The Yomiuri Shimbun

A cartoon character from the 1920s will shortly enjoy a new lease on life as the logo of the main shopping street of Usa, Oita Prefecture.

"Nonki na Tosan" (Easygoing Dad) was the signature character of a cartoon featured in The Hochi Shimbun, which ran for more than 600 episodes.

The character was the brainchild of Yutaka Aso (1898-1961), a native of Usa, who started drawing the cartoon shortly after the Great Kanto Earthquake occurred on Sept. 21, 1923

The aim of the comic strip was to comfort those who survived the earthquake and subsequent fires, which killed 140,000 people in and around Tokyo.

"Nonki na Tosan" was the first serial four-panel cartoon to be run by a Japanese newspaper.

Aso joined The Hochi Shimbun in 1922 as an artist whose job was to draw caricatures of politicians. He later moved to The Yomiuri Shimbun.

He opened a workshop in Ginza, Tokyo, in September 1945, one month after the end of World War II, and created a series of 22 drawings, titled "Ginza Picture Scroll," between 1946 and 1957. These drawings depicted the postwar rehabilitation of the country's most famous shopping district.

The Usa Chamber of Commerce recently asked Aso's nephew, Koichi Aso, for permission to use the character. "I accepted the request because I thought it would be good for my uncle's hometown," said the 68-year-old Koichi, who had inherited his uncle's intellectual property rights.

"In his works of art, he appeals to readers to keep their chins up, even when they are dispirited and sad," he said. "He truly loved his hometown. It would be wonderful if his love for his hometown was inherited by the city's current residents."

The logo depicts "Nonki na Tosan" swaying from side to side as he exercises alongside his adult son, a small dog, and a young--unrelated--boy.

Printed above the image is a greeting, familiar to all shoppers, "Irasshai!" (Welcome!).

The same image was used on a poster in 1949 to encourage people to exercise more.

"We have selected this as our logo because it best represents our desire to help people from all walks life live in harmony," an official said.

The logo will be used on posters and banners to raise awareness of the city and its shopping streets .

In parallel, an exhibition, which will run until Aug. 27 at the Usa citizens' library, highlights Aso's life and work.

There are 411 items on display including original drawings of "Nonki na Tosan," a replica of the "Ginza Picture Scroll" and one of the pens used by Aso.