I think it was after I became a manga-ka when I created a piece of work, what I can call a proper "work". When the serial of Emma started and in the process of writing Emma month after month, I feel I finally came to understand what it was to "create" a manga. I would like to do something a little better with "story telling." Tools are normal manga-paper and pens.

Too B4 manga-paper 135kg :
The hardness and smoothness of the surface of the paper and the touch of the pen against it are perfect for me.

Spoon pen by Tachikawa :
This pen is rather soft which makes it easy to draw a line strongly or softly, so the start and the end of the line are clear. Also it doesn't hold so much ink as a G-pen so the line drawn with this pen dries faster.

Round pen by Zebra :
Not scratchy. I can draw patterns and laces in detail or fill the background with fine net without reserve.

Drawing ink by Pilot :
It doesn't mean I tried many kinds of ink, just I have used this since I started drawing manga.

Paste eraser by IKEN :
I can erase lines without a trace. It only undergoes small property changes under different temperatures. It doesn't produce so much waste when I rub off the line from the paper.

Tone :
"Ami-ten" (net dots) by IC, "patterns" by Deleter, "gradation" by Design Tone Series...I use various things.

Apart from those above, I use mechanical pencils with B2 lead of 0.3mm, 0.5mm and 0.9mm thickness. Also I use a sketch book to create "name" (a rough drawing including dialogues in pages with framing for one episode in one issue of a magazine).

I always think of having 2 extra hands, even one more. Then I could produce better quality manga faster... Also I think it would be great if I had a sort of USB cable attachable to my temple to output the whole lot of my ideas directly onto the paper. Because my thoughts are often faster than my hands can draw the images. It's my dream.

haven't created so many works yet that I can say "my works so far", but what is common in the motif or setting in my manga is that all of them are stories about a maid. In Emma, "a love story between a maid and an upper class man (gentry) in the Victorian age" is the main theme. However, the real main idea may be "a maid is cool, don't you think?!" Sorry.

What causes me trouble is to create storyboarding before I start drawing. I determine to try not to adhere to anything. It often happens to me that even after all the sticking on small things and begging to extend the dead line, the result is nothing impressive. I wish that would I learn to have the power to make it with fighting spirit and concentration and heart rather than obsessiveness.

I became conscious for the first time that a manga is "media art" when I received this award. If it was art in general, a piece of work would be received and appreciated directly by the audience, whereas with manga, there is paper media such as magazines and publications between a piece of work and the reader, which, in my opinion, allows the reader to enjoy manga anytime and anywhere as they like. I think one of the good points of manga is that everyone can enjoy manga in their own way such as skipping pages, reading from the last page, stopping to read in the middle or looking at just pictures, whatever they like, perhaps sometimes what they do is a little rough.

"Strictly keep the deadline." To finish the best thing within a set time. Nonetheless, I feel very depressed when I look back and see what I am today. But I think everything starts on this point. Then: "not try to be cool and draw what I really want to draw (i.e. what I wish readers to read)."

I haven't got a particular phrase which I can call "my motto," but what I often remember is a sentence by NOGAMI Yaeko: "No matter whether the work is a novel or a play, it is a woman whom the readers and audience seek out. It must especially be a young woman." I would like to write a story in which attractive women participate. The age doesn't matter. I simply like that kind of manga.

Mostly when I am drawing intently what I like, manga or doodles at the desk, various things gush out from my mind. I can't tell an idea from a fantasy which is a problem, though. I think when I use my hands, my brain also begins to work, don't you think? When I get stuck, I will sleep even for 30 minutes then suddenly everything becomes clear when I wake up, sometimes this happens.

Continue to draw. To make my life just by drawing manga. If I can have more than one serial work in a magazine and being an active creator until over 50 years old, I think that is one of the goals for a manga-ka. If possible, I would like to create a work which became a book and would be on the shelf in a book store even decades later and anyone could pick it up casually.

Mr. Editor who is in charge of me :
He is a person who has the largest direct influence on me as I am working on a serial magazine manga. Influence is too mild an expression for our relationship, but rather fighting would be the word to use..

Creators who have serial manga in monthly Comic Beam :
Creators whom I often meet and talk with. They have a series in the same magazine as me. From the same generation as me to a creator who has a long career, it is really stimulating to talk with them as fellow manga-kas who read mangas drawn by others every month. It is not limited to Comic Beam fellows, but I will be impressed a lot by all the creators I meet in person and talk with. It is not the fine points, like which part of their manga affected me how, not that specific, but something like their position as a creator, I would say..

Books I read :
I didn't talk with people so much when I was younger, so I think 80% of me today is established under the influence of books I read. The writers UCHIDA Hyakken and MORI Ogai were my special favorites. I received a great deal of influence from them. More recently, I think books written by YOSHIDA Kenichi, TOYAMA Shigehiko and MORI Senzo are interesting.