Sasaki was born in 1946, on the outskirts of
Kobe, from a poor background. His parents ran a printing studio. He studied art at
Kyoto City University of Arts, but dropped out, unable to afford the required art materials. Sasaki admired the nonsense works of manga artist
Shigeru Sugiura and the underground magazine
Garo. In 1966, Sasaki made his debut as a manga artist with "Yoku Aru Hanashi", published in
Garo. He did other stories for the same magazine, such as the 1967 one-shot "Tengoku De Miru Yume" (). Since 1973 Sasaki left manga to write and draw picture books, having published titles such as "Yappari Okami" and the "Monsieur Meuniere" series. Sasaki also illustrated book covers, among them some of the original editions of the early
Haruki Murakami works. == References ==