KASUKABE, Saitama -- Yoshito Usui, author of the popular manga "Crayon Shin-chan," has gone missing, prompting his family to file a search request with police, it has been learned.

Police said that Usui, 51, left his home in Kasukabe on the morning of Sept. 11, saying he was going to the mountains in Gunma Prefecture. However, he failed to return home the same evening as planned, prompting his wife to file a search request with Saitama Prefectural Police the following day. Usui's cell phone was ringing, but there was reportedly no response.

Usui's family told police that the manga author had often going climbing in the mountains. Police in Saitama have sought assistance from Gunma and Nagano prefectural police in searching for him.

"Crayon Shin-chan," which is carried as a serial in "Manga Town," published by Futabasha, is Usui's most well-known work. The main character is Shinnosuke Nohara, a kindergartener living in Kasukabe. The manga has been made into popular television and film anime. On Sept. 5 the film "Ballad Namonaki Koi no Uta," based on an animated Crayon Shin-chan film, opened at theaters across Japan.

AHHH NNOOOOOOO..................please let him be alive!!!!!

KASUKABE, Saitama -- Yoshito Usui, author of the popular manga "Crayon Shin-chan," has gone missing, prompting his family to file a search request with police, it has been learned.

Police said that Usui, 51, left his home in Kasukabe on the morning of Sept. 11, saying he was going to the mountains in Gunma Prefecture. However, he failed to return home the same evening as planned, prompting his wife to file a search request with Saitama Prefectural Police the following day. Usui's cell phone was ringing, but there was reportedly no response.

Usui's family told police that the manga author had often going climbing in the mountains. Police in Saitama have sought assistance from Gunma and Nagano prefectural police in searching for him.

"Crayon Shin-chan," which is carried as a serial in "Manga Town," published by Futabasha, is Usui's most well-known work. The main character is Shinnosuke Nohara, a kindergartener living in Kasukabe. The manga has been made into popular television and film anime. On Sept. 5 the film "Ballad Namonaki Koi no Uta," based on an animated Crayon Shin-chan film, opened at theaters across Japan.

AHHH NNOOOOOOO..................please let him be alive!!!!!