He is known for his Tanma-kun manga series.
A Japanese news website nippon.com revealed that veteran mangaka Sadao Shoji has passed away due to heart failure at the age of 88. He died in a hospital in Tokyo on 5 April, 2026. His Tanma-kun manga was a long running series that began in 1968.
Who was Sadao Shoji?
Born in 1937 in Tokyo, Sadao Shoji died at the age of 88. He made his debut as a mangaka in 1967. His most popular work Tanma-kun began in 1968 and ended in 2025, running for a total of 57 years and 8 months. It was published in Bungeishunjū's Shūkan Bunshun weekly tabloid. The publisher also released a commemorative magazine book in October 2025 to pay respect to the series.
Shoji’s other popular salaryman-themed manga Sarayman Senka was published from 1969 to 2024 (55 years) in Kodansha’s Shūkan Gendai magazine. From 1974 to 2024, Shoji also drew the four-panel manga titled Asatte-kun in the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper. This series had a total of 13,479 installments in the newspaper.
Shoji’s accolades include the Grand Prize in the Japan Cartoonists Association Awards in 2001 for his Asatte-kun manga. He also won the prestigious Japanese national honours the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2000, and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette in 2011. Other than his manga, Shoji was also known for his various essays about everyday cuisine. His death is a huge loss to the Japanese manga industry.