_D%27Aquino/\" title=\"Iva Toguri D'Aquino\">\n   Iva Toguri\n  </a>\n  , who was being tried for treason to the U.S. as \"Tokyo Rose\", for\n  <i>\n   The Independent\n  </i>\n  and was later investigated by the FBI for his association to the Nisei Progressives.\n  <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref4_4-0\">\n   <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref4-4\">\n    [4]\n   </a>\n  </sup>\n </p>\n <p>\n  He left California for New York in 1949, working first for the Tempo Productions animation studio in New York and later as an independent animator. He also contributed illustrations—including some cover designs—to\n  <i>\n   The Reporter\n  </i>\n  magazine. In 1951 he fulfilled a lifelong dream to travel to Paris and with support from the\n  <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/GI_Bill/\" title=\"GI Bill\">\n   GI Bill\n  </a>\n  , moved to Paris with his wife and young son to study at the Academie Julian with Fernand Leger. His wife also gave birth to a second child in France. In 1952, the family settled back in New York. Joining with two partners in 1965, he formed Focus Productions and worked as director of live action and animation. From 1975 to 1985, he worked as a freelance artist, designing and directing countless commercials, industrial, educational, live-action and feature films. His designing credits include James Thurber's \"A Unicorn in the Garden,\" Ludwig Bemelmans' \"Madeline,\" Woody Allen's 'Annie Hall' (the Snow White sequence), and the Academy Award winning \"Gerald McBoing Boing.\"\n  <sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-ftnt_ref5_5-0\">\n   <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_note-ftnt_ref5-5\">\n    [5]\n   </a>\n  </sup>\n </p>\n <p>\n  Ishii died on November 6, 2001, in Dobbs Ferry, New York.\n </p>\n <div id=\"authorByline\">\n  <b>\n   Authored by\n   <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Patricia_Wakida/\" title=\"Patricia Wakida\">\n    Patricia Wakida\n   </a>\n  </b>\n </div>\n <div id=\"citationAuthor\" style=\"display:none;\">\n  Wakida, Patricia\n </div>\n <div class=\"section\" id=\"For_More_Information\">\n  <h2>\n   <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"For_More_Information\">\n    For More Information\n   </span>\n  </h2>\n  <div class=\"section_content\">\n   <p>\n    <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/chris-k-ishii-papers-6332\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n     Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.\n    </a>\n    Summary of Chris K. Ishii Papers.\n   </p>\n   <p>\n    Chang, Gordon H., Mark Dean Johnson, and Paul J. Karlstrom , editors.\n    <i>\n     Asian American Art: A History, 1850-1970\n    </i>\n    . Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2008.\n   </p>\n   <p>\n    <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0410992/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n     Chris Ishii IMDb website.\n    </a>\n   </p>\n   <p>\n    Wakiji, George. \"An Uncommon Man—Not Typically Nisei.\"\n    <i>\n     Rafu Shimpo\n    </i>\n    , Dec. 19, 1964, 5, 20.\n   </p>\n  </div>\n </div>\n <div class=\"section\" id=\"Footnotes\">\n  <h2>\n   <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"Footnotes\">\n    Footnotes\n   </span>\n  </h2>\n  <div class=\"section_content\">\n   <div class=\"reflist\" style=\"list-style-type: decimal;\">\n    <div class=\"mw-references-wrap\">\n     <ol class=\"references\">\n      <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref1-1\">\n       <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n        <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref1_1-0\">\n         ↑\n        </a>\n       </span>\n       <span class=\"reference-text\">\n        <i>\n         Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson\n        </i>\n        (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006), 124. \"A local newspaper article of the time noted that all four of the Nisei artists went out on strike: Chris Ishii, Tom Okamoto, Masao Kawaguchi, and James Tanaka.\"\n       </span>\n      </li>\n      <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref2-2\">\n       <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n        <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref2_2-0\">\n         ↑\n        </a>\n       </span>\n       <span class=\"reference-text\">\n        <i>\n         Santa Anita Pacemaker\n        </i>\n        , May 22, 1942, 1; Krystal Reiko Hauseur, \"Crafted Abstraction: Three Nisei Artists and the American Studio Craft Movement: Ruth Asawa, Kay Sekimachi, and Toshiko Takaezu\" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Irvine, 2011), 67n95.\n       </span>\n      </li>\n      <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref3-3\">\n       <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n        <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref3_3-0\">\n         ↑\n        </a>\n       </span>\n       <span class=\"reference-text\">\n        Photograph of Chris Ishii, c. 1943, Camp Amache Digital Collection, Sonoma State University Library,\n        <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://northbaydigital.sonoma.edu/cdm/ref/collection/amache/id/156\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n         http://northbaydigital.sonoma.edu/cdm/ref/collection/amache/id/156\n        </a>\n        ;\n        <i>\n         Granada Pioneer\n        </i>\n        , Dec. 16, 1942, 9,\n        <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://www.du.edu/behindbarbedwire/bye_to_lil_neebo.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n         http://www.du.edu/behindbarbedwire/bye_to_lil_neebo.html\n        </a>\n        ;\n        <i>\n         Pacific Citizen\n        </i>\n        , Nov. 19, 1942, 7, accessed at\n        <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-pc-14-24/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n         http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-pc-14-24/\n        </a>\n        on Jan. 11, 2018.\n       </span>\n      </li>\n      <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref4-4\">\n       <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n        <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref4_4-0\">\n         ↑\n        </a>\n       </span>\n       <span class=\"reference-text\">\n        Gordon H. Chang, Mark Dean Johnson, and Paul J. Karlstrom, editors,\n        <i>\n         Asian American Art: A History, 1850-1970\n        </i>\n        (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2008), 339;\n        <i>\n         Pacific Citizen\n        </i>\n        , Aug. 23, 1947, 8 and July 3, 1948, 5, accessed at\n        <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-pc-19-34/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n         http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-pc-19-34/\n        </a>\n        and\n        <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-pc-20-26/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n         http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-pc-20-26/\n        </a>\n        , both on Jan. 11, 2018.\n       </span>\n      </li>\n      <li id=\"cite_note-ftnt_ref5-5\">\n       <span class=\"mw-cite-backlink\">\n        <a class=\"\" href=\"#cite_ref-ftnt_ref5_5-0\">\n         ↑\n        </a>\n       </span>\n       <span class=\"reference-text\">\n        Ishii did at least eight covers for\n        <i>\n         The Reporter\n        </i>\n        in 1950–51, all of which can be found in the Unz Archive: July 18, 1950 (\n        <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://www.unz.org/Pub/Reporter-1950jul18-x00001?View=PDF\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n         http://www.unz.org/Pub/Reporter-1950jul18-x00001?View=PDF\n        </a>\n        ), August 15, 1950 (\n        <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://www.unz.org/Pub/Reporter-1950aug15-x00001?View=PDF\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n         http://www.unz.org/Pub/Reporter-1950aug15-x00001?View=PDF\n        </a>\n        ); August 29, 1950 (\n        <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://www.unz.org/Pub/Reporter-1950aug29-x00001?View=PDF\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n         http://www.unz.org/Pub/Reporter-1950aug29-x00001?View=PDF\n        </a>\n        ); September 12, 1950 (\n        <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://www.unz.org/Pub/Reporter-1950sep12-x00001?View=PDF\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n         http://www.unz.org/Pub/Reporter-1950sep12-x00001?View=PDF\n        </a>\n        );  November 21, 1950 (\n        <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://www.unz.org/Pub/Reporter-1950nov21-x00001?View=PDF\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n         http://www.unz.org/Pub/Reporter-1950nov21-x00001?View=PDF\n        </a>\n        ); July 24, 1951 (\n        <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://www.unz.org/Pub/Reporter-1951jul24-x00001?View=PDF\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n         http://www.unz.org/Pub/Reporter-1951jul24-x00001?View=PDF\n        </a>\n        ); October 30, 1951 (\n        <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://www.unz.org/Pub/Reporter-1951oct30-x00001?View=PDF\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n         http://www.unz.org/Pub/Reporter-1951oct30-x00001?View=PDF\n        </a>\n        ); and December 11, 1951 (inside cover:\n        <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://www.unz.org/Pub/Reporter-1951dec11?View=PDF\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n         http://www.unz.org/Pub/Reporter-1951dec11?View=PDF\n        </a>\n        ), all accessed on January 14, 2015; Chris Ishii IMDb entry,\n        <a class=\"external free offsite\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0410992/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n         http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0410992/\n        </a>\n        .\n       </span>\n      </li>\n     </ol>\n    </div>\n   </div>\n   <!-- \nNewPP limit report\nCached time: 20240524023147\nCache expiry: 86400\nDynamic content: false\nComplications: []\nCPU time usage: 0.018 seconds\nReal time usage: 0.022 seconds\nPreprocessor visited node count: 216/1000000\nPost‐expand include size: 2076/2097152 bytes\nTemplate argument size: 254/2097152 bytes\nHighest expansion depth: 6/40\nExpensive parser function count: 0/100\nUnstrip recursion depth: 0/20\nUnstrip post‐expand size: 4935/5000000 bytes\nExtLoops count: 0\n-->\n   <!--\nTransclusion expansion time report (%,ms,calls,template)\n100.00%   13.251      1 -total\n 25.55%    3.386      1 Template:Reflist\n 19.67%    2.606      1 Template:Databox-People\n 11.73%    1.555      1 Template:Published\n 11.05%    1.465      1 Template:AuthorByline\n-->\n   <!-- Saved in parser cache with key encycmw:pcache:idhash:1615-0!canonical and timestamp 20240524023147 and revision id 36326\n -->\n  </div>\n </div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"toplink\">\n <a href=\"#top\">\n  <i class=\"icon-chevron-up\">\n  </i>\n  Top\n </a>\n</div>",
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