Cartoonist. Born in Taku, Japan, the daughter of a mining engineer. Her father died when she was 14, and the family moved to Tokyo where her mother enrolled her as a student to artist Suiho Tagawa, who was later called the grandfather of manga. With the coming of the Second World War, the family fled Tokyo for more remote Fukuoka on the northern shore of the island of Kyushu. It was here she developed her serial cartoon “Sazae-san” in 1946, which was published in the local newspaper. The strip featured a typical Japanese family, always optimistic and lively, problems were often no deeper than household mishaps. The cheerful message conveyed by the strip was eagerly read by post-war Japanese, it reached national circulation by 1949, and continued with unflagging popularity until Hasegawa retired 25 years later. Her comic strip was developed into a dramatic radio series in 1955 and a weekly animated television series in 1969, which, in 2013, the Guinness World Records named the world’s longest-running animated program. Collections of the comics were first published by Shimaisha Publishing, which was a run by Hasegawa’s sister, Mariko.  Asahi Shimbun then purchased the rights to publish the comic books. Forty-five titles were published. In 1985, she opened her own art gallery in Setagaya, Japan where she exhibited her original works, and her art collection, featuring clay dolls and paintings, as well as works by Western and Japanese artists. She succumbed to heart failure at the age of 72, she received a posthumous People’s Honor Award. The popularity of her comics remains constant, “Sazae-san” is still in production as an animated series, and more than 70 million books have been sold to date in Japan alone. (bio by: Iola)