As a child, he was shy and preferred drawing and reading (two of his favorite authors were Osamu Dazai and Yasunari Kawabata) to spending time with others, and was a big fan of the anime series Candy Candy, in the discovery of which he was "happy to finally find what [he] liked".

[3] After dropping out of Osaka University of Arts in 1987,[4] he participated in a variety of artistic, musical and theatrical activities.

From 1992 to 1997, he made his literary debut contributing serial essays to Hanagata Bunka Tsūshin (花形文化通信), a Kansai free arts newspaper.

These essays were collected and published in book format in 1998 as Soleilnuit: For Becoming a Proper Young Lady, and received wide recognition.

Another of his novels, Twins: A Variety Store Named "The End of the World", was also adapted for film in 2001 by Kiseki Hamada.