Goodbyes are difficult. Mangaka Sanpei Satou, known for his four panel manga ‘Fuji Santarou Meibamen’, has passed away at the age of 91.
The author died last Saturday, July 31, in a hospital located in Tokyo, Japan, due to complications from pneumonia that was diagnosed in June 2021.
Since then, Satou has been under medical supervision and surrounded by friends and family, who say that the creator of ‘Fuji Santarou Meibamen’ had not worked in the industry for more than two years.
A life of decorations
Sanpei Satou is part of the generation that changed the world of manga, working in the industry since 1951, after moving to the city of Tokyo from the city of Nagoya.
In his works we find several points in common, being an author who played with the daily reality of the Japanese family, injected with comedy and social criticism.
Among his most emblematic works you will find ‘Fuji Santarou Meibamen’, a four-panel manga that ran in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper for 16 years and recounts the life of a young worker during the economic bubble after the Second World War.
By the time the story ended, Satou had amassed 19 compilation volumes and as many as 8,168 comic strips, published daily in the morning edition of the newspaper.
Due to his contribution to the country, the author received the highest award to an artist in Japan with the Purple Ribbon Medal in 1997, for contributing to academic and artistic developments, improvements and achievements.
Additionally, in 2006 he won the Small Ribbon of the Order of the Rising Sun, distinguished achievement to Japanese society, which will never forget the name of Sanpei Satou.
