Stan Sakai was born in Kyoto, Japan, grew up in Hawaii, and now lives in California with his wife, Julie. He has two children, Hannah and Matthew, and two stepchildren, Daniel and Emi. Stan received a fine arts degree from the University of Hawaii, and furthered his studies at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA.

Stan's creation Usagi Yojimbo first appeared in the comic book Albedo Anthropomorphics #2 in 1984. Since then, Usagi has been on television as a guest of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and has been made into toys and seen on clothing, and his stories have been collected into more than three dozen graphic novels and translated into sixteen languages.