Shin-Chan creator Yos--to Usui 's body was identified on September 20, 2009 in Japan. He had been killed in a hiking accident where he apparently fell off the mountain/hiking trail he was on.

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The body was discovered 120 meters below the mountain's Tomoiwa cliff and reported at about 10:25 a.m. on Saturday by a male climber. Usui's backpack, camera, and other items had fallen about 50 meters away. Inside Usui's backpack was his mobile phone, wallet, and clothes. A police helicopter from Gunma Prefecture airlifted the body on Sunday afternoon. Police from the nearby town of Shimonita concluded that the 51-year-old creator died from collapsed lungs and other injuries sustained across his entire body sometime in the afternoon of September 11.

According to Usui's family, Usui had said that he was "going hiking for a day in Gunma Prefecture," as he often did, on the morning of September 11. His mobile phone was last detected in the vicinity of Karuizawa, a town about 100 kilometers (about 60 miles) northwest of his Kasukabe home, on Monday. Karuizawa is located in the mountainous eastern part of Nagano Prefecture, near the border of the equally mountainous Gunma Prefecture.

In particular, Usui was said to have expressed his intent to climb the Arafune mountain, which towers 1,422 meters (4,665 feet) high at the border between Nagano and Gunma Prefectures. According to Gunma Prefecture's police, there are no guardrails near the top of Tomoiwa cliff, but the established climber's trail is too far from the cliffside for someone to fall. Authorities had been searching this area since his wife reported his disappearance on September 12, after he did not return the night before.
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Source(s):
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-09-20/body-identified-as-crayon-s...

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The creator of Japanese cartoon character 'Crayon Shin-chan' is "Yos--to Usui".

Yos--to Usui (April 21, 1958 – September 11, 2009), born in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, was a manga artist known for the popular manga Crayon Shin-chan.

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.
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'Crayon Shin-Chan' Creator Found Dead in Japan
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Yos--to Usui, the creator of the "Crayon Shin-Chan" manga series, was found dead over the weekend on Mount Arafune, where he had gone hiking on September 11th and never returned. The body of 51-year-old manga-ka was found at the base of mountain, and he is believed to have fallen accidentally.

"Crayon Shin-Chan," which sold over 25 million copies of its first volume in Japan and is published in America by DC's manga imprint CMX, chronicles the adventures of a mischievous 5-year-old boy. Both the manga and the anime series it inspired were ongoing at the time of Usui's death, and whether the Japanese television episodes will air as scheduled next month is uncertain.

While the frequent Japanese language puns, anatomical jokes and racier humor (by American standards) of "Crayon Shin-Chan" often made the series difficult to translate for Western audiences, it was a story about a child that managed to be as simultaneously offensive and charming as children often are. Usui will be missed.

If you've never had a chance to see his work, take a look at a preview of "Crayon Shin-Chan" on the CMX website.
Source(s):
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2009/09/21/crayon-shin-chan-creator-found-dea...

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The author of Crayon Shin-Chan was Yos--to Usui. He was born April 21, 1958. He died September 11, 2009, which according to news reports he had been hiking. Later his body was found along with his camera and the last shot on the camera was from the top of the cliff. The current report is that they believe it was an accident but it is still under investigation.
Source(s):
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20090921p2a00m0na008000c.html

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