Who is Dr. Sameji? The man behind the Pokemon "shark" autograph

[pfm]

Background

Ｄｒ．サメジー (Dr. Sameji) is an enigmatic character that would appear at Japanese Pokémon TCG events. For the Western fan, there is no context at all for who he is. However, his autograph that features a shark has grabbed the attention of many Western fans and actually carries some value. While his autograph is recognizable, we are still left with the question: “Who the heck is Dr. Sameji anyway??”

Note: In Japanese, サメ (same - pronounced “sah-may”) means “shark”

Dr. Sameji Graded Examples

Dr. Sameji / Fake Dr. OOYAMA - The Character

Before you can understand Dr. Sameji, you need to understand Ｄｒ．オーヤマ (Dr. OOYAMA).

Kouichi Ooyama ( 大山 功一) is one of the original Pokémon TCG designers and is probably best known for the three cards below. He has a character based off of himself called “Dr. OOYAMA” that would have been familiar to Japanese children. He features a labcoat, wig, trimmed beard, and a large trading card mounted on his head.

Left to right: Early Chansey card design, OOYAMA’S Pikachu, Bilingual Exeggutor
(note Dr. OOYAMA in the bottom right of the Exeggutor)

Dr. OOYAMA appeared in the “Pokémon Trading Card Game” Game Boy game released December 18, 1998 and appearing on the “Pokémon Machine” card from the vending series.

Dr. OOYAMA appearing in Trainer Magazine 3

At the 1999 Tropical Mega Battle (Aug 24-27), Kouichi Ooyama was there and made an appearance in character as Dr. OOYAMA. It seems that sometime around the TMB, Dr. Sameji would begin showing up, seemingly as a comical gimmick. At least one event, they were spotted together.

From Trainer Magazine 3
Caption from left image: “At the Nagoya venue, a rare two-shot of Dr. OOYAMA and the fake Dr. OOYAMA was seen!”
Caption from right image: “With the fake Dr. OOYAMA’s gag, the venue erupted in laughter!? (Sendai)”

Magazine article explaining that Fake Dr. OOYAMA is actually Dr. Sameji

Dr. Sameji appearing in Osaka, December 1999 (source)

Autographs

Fake Dr. OOYAMA

I found early examples of a Dr. Sameji autograph where he signed it “Fake Dr. OOYAMA”.

にせＤｒ．オーヤ / Fake Dr. OOYAMA, signed October 3, 1999

Note: にせ or ニセ means “fake”

PSA misattributing the auto to Dr. OOYAMA

https://www.psacard.com/cert/62512979

Dr. Sameji

The most common autograph he produced is the Dr. Sameji with the shark motif.

Ｄｒ．サメジー / Dr. Sameji, signed Feb 13, 2000

There are some copies that have additional autographs:アクノウチ (Aknouichi), and ハガネザワ (Haganezawa), “researchers” for Dark-type and Steel-type Pokémon.

Image of Haganezawa

Ｄｒ．サメジー / Dr. Sameji & ハガネザワ/Haganezawa & アクノウチ/Aknouichi, signed Dec 12, 1999

Fake Dr. Sameji

There is a another autograph that was signed predominantly with the dates '00.10.9 and '00.11.19 that says “Fake Dr. Sameji”.

I am not fully convinced this was signed by Dr. Sameji. The different dating format, style, use of katakana (ニセ), sketch, short run of the autograph could all be suggest it was signed by someone “pretending” to be Dr. Sameji in the same way Dr. Sameji pretended to be Dr. OOYAMA.

ニセＤｒ．サメジー / Fake Dr. Sameji, signed October 9, 2000

Appearances

These dates are from images of autographs. It’s likely an incomplete list but captures common dates.

Character	Auto Date	Date	Possible Event
Fake Dr. OOYAMA	1999.7.30	Fri Jul 30th 1999
Fake Dr. OOYAMA	1999.10.3	Sun Oct 3, 1999
Dr. Sameji	1999.12.19	Sun Dec 12, 1999
Dr. Sameji	2000.1.9	Sun Jan 9, 2000	Nagoya Champion Road 2000
Dr. Sameji	2000.1.22	Sat Jan 22, 2000	Tokyo Champion Road 2000
Dr. Sameji	2000.2.13	Sun Feb 13, 2000	Hiroshima Champion Road 2000
Dr. Sameji	2000.2.20	Sun Feb 20, 2000	Sapporo Champion Road 2000
Dr. Sameji	2000.4.9	Sun Apr 9, 2000
Dr. Sameji	2000.4.22	Sat Apr 22, 2000	Takamatsu World Challenge 2000
Dr. Sameji	2000.4.23	Sun Apr 23, 2000	Matsuyama World Challenge 2000
Dr. Sameji	2000.4.30	Sun Apr 30, 2000	Morioka World Challenge 2000
Dr. Sameji	2000.5.13	Sat May 13, 2000
Dr. Sameji	2000.5.14	Sun May 14, 2000	Nagano World Challenge 2000
		Sun Jul 16, 2000	World Challenge (Summer) Hokkaido
Dr. Sameji	2000.8.20	Sun Aug 20, 2000	2nd Champion’s League
“Fake Dr. Sameji”	2000.10.9	Mon October 9, 2000	Official Pokémon Card Gym event (Nagoya)
“Fake Dr. Sameji”	2000.11.19	Sun Nov 19, 2000	Official Pokémon Card Gym event (Nagoya or Tokyo)
Dr. Sameji	2000.11.23	Thurs Nov 23, 2000
Dr. Sameji	2001.4.22	Sun Apr 22, 2001
Dr. Sameji	2001.7.27	Fri Jul 27, 2001
Dr. Sameji	2001.9.2	Sun Sept 2, 2001
Dr. Sameji	2001.9.9	Sun Sept 9, 2001

Dr. Sameji - The Person

Dr. Sameji is Shinichi Samejima (鮫島伸), CEO of Holos Entertainment.

Note, the kanji character 鮫 actually does mean shark .

Left: Shinichi Samejima at work; Right: Shinichi Samejima signing as “Dr. Sameji” in 2023 (source)

Holos Entertainment was created in 2011 as a consulting business for trading card games. Specifically, consulting on the marketing, sales, distribution and customer service side of a TCG business. Early in his career, Samejima begain his work in TCGs working for Media Factory in marketing (the company that does the Japanese side of the Pokemon TCG). Later he would also work for Takara Tomy, Wizards of the Coast and Capcom, doing TCG marketing at all these companies.

In an article, he remarks how impactful the Tropical Mega Battle was for his career:

While working at Media Factory, I was involved in Pokémon card events and participated as a staff member at the world tournament held in Hawaii. I was moved by how children, despite not speaking the same language, quickly became friends through TCG. This experience fueled my desire to preserve this “play” as a culture, and I decided to focus my company’s main theme on TCG.
- Shinichi Samejima (translated)

In the same article he notes how well connected he is in the TCG world and how he is at least one degree of separation from everyone in the field. He credits his success in the business to this network.

Image Gallery

Show gallery

[mrbubbles]

Very lovely write-up. I just assumed that Dr.Sameji was a different person but not that his persona was derived as being a fake Dr.OOYAMA. Thanks for this history lesson in what I think is one of the most unique yet easily recognizable autographs in Pokemon TCG.

Cheers!

[PocketCreacher]

Thanks again for putting this together! The Dr.Sameji rabbit hole is a deep one given how hard it is to find information about him in the west and the confusion his different aliases cause, but understanding it provides some pretty interesting context into the early days of the Pokémon TCG in Japan.

[Pkmnhawaii_collector]

Loved the write up and the history behind Dr. Sameji! Thanks for putting this together!

I actually picked up this Sameji auto a few years ago. The original person who submitted this didn’t do it correctly and it just says trading card. But I still cherish it and appreciate it even more thanks to your article!

[pfm]

That’s because it was DNA certified, not dual PSA+DNA

Soon you will only be able to do that in blue label!

New Blue PSA Label for Autograph-Only Authentication

[Pkmnhawaii_collector]

Ah ya I’ve been reading about those blue label certs. I still need to think whether I want to resubmit it for the blue, or go for the low card grade and auto but keep it in red

[pfm]

You can also do Authentic/ Authentic on both auto grade and card grade

Or just leave it as it is. Unless you really want it to say pikachu

[Kijamon]

I bought this last year as it was fairly cheap. Comparisons don’t look that good for the other autos but the date matches another signing date.

I believe the seller won it in a contest on the day but the listing is gone now.

So who knows? Great write up though, I love the oddities pokemon has given us

[neverforget50in07]

Even though I knew the backstory of the autos, I’m happy to learn that he’s still working with trading cards.

Glad to see he’s been having a successful career and life.

Fantastic write up!

[lyleberr]

Thank you for the great writeup!

[Rattlesnake]

Great article and pretty cool looking signature. PFM one step closer to becoming a secret rare scholar!

[BANKS]

that is an incredibly nice find. I really like the pikachu trainers and the signature goes so well

[BANKS]

Thank you for collecting all this info into a digestible piece, for the culture!

[boo]

Really awesome write up, loved the inclusion of all the images. Felt like the spread did a lot to get the article to flow.

[Dyl]

This was so enjoyable to read!

[jaws]

I was just talking about Dr. Sameji yesterday! I really miss my stolen autographed Dark Charizard.

He’s an integral part in Pokemon history, I’m glad he is still relevant.

If this ever pops up please remember to contact me so I can recover it!

[smpratte]

One of the best looking autographs! Also cool how he is from the original era and took part in some of the major tournaments. And his autograph is available enough on multiple popular cards. Great to finally know the full identity of the shark man!

[pfm]

Fun fact: I don’t own a Sameji or had any desire to before the article because he was just unknown to me

Now I have a new level of appreciation

[camrok37]

This was incredibly informative, thanks for taking the time to make this write up. I don’t own any of these autos either and despite not knowing who he is I never I actually took the time to look up any information. Turns out my laziness and desire for someone to just plop all of this in my lap paid off! Although now I want to buy more autos…

[octaane]

I’m loving the article series that have been popping up lately, this was great - thank you