ASIA / PACIFIC
Page 20 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
May 6, 2019
Monkey Punch, creator of megahit Japan comic Lupin III, dies
CREATIVE CARTOONIST. Cartoonist Monkey
Punch draws his character, Fujiko Mine, on a white-
board at a symposium in Nishinomiya, western Japan,
in this June 2004 file photo. Monkey Punch — whose
real name was Kazuhiko Kato and who was best known
as the creator of the Japanese megahit comic series
of master thief Lupin III — has died at age 81. (Kyodo
News via AP)
By Mari Yamaguchi
The Associated Press
OKYO — Cartoonist Monkey
Punch, best known as the creator of
the Japanese megahit comic series
Lupin III, has died at the age of 81.
His office, MP Pictures, said Monkey
Punch, whose real name was Kazuhiko
Kato, died of pneumonia on April 11.
The story of master thief Lupin’s adven-
tures with his gang — gunman Daisuke
Jigen, sword master Goemon Ishikawa,
and sexy beauty Fujiko Mine, as well as a
detective, Zenigata — started in 1967.
The cartoon also was adapted for TV
animation and movies, some directed by
renowned animators including Hayao
Miyazaki and Isao Takahata.
Kato himself directed the 1996
animated film Lupin III: Dead or Alive.
Miyazaki, who directed a 1971 Lupin
animation for TV, made his feature-length
film debut with Lupin III: The Castle of
T
Cagliostro in 1997.
The hard-boiled, yet comical story with a
bit of sexy content has quickly won adult
comic fans and became a longtime
bestseller. Kato’s intended readership was
adults, and he reportedly has told younger
fans to watch Lupin TV animation and
read comic books when they become high
school students.
The main character in his trademark
red jacket is a grandson of famous Arsene
Lupin in a Maurice Leblanc detective
story.
The son of a fisherman in Hokkaido, in
northern Japan, Kato debuted as a
professional cartoonist in 1965 while
working part time at a rental bookstore,
and started using his penname Monkey
Punch soon after the Lupin series started
in Weekly Manga Action magazine.
Despite his age, he quickly adapted to
digital animation and studied animation
on multimedia formats at a technical
graduate school in Tokyo in the 2000s.
Kato also taught animation at a university
in Nishinomiya in western Japan.
Daimler says it has no idea how Kim Jong Un got his limos
By Eric Talmadge
The Associated Press
T
OKYO — German automaker
Daimler, which makes armored
limousines used by North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un, says it has no idea
where he got them and has no business
dealings with the North.
Kim has raised eyebrows by using Daim-
ler-branded stretch limousines at several
very high-profile summits, including his
recent meeting with Russian President
Vladimir Putin and both of his earlier
summits with President Donald Trump.
The sale of luxury goods, including
limousines, is banned under U.N. sanc-
tions intended to put pressure on North
Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons.
Kim nevertheless had two limos waiting
for him at Vladivostok station — a
Mercedes Maybach S600 Pullman Guard
and a Mercedes Maybach S62. He is
believed to have also used the S600
Pullman Guard for his summits with
Trump in Singapore in June last year and
in Hanoi in February.
“We have absolutely no idea how those
vehicles were delivered to North Korea,”
Daimler spokeswoman Silke Mockert said
in a written response to an Associated
Press report on the limousines. “For Daim-
ler, the correct export of products in confor-
mance with the law is a fundamental
Continued on page 9
IMPROPERLY IMPORTED. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s limousine arrives for a wreath-laying
ceremony in Vladivostok, Russia, on April 26, 2019. German automaker Daimler, which makes armored limou-
sines used by the North Korean leader, says it has no idea where he got them and has no business dealings with
the North. (AP Photo/Alexander Khitrov)
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