{"id":1248,"date":"2025-04-29T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quietamericans.com\/staging\/?p=1248"},"modified":"2025-10-27T15:06:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T22:06:37","slug":"iwao-takamoto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quietamericans.com\/staging\/iwao-takamoto\/","title":{"rendered":"Iwao Takamoto"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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In the cartoon, Scooby was born at the Dooville Veterinary Hospital. But in reality, he was born inside the incarceration camp.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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April 29, 1925: Iwao Takamoto was born in Los Angeles, California.\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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To generations of fans, he\u2019s best known as the man who created Scooby-Doo \u2014 the goofy Great Dane who helped make Saturday mornings magical.<\/p>\n

But the beginning of Iwao Takamoto\u2019s journey was anything but ordinary.<\/p>\n

In 1942, following Executive Order 9066<\/a>, Takamoto and his family were forcibly removed from their home and incarcerated at Manzanar, one of ten camps that imprisoned Japanese Americans during World War II. He was just 16 years old.<\/p>\n

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Civilian Exclusion Order No.5, photo by Dorothea Lange, 1942<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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The first group of Japanese-Americans arrive at the Manzanar War Relocation Center, one of ten major incarceration camps during WWII, 1942<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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20-year-old Iwao Takamoto, right after he joined the Walt Disney Studios, 1945, credit Barbara Takamoto<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Original sketch of Yogi Bear by Iwao Takamoto, also signed by Yogi Berra, 1998, credit The Takamoto Foundation<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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3 sketches by Iwao Takamoto, 2006, credit The Takamoto Foundation<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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It was inside this prison camp, behind barbed wire and under guard towers, that Takamoto discovered the path that would shape his life. He began studying illustration with the guidance of two fellow incarcerees who had once worked as Hollywood art directors. Their mentorship planted the seeds of a career that would later define American animation.<\/p>

After the war, Takamoto joined Walt Disney Studios, contributing to beloved classics like Lady and the Tramp and Sleeping Beauty. He eventually moved to Hanna-Barbera, where he helped design some of the most iconic cartoon characters of the 20th century \u2014 including Scooby-Doo, Astro from The Jetsons, and many more.<\/p>

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But Takamoto\u2019s impact didn\u2019t stop with his drawings.<\/p>

As he rose through the ranks, he became a mentor and advocate for other Japanese American artists, including Willie Ito, who had also experienced incarceration. Takamoto was more than a trailblazer \u2014 he was a leader who lifted others as he climbed, helping to reshape an industry that once seemed far beyond reach.<\/p>

This April 29 marks what would have been his 100th birthday.<\/p>

We remember Iwao Takamoto, who was able to draw joy from injustice.<\/p>

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Iwao Takamoto created 85% of Hanna-Barbera\u2019s beloved character at the height of his animation career<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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A portrait of Iwao Takamoto<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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Share this article<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the cartoon, Scooby was born at the Dooville Veterinary Hospital. But in reality, he was born inside the incarceration camp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[20,77,249,247,75,6,24,32,76,245,15],"class_list":["post-1248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aapi-history","tag-animation","tag-arts-culture","tag-entertainment-sports","tag-iwao-takamoto","tag-japanese-american-history","tag-manzanar","tag-quiet-americans","tag-scooby-doo","tag-wartime-incarceration","tag-wwii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quietamericans.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quietamericans.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quietamericans.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quietamericans.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quietamericans.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1248"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/quietamericans.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4766,"href":"https:\/\/quietamericans.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1248\/revisions\/4766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quietamericans.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quietamericans.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quietamericans.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quietamericans.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}