Tsuji Shintarou, born December 7, 1927 in Yamanashi Prefecture, founded Sanrio in 1960 and built it into Tokyo's defining character-merchandise powerhouse. Beyond running the company as its representative director, he wore multiple creative hats—producing and writing stories for Sanrio's anime films throughout the late 1970s and 80s.
His creative work includes several fairy tale adaptations that became animated features: Nutcracker Fantasy, his take on Hoffmann's classic; The Sea Prince and the Fire Child; and A Journey Through Fairyland. He's also credited with creating some of Sanrio's most enduring characters, most notably the Little Twin Stars.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
