Hi Cure DragonEagle,
Cure DragonEagle 255 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 15, 2021 11:07 pm
Wow. You talk as if you've met him. Tell me you did!
Yes, I met Mr. Miyamoto a few times. He used to work at Disney Consumer Products near Los Angeles, CA as a designer and merchandising illustrator. A fan from the area let us know about an article about him in a small, local Japanese newspaper that mentioned that fact. I contacted him afterward and along with my fellow cohort, Tatsunokofan, arranged for him to attend the
San Diego Comic-Con International in 1998. He arrived with a translator and spent part of the day meeting fans at our
GatchaCon event within the show, taking questions and signing autographs. Those of us who headed up the Tatsunoko Fan Club USA at the time, also had dinner with him that night.
Mr. Miyamoto and a small section of the fans who met him at
GatchaCon '98.
Coming to meet a bunch of strangers was certainly nothing he needed to do. So it was incredibly nice of him on that level alone. But to spend so much time with us and answer our questions and comments with such great enthusiasm, showed he was kind and patient as well. He laughed a lot and I don't think I saw him without a smile all day.
Some of us were able to meet him at the film premiere for Yoshitaka Amano's
1001 Nights. He cheerfully introduced us to other past members of Tatsunoko Production who made the trip to see the film. He was funny, taking us around to everyone in a "You've got to meet these kids!" sort of manner. I also met him for a lunch during one of my work trips to LA. Each time he was the same - happy and talkative.
He loved working at Disney, which was a dream he had since he saw his first Disney film in Japan. Once he retired, he spent a few years going back and forth to Japan before finally moving back for good. Although he doesn't speak a lot of English, and I don't speak Japanese very well, we got along great and figured things out (the times when there was a translator present helped a lot!).