As a student, he gained experience with recording and mixing for a theater, while occasionally writing what he considered to be poor pieces of music.
He eventually found an advertisement for a sound creator job at HAL; although he had not previously heard of this profession before, he decided to apply for it, which led to him joining in 1990.
Ishikawa also composed for Kirby Super Star in 1996, feeling that the ideas in the tracks he wrote were what he had always imagined would fit in certain settings.
For Kirby's Dream Land 3, Ishikawa decided to incorporate influences from genres such as techno and drum'n'bass, wishing to evolve the franchise's sound further.
Seniors at the company did not initially understand the soundtrack's shift in musical style, although then-HAL president Satoru Iwata did not object to it, which relieved Ishikawa.
The composers commented their thoughts about the festival on the promotional video posted prior to it, with Ishikawa feeling that his tracks were usually not written with the intention to be performed live.
[4] His music sometimes incorporates unusual time signatures, although Ishikawa has stated that this may result from experimenting with a sequencer, rather than intending to be eccentric.
[7] He has cited Paul Mauriat, Isao Tomita, Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Brian Eno as being among his musical influences.
[11] In 2021, a cover of Ishikawa's composition, "Meta Knight's Revenge" from Kirby Super Star, performed by The 8-Bit Big Band featuring Button Masher, won a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella.