Over the past decade few female comic artists have been as beloved or as recognized for their work internationally as Fumi Yoshinaga. Born in Tokyo, Japan in 1971, Yoshinaga is a graduate of Tokyo's prestigious Keio University. A lifelong comic artist and story teller, she made her perfessional debut in 1994 with her short series, The Moon and the Sandals , serialized in Houbunsha's monthly Boys Love anthology Hanaoto . Since her debut Yoshinaga has penned more than a dozen, with a good number of them having been adapted into motion pictures and animated TV series. Her work on Antique Bakery sent her into international fame and she has since been nominated in the United States for the Eisner Award for her titles - Flowers of Life and Ooku . In 2009 she was recognized with the James Tiptree Award for her literary contributions covering the topics of gender in speculative fiction in her title Ooku . Ouku also received the Osamu Tezuka Award and the Shogakukan Manga Award .