URASAWA Naoki

Japanese Name: 浦沢直樹

Place of Birth: Tokyo, Japan

Gender: Male

Information for Authors: When he was younger he didn’t read hot-blooded sports genre mangas that KAJIWARA Ikki pioneered (ie. Ashita no Joe and Kyojin no Hoshi). Then in his 20s, he was fascinated by new-age mangas like Akira and started reading mangas from that time. Urasawa studied at Meisei University and graduated with a degree in economics. After working as assistant to NOBE Toshio he made his debut with BETA! in 1983 which was published in Bessatsu Golgo 13 Magazine. He has received the Shogakukan Manga Award three times, the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize twice, and the Kodansha Manga Award once. As a hobby, Urasawa is also the vocalist and guitarist of a rock band. He released his debut single Tsuki ga Tottemo... in 2008 and his debut album Half Century Man in 2009. He is a big fan of Bob Dylan. In 2008, the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Junot Diaz praised Monster and added that "Urasawa is a national treasure of Japan." Urasawa has collaborated multiple times with NAGASAKI Takashi. HOSHINO Yasushi and HASHIMOTO Kozou were assistants of his. Since 2014 he has been presenting a documentary TV show called Urasawa Naoki no Manben on NHK E, interviewing manga artists such as ASANO Inio, HANAZAWA Kengo and ITO Junji. He has also started a Youtube Channel for the promotion of Asadora! where he interviews young mangakas as well.