It is a great honor for me to receive such a prestigious award. The last time I got a prize was a silver prize in a sketching event when I was a junior-high school student and it was a bolt out of the blue, indeed…. I never expected that a day would come when I myself would write this thing! It has not hit me yet. When I was a child, I was fond of the world of ghost stories such as The Snow Woman, which my grandmother told me. So, I wished I could write a story in which human beings and specters lived side by side in a boundary-pushing ground, not saying which is right or wrong. I have thought that it is my style; yes, I am not skillful at drawing even though I have made a great effort; or there is no originality in my work, and I have been in a ‘so-what?' attitude, but I would like to devote myself to writing manga in the future. Thank you very much.

Beautiful and scary. The story proceeds in a quiet and delicate manner but it produces anxiety in its readers as if they had looked into the abyss of horror as soon as they begin to read. The carefully calculated dialogue and frame layout create a unique time-space. What creates an elegant atmosphere is the ability to structure an attractive story and the skillful drawing of the author who is very laid back. It is good that the innocent charm of specters comes and goes over time. This work is fascinating and makes us aware that death and life exist very close to each other in this way, perhaps just as they exist in our daily life.