Article 27080 of rec.arts.anime:
From: doi@jrd.dec.com (Hitoshi Doi (=?ISO-2022-JP?B?GyRCRVowZj9OO1YbKEI=?=))
Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime
Subject: obituary for Hasegawa Machiko (typed in by Curtis Hoffmann)
Date: 9 Aug 92 22:51:09 GMT
Lines: 101

Another one from Curtis <currmann@pnet51.orb.mn.org>..

   From the Japan Times, August 4, 1992, reprinted without permission.

   Cartoonist is mourned by millions after four decades of 'Sazae-san'
   By Mark O'Neill

   Japan is mourning the cartoon queen who kept the nation laughing at
itself for 40 years.
   The family of Michiko Hasegawa, 72, recently announced that she died
of a heart attack in May at her home in Tokyo.
   Her death had been kept secret, at her request, until memorial rites
were completed -- true to the character of a woman who remained a very
private person, never married and rarely appeared in public or the
media.
   Ironically, the cartoon series that amused and delighted Japanese for
four decades was a celebration of family life, about seven people of
three generations under one roof.
   It was named "Sazae-san" after the housewife who is the center of the
family, living with her parents, brother and sister, husband and one
son.
   Sazae-san first appeared in 1946 in an evening newspaper in Fukuoka
and transferred in 1949 to the Asahi Shimbun, a national daily with a
circulation of about 8 million.

TV STAR

   She appeared in the Asahi for 25 years and in 1969 became the star of
an animated television series.  It continues to this day, with an
audience rating of more than 23 percent, among the most popular programs
on TV.
   News of Hasegawa's death sparked an outpouring praise and nostalgia,
with the media calling her queen of the family "manga" (cartoon), an art
form probably more developed and popular in Japan than any other
country.
   "I like Sazae-san because hers is such an ordinary family with whom
everyone can indentify," said Kazua Suzuki, a regular watcher who works
for a steel firm.
   "Her husband is a failure at work and is scared of his wife.  He
complains about her to his colleagues but is meek and mild when he goes
home.  Aren't many of us the same?" he asked.
   "The children don't like to study," he continued.  "When their mother
isn't looking, they start to play.  In Japan, the pressure to study is
intense -- which is why children like to see Sazae-san.  They would like
to be like her children."

NEWSPAPER GIVES PRAISE

   In an editorial in praise of Hasegawa, Asahi Shimbun said one reason
for her popularity was nostalgia for the extended family portrayed in
her cartoon.
   "As Japan became an economic superpower, people became corporate
warriors," it said.  "The nature of the Japanese family changed.  Seeing
Sazae-san, people are nostalgic."
   Most families in modern Tokyo, Asaka and other big cities consist of
just two generations, parents and children.
   "In the postwar years, people suffered from shortages of many things.
It was a gloomy atmosphere," said bank employee Hiroshi Tanaka.
"Sazae-san showed a bright, happy family.  It cheered people up and
became very popular."
   In those days, Sazae-san, like her compatriots, had to search all
over town for food, travel on overcrowded buses and trams, and took
pride in saving small amounts of money.
   Today her house is full of electronic gadgets and she buys designer
goods.
   Her creator's life was different.  Born in Saga Prefecture on the
southern island of Shikoku, Hasegawa moved to Tokyo when her father died.
She created her first manga at the age of 15.
   She lived her whole life with her elder sister, who headed the
company that published her work, in a house in central Tokyo.  In 1985
she opened a museum of her work nearby.
   She received many awards in recognition of her work and now, after
her death, the government has decided to give her the Medal of National
Distinction, the first manga artist, and only the second woman to
receive it.
   "I live a narrow life," Hasegawa once said.  "Because I don't like
going out, I stay at home."
   Local shopkeepers said they recognized themselves in her cartoons.
   Asked why her work was so popular, she replied, "I really don't know.
Society has become so busy and competitive -- doesn't everyone long to
relax in a warm bath?"

'MISS BAD TEMPER'

   In 1966, she created a second character, "Miss Bad Temper," a woman
in her 70's who delights in grumbling and being a nuisance to others.
Some people said the character reflected her creator's own pessimistic
views about modern Japanese society.
   When she turned 70, Hasegawa gave her sister three instructions to
follow in the event she fell ill -- she did not want to enter a
hospital, or undergo surgery and she wanted a secret burial.
   But Sazae-san and her family live on.  Miraculously, they have not
aged over the past 40 years.
   A spokesman for Fuji Television said it had additional scripts and
planned to continue the series.  Maybe Sazae-san will outlive us all.

--
Hitoshi Doi, International Open Systems Engineering        doi@jrd.dec.com
Japan Research and Development Center               decwrl!jrd.dec.com!doi
Digital Equipment Corporation Japan                     doi@decvax.dec.com