Naoki Urasawa Artist Talk & Book Signing “Drawing My World: An Interview with Naoki Urasawa”

Since his professional debut in 1983, Naoki Urasawa has continually pushed the limits of the manga medium, engaging readers with his innovative compositional techniques and versatile drawing prowess, as he creates highly engrossing works that are both introspective and philosophical. Urasawa is considered a modern manga master, combining dynamic storytelling and transcendent artistic skill in his development of rich and sophisticated characters. His stories touch upon the hopes, dreams, and at times underlying fears of humanity.

As part of the public engagement programming for the exhibition ‘This is MANGA – the Art of NAOKI URASAWA’, JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles will host an exclusive book signing and evening of live drawing and conversation with the internationally acclaimed manga artist.

Following a book signing in the gallery, the evening Artist Talk will be a lively interview with the Naoki Urasawa, moderated by award winning manga researcher and translator Frederik L. Schodt. During the interview, Urasawa will be illustrating his responses projected on a screen above the conversation. Guests can look forward to a relaxed exchange on topics related to Urasawa’s influences from seminal manga to world history and international pop culture. The conversation will also touch upon Urasawa’s relationship with Osamu Tezuka, his current exhibition at JAPAN HOUSE, and his position as an artist at the top of his field. This will be a rare opportunity for the audience to experience both the mind and the skill of one the most prolific manga artists of our time.

Book Signing

Time:  6:00 PM - 7:00 PM*
Location:  JAPAN HOUSE Gallery, Level 2
Registration:   Limited to the first 50 guests who purchase a Urasawa manga book at the JAPAN HOUSE Monozukuri Shop. 

Artist Talk | Drawing My World: An Interview with Naoki Urasawa

Time:  7:15 PM - 8:45 PM
Location:  JAPAN HOUSE Salon, Level 5
Registration:   Registration has closed.

Artist Profiles

Naoki Urasawa
Manga Artist (Mangaka) | Born in Tokyo in 1960, Urasawa made his debut with BETA!! in 1983, and has authored many works since, such as YAWARA!, MONSTER, 20th Century Boys, and BILLY BAT (Story co-creator: Takashi Nagasaki) among others. After garnering renewed popularity more recently with MUJIRUSHI (The Sign of Dreams), a collaborative project with the Louvre Museum, Urasawa is currently writing a new series, ASADORA! in the weekly Big Comic Spirits (published by Shogakukan). His work is now published in more than 20 countries, with Japanese circulation alone recorded at a total of 127 million copies.

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Domestically, he has received the Shogakukan Manga Award three times and the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, as well as numerous awards abroad including the Angouleme International Cartoon Festival Intergenerational Award and multiple Eisner Awards for Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Asia category. In addition, as a musician, he has composed numerous works in the folk rock genre, performing live with his band and releasing two albums to date. His music has been frequently used as theme music for the film and television adaptations of his manga work.

Frederik L. Schodt
Writer and Translator | Born in 1950 in Washington DC. Has translated numerous manga works by Osamu Tezuka and other leading Japanese artists, including Naoki Urasawa’s PLUTO. In addition to his translation work, he has written books on Japanese pop culture and manga, Japanese history, and many other topics. Won a 1983 Manga Oscar Award from the Japan Cartoonists Association for Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics and a 2009 special prize in the third International Manga Awards for contributing to global understanding of manga. In 2009, he received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, for promoting Japanese popular culture in North America.

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Selected Works: Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics. Kodansha International (1983) Inside the Robot Kingdom: Japan, Mechatronics and the coming Robotopia. Kodansha International (1988) Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga. Stone Bridge Press (1996) The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution. Stone Bridge Press (2007)

Selected Translations: Astro Boy (Osamu Tezuka) Phoenix (Osamu Tezuka) (translated with Dadakai and Jared Cook) Pluto (Naoki Urasawa, story by Osamu Tezuka, co-authored by Takashi Nagasaki, supervised by Macoto Tezka, with the cooperation of Tezuka Productions) (translated with Jared Cook). The Osamu Tezuka Story: A Life in Manga and Anime (Tezuka Productions and Toshio Ban) Ghost in the Shell (by Shirow Masamune) (English edition done with Toren Smith).

Selected Translations:
© Naoki URASAWA / Studio Nuts,

"Pineapple ARMY"　Kazuya KUDO
"PLUTO"　Takashi NAGASAKI, Tezuka Productions
"MASTER KEATON"　Hokusei KATSUSHIKA, Takashi NAGASAKI
"MASTER KEATON ReMASTER"　Takashi NAGASAKI
"BILLY BAT"　Takashi NAGASAKI

"Pineapple ARMY","PLUTO","MASTER KEATON" and "MASTER KEATON ReMASTER" were originally published by SHOGAKUKAN

"BILLY BAT" was originally published by KODANSHA