Tanikawa Shuntaro -- a renowned Japanese poet who used his keen sense of observation in creating a vast body of work -- has died of old age. He was 92.

Born in 1931 in Tokyo, Tanikawa began writing poetry when he was a high school student.

He shot to fame in 1952 when he published his first collection of poetry, "Two Billion Light Years of Solitude".

Tanikawa's work appealed to a wide range of generations. Some of his poems were included in school textbooks in Japan.

Tanikawa wrote the lyrics of the theme song for the anime series "Astro Boy." He also translated foreign works into Japanese, including the children's book Swimmy, the Mother Goose rhymes, and the comic strip Peanuts.

Tanikawa's poetry is highly regarded outside of Japan.
His work has been translated into dozens of languages, including English, Chinese, French and German.