Shigemitsu “Shiggy” Ichinomiya
Shigemitsu “Shiggy” Ichinomiya is a professional photographer, a triathlete, and writer of English teaching materials living in Los Angeles. Born in Kobe, Japan to a Japanese father and a German mother, raised primarily in London, England, “Shiggy” Ichinomiya, graduated with an English literature degree from Boston University in 1991.
Shiggy moved to Japan and was an English language immersion teacher for the Hyogo Prefectural Government, the YMCA and YWCA, Shoei Women’s College, Shinwa High School, Mitsubishi Electric, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, juku’s (commonly known as “cram schools,”) Proctor and Gamble (P & G), and taught English privately from children to doctors, lawyers and business executives.
Selected as a co-host on DirecTV’s “TOEIC Friends Club,” in 1999, a show that aired twice daily for one full year, he also wrote and starred as over ten different characters in his own TV show where he taught English phrases through humorous skits. He was also a live-on-air radio DJ doing a Top 20 Hits Countdown Show for FM Tokyo’s affiliate station–FM Shiga. Shiggy sat side by side with the “gaijin tarento,” Dave Spector and Yoshimoto Kogyo’s Hijokaidan Silk, as a live-on-air TV reporter for ABC Japan, (Asahi Broadcasting Corporation) entitled “Wide ABCDE-SU!” In addition, Shiggy introduced new music on Virgin Megastores TV. A passionate, well-liked and respected teacher, he also enjoyed doing voice-over work in both English and Japanese for various companies including Japan Airlines (JAL), National-Panasonic, for Inoki Bombaye’s New Years’ Eve 2000 TV special, as well as J-Phone, Sony Playstation and other game devices.
After a satisfying decade in Japan, Shiggy returned to the United States in 2002 to pursue a photography career at GoShiggyGo. An active participant in the Los Angeles Triathlon Club, Shiggy was voted as 2010 Member of the Year and competed 7 triathlons, including his first Ironman. In 2011, Shiggy met Eric, rejoined TESOL, and co-authored Compelling Conversations – Japan: Questions and Quotations for High-Intermediate Japanese English Language Learners, released in 2015. This book combines his love of Japan, English teaching, and good conversation, and photography.