Graduated from the Osaka University of Arts in 1985. Published his first Manga while still at school. Won Grand Prize in the Kodansha Tetsuya Chiba Awards and moved to Tokyo that same year. Began drawing Gon in 1991. During the 1998 San Diego Comic Convention, won prizes for Best Humor Publication and Best U.S. Edition Of Foreign Material, at the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. In the same year, also won the prize for Best French Edition Of Foreign Material at the Manga Festival in France.
