Punch The Monkey Game
The artist and scholar known as Monkey Punch has died at age 81, according to Japanese press reports and confirmed by stateside friends and associates within the art and academic communities. The creator of the popular manga was born as Kazuhiko Katō in the village of Kiritappu in Hamanaka in May 1937 but it was his colorful pen name that followed him throughout the illustrious career he began in the 1960s.Monkey Punch died on April 11 in Sakura when he succumbed to pneumonia, according to press reports. The artist spent his late career in academic pursuits. In 2005 he took a professorship at Otemae University in Manga Animation studies and in 2010 he joined the Tokyo University of Technology faculty as a visiting professor. The venerable storyteller was presented with a special Tokyo Award in 2015. Two years later, he marked the 50th anniversary of his signature creation, Lupin III, which made its premiere in 1967 in the pages of Weekly Manga Action.