Raised in Kashiwa city, Chiba, Akiko Fukunaga found success early on as an artist when she was selected at the age of 15 to publish her works as the youngest cartoonist of the girl’s manga magazine "Ribbon." She began studying Nihonga in college and was soon drawn to the beauty of traditional Japanese materials, such as washi paper, nikawa glue, chalk powder, and stone-based paint. In 1996, she moved her base of operation to Kashiwa, and actively worked on creating Nihonga, caricatures, and “live” paintings. “I believe that to paint is to live, so I channel my energy into my work. In the future, she hopes to become an artist that can convey the “wa” spirit of traditional Japan to the world through her paintings.