Tsunekazu Ishihara

Tsunekazu Ishihara (Tsunekaz also seen; Japanese: 石原恒和 Ishihara Tsunekazu, born on November 27, 1957) is president and CEO of The Pokémon Company and producer of Pokémon. He manages all aspects of the Pokémon franchise including the, , and the TCG.

History
Ishihara graduated from the University of Tsukuba in 1983, with a master's degree in Art and Design. Soon after, he joined Ape Inc. (which later would become Creatures Inc.), where he was the producer in such titles as ' and '. His involvement with Pokémon started in the early 1990s, when he started helping with the development of. Shortly after, he was inspired to create a trading card game based on the titles. In April of 1998, The Pokémon Company was established and Ishihara was given the position of representative director. In 2001, he was named the president.

Game credits

 *  (1989) - Special Thanks
 *  (1993) - Producer
 *  (1994) - Special Effects Artist, Line Producer
 *  (1995) - Director, Screen Graphic Designer
 *  (1995) - Director, Screen Graphic Designer
 *  (1996) - Producer
 * Pokémon Blue (1996) - Producer
 *  (1996) - Director
 * Game Boy Camera (1998) - Special Thanks
 * Pokémon Stadium (Japanese) (1998) - Producer
 *  (1998) - Producer
 * Hey You, Pikachu! (1998) - Producer
 * Pokémon Trading Card Game (1998) - Producer
 * Super Smash Bros. (1999) - Original Game Staff (Pokémon Products Supervisor; "Pokémon", "EarthBound" Produce)
 * Pokémon Snap (1999) - Pokémon Producer
 * Pokémon Stadium (1999) - Producer
 *  (1999) - Producer
 *  (1999) - Executive Producer
 *  (1999) - Producer
 * Pokémon Puzzle League (2000) - Licensing Supervisor
 * Pokémon Puzzle Challenge (2000) - Production
 *  (2000) - Supervisor
 *  (2000) - Producer
 * Pokémon Stadium 2 (2000) - Producer
 * Pokémon Card GB2: Here Comes Team GR! (2001) - Producer
 * Pokémon Party mini (2001) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Pinball mini (2001) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Zany Cards (2001) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Puzzle Collection (2001) - Executive Producer
 * Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001) - Original Game Staff (Product Supervision: Pokémon; Producer: EarthBound)
 * Pokémon Tetris (2002) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Race mini (2002) - Executive Producer
 *  (2002) - Special Thanks
 * Pichu Bros. mini (2002) - Executive Producer
 * Machop at Work (2002) - Producer
 * Kingler's Day (2002) - Producer
 * Togepi's Great Adventure (2002) - Executive Producer
 *  (2002) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Box: Ruby & Sapphire (2003) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Channel (2003) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire (2003) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Colosseum (2003) - Executive Producer
 *  (2004) - Executive Producer
 *  (2004) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Dash (2004) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness (2005) - Executive Producer
 *  (2005) - Special Thanks
 * Pokémon Trozei (2005) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team (2005) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Ranger (2006) - Executive Producer
 *  (2006) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Battle Revolution (2006) - Executive Producer
 *  (2007) - Special Thanks
 * Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness (2007) - Executive Producer
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008) - Senior Supervisor
 * Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia (2008) - Executive Producer
 * My Pokémon Ranch (2008) - Executive Producer
 *  (2008) - Executive Producer
 *  (2009) - Very Special Thanks
 * Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky (2009) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Rumble (2009) - Executive Producer
 *  (2009) - Executive Producer
 * PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure (2009) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs (2010) - Executive Producer
 *  (2010) - Executive Producer
 * Learn with Pokémon: Typing Adventure (2011) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Rumble Blast (2011) - Executive Producer
 * PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond (2011) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Conquest (2012) - Executive Producer
 *  (2012) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Dream Radar (2012) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity (2012) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Rumble U (2013) - Executive Producer
 *  (2013) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Battle Trozei (2014) - Executive Producer
 * The Thieves and the 1000 Pokémon (2014) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Art Academy (2014) - Executive Producer
 * Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U (2014) - Senior Supervisor
 *  (2014) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Rumble World (2015) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon (2015) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon Picross (2015) - Executive Producer
 * Great Detective Pikachu ~Birth of a New Duo~ (2016) - Executive Producer
 *  (2016) - Executive Producer
 *  (2017) - Executive Producer
 * Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! (2018) - Executive Producer

Executive producer

 * Pokémon TV series
 * Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters out of the Gate!

Production supervisor

 * Pocket Monsters: Advanced Generation TV series
 * The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon
 * Spell of the Unown: Entei
 * Mewtwo Returns
 * Pikachu's PikaBoo
 * Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias
 * Jirachi: Wish Maker
 * Destiny Deoxys
 * Lucario and the Mystery of Mew
 * Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea

Supervision

 * Mewtwo Strikes Back
 * The Power of One
 * Pikachu's Island Adventure

Appearances in Games
Ishihara (Japanese: Ｍｒ．イシハラ Mr. Ishihara) appears in as a Pokémon card collector. Ishihara owns over 10,000 cards. He's also written many books about the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

In the game, Ishihara can always be found in his house on the cape to the northwest after being told by someone in the game where he is. He will trade very rare promotional Pikachu cards to the player for rare colorless cards. In order, he will trade a for a, a  for a , and an alternate design  for a. After all three trades have been completed, Ishihara will leave in search of someone who will give him the Phantom Cards.

In Pokémon Card GB2: Here Comes Team GR!, Ishihara moves between his house and a new area, his villa. He will still trade cards with the player, but this time, he will be available to duel in his villa after all his trades are completed. He uses the TCG Very Rare Card Deck, which contains many rare promotional cards.

Trivia

 * Images of Ishihara are often incorrectly identified as Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri. The origin of this error is unknown.
 * Ishihara's favorite Pokémon is because he used it all throughout the debugging and testing of Pokémon Red and Green Versions.
 * A hidden Easter egg in sets the rival's default name to Ishihara as soon as the game is turned on. This name does not appear in the default names list and is overwritten as soon as the player has a chance to choose a name.
 * One of the default undefined names in the Japanese Blue is Tsunekazu, much as "Satoshi" is for Red and "Shigeru" is for Green.
 * Similarly, one of the default rival names in Pokémon FireRed Version is Kaz (Japanese: ツネカズ Tsunekazu).