Takashi Yanase (1919–2013) A Japanese manga artist, picture-book author, poet, and lyricist. After the Second World War, he worked for the Kochi Shimbun newspaper and in the advertising department of Mitsukoshi before becoming an independent manga artist. His creative work ranged across comics, picture books, magazine editing, stage design, and songwriting, and he wrote the lyrics to the children's song "Te no Hira o Taiyo ni." Drawing on his wartime experiences, Yanase developed a view of justice centered not on defeating an enemy but on helping people who are hungry. In "Anpanman," he created a hero who gives pieces of his own bread-shaped face to those in need, using Anpanman's willingness to sacrifice himself to explore hunger, survival, kindness, and what it means to help another person.
