Tributes poured in yesterday for Japanese cartoonist Yoshito Usui after confirmation the bruised body of a man found on a mountain was that of the creator of the popular Crayon Shin-chan series.
Usui, 51, who is popular worldwide among manga enthusiasts, went missing on Sept. 11 after he went hiking on his own on a mountain range straddling Gunma and Nagano prefectures.
A body was found on Saturday by a fellow hiker and Usui’s family late onh Sunday confirmed it was Usui, a recluse who was married with two daughters.
The indications are he fell and there was no suggestion of suicide, police and reports said.
His death dampened celebration yesterday on the Respect for the Aged holiday in Kasukabe, a suburban city outside Tokyo that has become well-known nationally as the place where the cartoonist lived and set the Crayon Shin-chan story.
“I’m deeply depressed to hear the unfortunate news. I pray his soul rest in peace with citizens here,” Kasukabe Mayor Ryozo Ishikawa said by telephone.
“I saw many sorrowful citizens today as Shin-chan is definitely a Kasukabe kid. We hope Shin-chan, a byword for cheerfulness, will keep staying here with his family,” he said.
Usui made his debut as a manga author in 1987 and sprang to prominence in the 1990s with Crayon Shin-chan, which features the daily life of Shinnosuke, a mischievous five-year-old boy.
The series ran regularly in a magazine and later was made into a book and animation version.
“We had been praying for Mr Usui’s safety with his family, but now feel the utmost regret over how things have turned out. We are in a big shock,” Futabasha, the publishing house of Crayon Shin-chan, said in a statement.
A Futabasha official said the last picture on the broken digital camera found near Usui’s body was one peering down a steep cliff.
“As he was full of curiosity, we think he fell off at the moment he took the picture,” the official said.
The books have been translated in 14 countries, while the series has aired in 30 countries.
Shinnosuke embarrasses his parents and kindergarten teachers as he often pulls down his trousers and shakes his hips while cracking indecent jokes.
The behavior prompted parents-teachers’ associations in Japan to list the animation as a production they wanted to keep out of children’s view. But the character has more recently been used in educational materials.
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The United States Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine communication cables to the US that include Chinese technology or equipment. “We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats.” The United States has for years expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. The U.S. has
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
RSS