FAMED Japanese manga artist Fujiko A. Fujio, known for beloved children cartoons including Little Ghost Q-Taro and Ninja Hattori, has died aged 88, reported local media today.

The artist, whose real name was Motoo Abiko, was found outside his home near Tokyo today, said private broadcaster TBS and others.

Police declined to confirm the reports, but tributes have been tweeted by other artists and those in the publishing industry.

Abiko was the eldest son of a monk at a historic temple in Toyama. But his family left the temple after the death of his father when he was in fifth grade.

“My father’s death changed my life the most. If he had not died, I think I would have been a monk,” he told the Asahi Shimbun daily in 2020.

In high school, he became friends with Hiroshi Fujimoto, who later created Japan’s much-loved cartoon Doraemon, and the pair started to work together.

They formed a partnership that debuted in 1951, jointly producing works under the pen name Fujiko Fujio, and shared a Tokyo apartment with other famous manga artists including Osamu Tezuka.

One of the duo’s early works was Q-Taro, about a good-natured, mischievous ghost child who starts living with a human family, which found fans abroad.

Abiko created various manga by himself, including Ninja Hattori, a ninja who becomes best friends with a regular kid, as well as other works targeted at adults.

Despite his long-time association with Fujimoto, Abiko confessed he was reluctant to read Doraemon cartoons too closely.

“I have been avoiding reading (them) as a protective measure, because when I read them, I am influenced by them and think ‘I cannot draw like this’,” he said with a laugh. – AFP, April 7, 2022.