Yoshito Usui

Yoshito Usui (臼井 儀人) was a Japanese manga artist known for the popular Crayon Shin-chan series.

He was born in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.

In 1977, he graduated from Saitama Kasukabe technical high school (埼玉県立春日部工業高等学校).

After graduating he attended a part-time design-related college but dropped out.

In 1979, he joined an advertising company called POP Advertising.

He made his debut as a cartoonist in 1987 when Weekly Manga Action began running his Darakuya Store Monogatari.

In August 1990, his series Crayon Shin-chan began running in Weekly Manga Action, the series started as a spin-off of the character Shinnosuke Nikaido (二階堂信之介) of Darakuya Store Monogatari.

An animated series based on the comics began in 1992, and a Crayon Shin-chan boom followed the release of a 1993 animated film.

Usui was a devotee of Jehovah’s Witnesses who had a church facility constructed adjacent to his home in 1994.

He was known in the industry to read out the New Testament for a full 20 minutes at each meeting with his publisher and handing them out copies of the Bible as a gift.

He and his wife raised two daughters; both had moved out of the house at the time of Usui's death.

For a year beginning in 1995, Usui's Super Shufu Tsukimi-San comic strip ran in the magazine Manga Life.

On September 12, 2009, Usui's family reported him missing from his hometown of Kasukabe when Usui did not return from hiking in nearby Gunma Prefecture.

On September 19, 2009, a body with clothes matching those described in the report filed by Usui's family was found at the bottom of a cliff at Mount Arafune in Gunma.

The body was identified by dental records and family members the next day as being that of Usui.

His camera was recovered and the final shot was taken from the cliff.

His funeral was held September 23 in a private service.

It was attended by three thousand people.