Keiko Tobe
Encyclopedia
was a Japanese manga artist
who wrote primarily josei manga
. She was best known for creating With the Light
, which won an Excellence Prize in the Japan Media Arts Festival
Awards in 2004 from the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs
and inspired a television drama.
. When she was in second grade, she made her first manga The Three Ghosts. It was about three ghosts with different personalities having slapstick adventures in their owner's mansion. She then decided to be a manga artist. Her older brother also wanted to be a manga artist and he submitted all his manga artwork to Garo
before shifting to oil painting and passing down his tools to her.
After graduating, she married and had two sons. When her younger son was in kindergarten, he had a male classmate with autism. Later, she met the autistic boy's mother who said she wanted him to be a 'cheerful working adult'. This inspired Tobe to create "With the Light," a manga dealing with autistic children. At that time, there were very few manga about disabilities and they never received attention. "With the Light" changed perspectives on this issue.
Tobe died on January 28, 2010 after going on hiatus from With the Light due to illness.
Mangaka
is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...
who wrote primarily josei manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
. She was best known for creating With the Light
With the Light
is a josei drama manga by Keiko Tobe. It began serialization in 2000 in For Mrs., and serial chapters were collected in 15 tankōbon volumes by Akita Shoten. The series depicts the struggles of a young mother, Sachiko Azuma, raising her autistic son Hikaru in modern Japan...
, which won an Excellence Prize in the Japan Media Arts Festival
Japan Media Arts Festival
The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs since 1997. The festival for a nominal year was usually held during February or March next year, rather than at the end of the nominal year. For instance, the 2010 Japan Media Arts Festival, where...
Awards in 2004 from the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs
Agency for Cultural Affairs
The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education . It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. As of April 2007, it is led by the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs, Tamotsu Aoki....
and inspired a television drama.
Biography
Tobe was born in Hyōgo PrefectureHyogo Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region on Honshū island. The capital is Kobe.The prefecture's name was previously alternately spelled as Hiogo.- History :...
. When she was in second grade, she made her first manga The Three Ghosts. It was about three ghosts with different personalities having slapstick adventures in their owner's mansion. She then decided to be a manga artist. Her older brother also wanted to be a manga artist and he submitted all his manga artwork to Garo
Garo
-Garo People and languages :* Garo , a tribe in India and Bangladesh.* Bodo-Garo languages, a small family of Tibeto-Burman languages spoken in eastern India,** Garo language, the language spoken by the Garo tribe...
before shifting to oil painting and passing down his tools to her.
After graduating, she married and had two sons. When her younger son was in kindergarten, he had a male classmate with autism. Later, she met the autistic boy's mother who said she wanted him to be a 'cheerful working adult'. This inspired Tobe to create "With the Light," a manga dealing with autistic children. At that time, there were very few manga about disabilities and they never received attention. "With the Light" changed perspectives on this issue.
Tobe died on January 28, 2010 after going on hiatus from With the Light due to illness.