Shigeru Mizuki (1922-2015) is one of Japan s oldest and most respected artists; he has received almost every award the comics industry has to offer. An Eisner award winner, he was also the first Japanese artist to win the prestigious Angouleme Award for Best Comic. In Japan, his scholarly research earned him membership into the Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology, and he has been awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, the Kodansha Manga Award, and the Shiju Hosho Medal of Honor. In 2010, he was recognized as a Person of Cultural Merit for his contributions to Japanese culture and honored with the Shigeru Mizuki International Cultural Center and Shigeru Mizuki Road and Museum in his hometown, Sakaiminato.