Birth Place: Ikeda, Hokkaido, Japan

Blood Type: B

Growing up, he was deeply influenced by manga pioneers Osamu Tezuka and Shotaro Ishinomori, and has been a lifelong Kamen Rider fan since childhood. That said, he's been pretty vocal about his disappointment with Tatsuya Egawa's manga adaptation of "Kamen Rider The First," which he felt was subpar work.

He cut his teeth as an assistant to major mangaka Mitsuru Adachi and Kaoru Shintani. Later, several artists worked under him as assistants, including Masayuki Fujihara, Tetsuo Yamashita, Naoki Mizutani, Michiaki Watanabe, and Eisaku Kubonouchi.

His education at Osaka University of Arts put him in a pretty notable peer group—he was classmates with Masamune Shirow and Hideaki Anno, among others. The manga world was smaller back then, and he's remained connected to many from that era: Kentaro Yano was a senior of his, while Aki Katsu and Meimu came up as juniors. He's maintained friendships with artists and creators like Masami Yuuki, Kazuhiro Fujita, Bang Ippongi, and Moo. Nenbei, along with Yumiko Igarashi.