Thanks to a tweet from Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), I just read the news that Yoshito Usui, the creator of Crayon Shinchan, died after falling off of a cliff. Apparently he was taking photos in Nagano and must have slipped.
Here’s the article: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090922a2.html
This is very sad news. I learned Japanese thanks to Crayon Shinchan. No joke. When I went on JET, I subscribed to Manga-Jin, a now defunct magazine that would do line-by-line explanations of manga. It was studying from an issue of Manga-Jin one day that introduced me to Crayon Shinchan.
I was hooked, and I proceeded to buy ever new Crayon Shinchan book I could find. The relatively simple language combined with use of furigana plus the appealingly crude humor that also inadvertently explained a lot of Japanese social dynamics was exactly what I was seeking in those pre-Internet days of JET.
The news of Usui’s death reminded me that I had a sort of fantasy (long since forgotten) where I would track down Usui-san and thank him and let him know how influential he was in my Japanese language study.
Well, that opportunity no longer exists. But if anyone else wants to share any thoughts or memories about their experience with Crayon Shinchan, feel free to post below.
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[…] 9/22/09: Crayon Shinchan creator Yoshito Usui dies after falling off a cliff Yoshito Usui, the creator of Crayon Shin-chan, fell to his death after accidentally slipping off a cliff while taking photos. Crayon Shin-chan is a very popular manga and anime in Japan, and has been airing on TV Asahi since 1992. […]
[…] 9/22/09: Crayon Shinchan creator Yoshito Usui dies after falling off a cliff Yoshito Usui, the creator of Crayon Shin-chan, fell to his death after accidentally slipping off a cliff while taking photos. Crayon Shin-chan is a very popular manga and anime in Japan, and has been airing on TV Asahi since 1992. […]
[…] 9/22/09: Crayon Shinchan creator Yoshito Usui dies after falling off a cliff Yoshito Usui, the creator of Crayon Shin-chan, fell to his death after accidentally slipping off a cliff while taking photos. Crayon Shin-chan is a very popular manga and anime in Japan, and has been airing on TV Asahi since 1992. […]