Copywriter Shigesato Itoi was born on November 10, 1948, in Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture.
His parents divorced shortly after his birth, and he was raised by his father. It wasn't until he attended Maebashi High School that he discovered his love for literature. He then enrolled at Hosei University, where he became involved in the then-popular student movement. He served as the chairman of the protests to prevent the Sasebo Enterprise from docking in 1968, but eventually grew tired of the internal conflicts and dropped out of university after a year and a half.
After dropping out, he joined the design firm "Something." He began working on television commercials, winning consecutive silver and gold awards in the TVCF Idea Awards. He then went independent and won the Tokyo Copywriters Club Newcomer Award in 1975 for his catchphrase for the jeans brand "Weldgin," "You're a very unfortunate person, Dad, if you don't appreciate the quality of this jumper!" He has since written numerous commercials, department stores, and even Studio Ghibli films. In 1978, Itoi edited Eikichi Yazawa's autobiography "Nariagari" (Rise to Power). In 1980, he was in charge of the reader submission page "Hentai Yoiko Shimbun" for the subculture magazine "Bikkuri House." During this time, Itoi demonstrated his talents in a variety of fields, including writing the lyrics for Kenji Sawada's hit song "TOKIO" in 1979. In 1990, Itoi led the "Tokugawa Buried Treasure Project," a groundbreaking attempt to broadcast the excavation site live, captivating viewers' attention. One of his most notable achievements is the video game "MOTHER," released in 1989. For this project, Itoi founded the game production company Ape that same year. The sequel, "MOTHER 2: Giygas Strikes Back," was released in 1994, captivating many game fans. In 1998, Itoi established the website "Hobonichi Itoi Shimbun." Initially positioned as a personal website, the site gained popularity through essays and interviews with many famous people, and has since grown into a mega-site with over one million daily viewers. The site also sells a variety of products, including the Hobonichi Techo, which is a collaboration between various artists and fashion brands such as Shoko Nakagawa and mina perhonen, and opened a brick-and-mortar store in Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo in May 2014.