Keiko Tobe (戸部 けいこ, Tobe Keiko, 30 July 1957 – 28 January 2010) was a Japanese manga artist who wrote primarily josei manga.
She was best known for creating With the Light, which won an Excellence Prize in the Japan Media Arts Festival Awards in 2004 from the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs[1] and inspired a television drama.
It was about three ghosts with different personalities having slapstick adventures in their owner's mansion.
Later, she met the autistic boy's mother who said she wanted him to be a 'cheerful working adult'.
This inspired Tobe to create With the Light, a manga dealing with autistic children.