Born in Akishima, Tokyo as the eldest son. A family of four: father, mother, and a younger brother three years his junior.

After reaching adulthood, he obtained a certified care worker license and worked at an elderly care facility. He subsequently gained experience in marketing at an advertising agency and software development at an IT company. Simultaneously working as a model, talent, and actor, he experienced approximately 100 different side jobs including staffing, event planning, and sales proxy. This diverse professional experience later became the strength of "being able to play any role" at Family Romance.

His experience as a care worker in particular taught him the importance of listening to people and walking alongside others' lives. This experience became the origin of the family proxy work — "taking on a part of someone else's life."

In 2004, a request from a single mother he knew became the turning point. Her 4-year-old son was being disadvantaged in kindergarten entrance interviews because he had no father. Ishii volunteered to play the father role at the interview, and the boy was successfully admitted.

From this experience, a strong conviction was born: "It's wrong for a child to be disadvantaged just because they don't have a father." He simultaneously realized that many people suffer social disadvantages due to the absence of family.

In 2009, he founded Family Romance Inc. The company name derives from Sigmund Freud's concept of "Family Romance (Familienroman)." Freud described the psychological mechanism by which children fantasize about ideal parents as "family romance." Ishii saw in this concept the essence of his business — making the ideal family people seek into reality.

In the early days, Ishii handled all cases alone, but requests surged through word of mouth and media exposure. The business expanded from a sole proprietorship to an organization, growing into a company with over 5,000 registered staff.

Services also expanded significantly beyond the original family proxy offerings. From wedding attendance, friend proxy, apology proxy, audience proxy, to elderly care — now offering over 100 types of services.

In November 2017, the prestigious American magazine The Atlantic published a major feature article on Ishii and Family Romance. The article explored Ishii's activities through the theme of "loneliness in Japanese society and the business that fills it," generating enormous worldwide response. This article became the turning point that made Ishii internationally known.

That same year, popular American comedian Conan O'Brien visited Japan and filmed at Family Romance for TBS (USA)'s Conan in Japan. He experienced the "rental family" service alongside Ishii. The broadcast became a major talking point in America.

In 2018, the UK's BBC produced a documentary introducing the "rental family" phenomenon in Japan to the world, with Ishii as the central figure.

The American literary magazine The New Yorker also published a feature, analyzing Ishii's activities from cultural and sociological perspectives.

On April 6-7, 2019, he was invited to lecture at Harvard University's Global Health & Leadership Conference (GHLC). He presented on Japan's proxy industry, the loneliness crisis, and Family Romance's social role, receiving the Glass Award. He became the first Japanese person to lecture on the proxy industry at Harvard.

Subsequently, he was featured in CNN and Netflix documentaries among others, establishing international recognition as the face of "rental families."

In Japan as well, he appeared on all major Tokyo-based networks including Nippon TV, TBS, Fuji TV, TV Asahi, TV Tokyo, and NHK. He has been extensively covered by major media including Asahi Shimbun, Nikkei, Yomiuri Shimbun, and Jiji Press.

After reading The Atlantic feature, master German filmmaker Werner Herzog became deeply interested in Ishii's story and came to Japan. After conducting approximately 80 auditions in Japan, Herzog cast Ishii as the lead. Herzog praised Ishii's "natural acting ability" and "depth as a human being."

The film 'Family Romance, LLC' tells the story of Ishii playing "father" to a client's 12-year-old daughter. It was shot using Herzog's distinctive technique of blurring the line between fiction and documentary.

In May 2019, it had its world premiere at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival's Directors' Fortnight section. The screening was met with great applause, and Ishii became one of the Japanese actors to stand on the stage of an international film festival.

The film was subsequently screened in cinemas and film festivals in over 20 countries. Critics praised it as "an excellent work that quietly depicts loneliness in modern Japanese society" and "new territory for Herzog."

In 2021, he was nominated for Best New Actor at the Faro Island Film Festival (Iceland).

In 2022, he appeared in the stage production 'Der unsichtbare Reaktor (The Invisible Reactor)' at Germany's Nuremberg State Theatre (Staatstheater Nurnberg).

The work was an experimental stage piece exploring invisible social dynamics — nuclear power, technology, and the substitution of human relationships — with Ishii delivering a unique performance as a practitioner of "rental families." German audiences showed deep interest in Japanese society's loneliness and the cultural phenomenon of "proxy services."

His work with Herzog on 'Family Romance, LLC' led to the invitation from the German theater world.

Family Romance provides over 100 types of services with 5,000+ registered staff, handling requests from across Japan. See the Services page for details.

Ishii himself works as a rental father in over 25 families. Over 35 children believe Ishii is their real father. As a rental husband, he has played "husband" to over 600 women. Some cases have continued for over 8 years.

For details on Ishii's work as a rental father, see the Rental Father page. For rental husband activities, see the Rental Husband page.

For the full range of services offered by Family Romance, visit the official site (family-romance.com).

In 2017, he made his acting debut appearing in Episode 7 of Fuji TV's drama 'Keiji Yugami.'

In 2019, he starred in Werner Herzog's film 'Family Romance, LLC.' He was cast after approximately 80 auditions. The film screened at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival and was released in over 20 countries. In 2021, he was nominated for Best New Actor at the Faro Island Film Festival.

In 2022, he appeared in the stage production 'Der unsichtbare Reaktor (The Invisible Reactor)' at Germany's Nuremberg State Theatre. His international success in film led to the invitation from the German theater world.

In 2023, he appeared in the documentary film 'Rental x Family' (directed by Takehito Sakamoto).

For details on Ishii's acting career, see the Actor page.

Has appeared on all major Tokyo-based television networks. Below is a selection of major appearances.

Following the 2017 feature in The Atlantic, he has been covered by media around the world.