is a Japanese manga artist

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...

. He made his debut in 1996 in Weekly Shōnen Jump

Weekly Shonen Jump

is a weekly shōnen manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of July 2, 1968, and it is still circulating. One of the longest-running manga magazines in Japan, it has a circulation of 2.8 million copies...

and received a Akatsuka Award

Akatsuka Award

The is the name of a semi-annual award presented to humorous manga cartoonists by the Japanese publisher Shueisha. The award has been given since 1974 and it aims to reward new manga artist in the comedy manga category. Its counterpart award, Tezuka Award, awards new manga artists in the Story...

 for best new comic manga writer. He is best known for (1997–2002, 24 volumes), for which he won the 2001 Shogakukan Manga Award

Shogakukan Manga Award

The is one of Japan's major manga awards, sponsored by Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga since 1955 and features candidates from a number of publishers.The current award categories are:...

 for children's manga. His current series is , which began serialization in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 2008.

In 2002, he was arrested and convicted of violating child prostitution laws, including paying a 16-year-old girl ¥

¥

¥ is a currency sign used by the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan currencies. The symbol resembles a Latin letter Y with a double stroke. The base unit of both currencies shared the same Chinese character pronounced yuán in Mandarin Chinese and en in Standard Japanese...

80,000 to have sex. As a result of the arrest, Seikimatsu Leader Den Takeshi! was cancelled by Weekly Shōnen Jump.

Shimabukuro is friends with Eiichiro Oda

Eiichiro Oda

is a Japanese manga artist, best known as the creator of One Piece.-Early life:As a child, Oda was inspired by Akira Toriyama's works and aspired to become a manga artist. He recalls that his interest in pirates was probably sparked by the popular TV animation series titled Vicky the Viking...

, author of One Piece

One Piece

is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 64th volume released as...

.

External links

• Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro official website
• Profile at the Ultimate Manga Guide