When he was three years old, he survived the atomic bombing of the city by the United States on 6 August 1945; the hypocenter was three kilometers from his home.
[1] He studied forest entomology at the Shimane Agricultural University and worked as an office worker in Tokyo before returning to Hiroshima.
[2] In 1978 he started to write the series of books Zukkoke sannin-gumi (The funny trio), featuring the adventures of three elementary school children: Hachibei, Hakase and Moo-chan.
[3] Nasu wrote often about the aftermath of the atomic bombings, opposing war and advocating peace.
Two of his books were translated to English: the 1984 memoir Children of the Paper Crane: The Story of Sadako Sasaki and Her Struggle with the A-Bomb Disease and the 1995 picture book Hiroshima: A tragedy never to be repeated.