Takehiko Inoue  

In 2012, Takehiko Inoue became the first recipient of the Cultural Prize at the Asia Cosmopolitan Awards. He made his debut as a mangaka with Purple Kaede (楓パープル) in Weekly Shounen Jump magazine in 1988 and won the Tezuka Award for that work. Inoue's Slam Dunk, about a basketball team from Shohoku High School, was published in Weekly Shounen Jump from 1990 to 1996 and has sold over 157 million copies worldwide. It received the 40th annual Shogakukan Manga Award for shounen manga in 1995 and was declared Japan's favorite manga in 2007. Inoue also won the Kodansha Manga Award for General manga in 2000 with Vagabond, which he received the Osamu Tezuka Culture Award in 2002 as well.