Åsa Ekström

Åsa Ekström
Åsa Ekström, at the 2018 Stockholm International Comics Festival.
BornKarlskrona, Blekinge, Sweden
NationalitySwedish
Area(s)Cartoonist, Writer
Notable works
  • Stall Norrsken
  • Sayonara September[1]
  • Nordic Girl Åsa discovers the Mysteries of Japan

Åsa Ekström is a Swedish comics artist,[1] currently residing and working as a manga creator in Sweden and Japan.

Life and career

Ekström was born in Karlskrona, Blekinge in 1983 according to her CV on her official website,[2] while stating that she was born in Stockholm in her work.[3] She developed her interest in Anime and Manga at the age of 13 after watching Sailor Moon first. After that, she has read Ranma ½, Inuyasha, One Piece, and The Rose of Versailles in her middle school ages. She studied and graduated from Serieskolan i Malmö in 2005.[4][5]

After graduating, Ekström started her freelanced illustrating for several books,[5] including Namnsdagsflickan by Kristoffer Leandoer,[6] Stall Norrsken by Noomi Hebert and Lena Ollmark.[7]

In 2004, Ekström published her debut work Tokyo by Night through Manga Mania and quickly received local attention.[1] In 2008, she published her first manga work, Sayonara September , with 7,000 copies.[8][9] In 2010, Ekström was a designer in IKEA.[10][11]

Ekström first visited Japan in 2003. She then studied in Japan and spent nine months there in 2007.[12] On 10 March, 2011, Ekström visited Japan for the seventh time and considered residing there. However, she returned to Sweden due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on the next day before she returned to Japan several months later.[12][13][14]

Started in 2013, Ekström established her blog on Blogspot, then Ameba in 2014, recording her life in Japan and experience of learning Japanese language in a Yonkoma format.[15] The blog quickly gained attention after its establishment: in 2015, it became the most visited blog overall on Ameba.[16] In the same year, Ekström published her debut work in Japan, Nordic Girl Åsa discovers the Mysteries of Japan,[14] with the combination of her works on the blog thought Media Factory of Kadokawa. It had a publishing run of 110,000 copies and was translated into Traditional Chinese in 2016.[17][18]

Sayonara September was also translated into Japanese by CREEK & RIVER, which was awarded Gaiman Award in 2015.[19]

On 9 July 2021, Ekström announced on her blog that she had married a Japanese and was pregnant. She later tweeted that she gave birth to a boy on 10 October 2021.[20][21] Ekström mentioned in her column on The Asahi Shimbun that she moved to Sweden on 7 December 2024 with her 3-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter.[22]

Works

According to Kadokawa's works:[23][24]

  • Sayonara September (Swedish: Sayonara September, Japanese: さよならセプテンバー)
  • Nordic Girl Åsa discovers the Mysteries of Japan (Japanese: 北欧女子オーサが見つけた日本の不思議, Chinese: 北歐女孩日本生活好吃驚, Swedish: Mitt live i Japan)
  • 北欧女子オーサのニッポン再発見ローカル旅
  • 北欧女子オーサ日本を学ぶ
  • 北欧女子オーサ、日本で恋をする。

References

  1. ^ a b c "Åsa Ekström". Kartago.se (in Swedish). Kartago. Archived from the original on 2015-08-02. Retrieved 2025-06-16.
  2. ^ "CV". Åsa Ekström. Retrieved 2015-06-05.
  3. ^ オーサ・イェークストロム (24 December 2020). "北欧女子オーサが見つけた日本の不思議｜カドコミ (コミックウォーカー)". カドコミ (コミックウォーカー) (in Japanese). Retrieved 16 June 2025.
  4. ^ "北欧女子の四コママンガ人気…オーサ・イェークストロムさん". YOMIURI ONLINE (in Japanese). 読売新聞社. 2015-05-04. Archived from the original on 2015-05-07. Retrieved 2025-06-16.
  5. ^ a b Sistek, Hanna (16 June 2015). "Mangakänd i Japan". Hallands Nyheter (in Swedish).
  6. ^ ""Namnsdagsflickan" – Kristoffer Leandoer, Åsa Ekström". bokhora.se (in Swedish). 2012-06-12. Archived from the original on 2015-08-03. Retrieved 2025-06-16.
  7. ^ Stall Norrsken: Eldens gåva (in Swedish). Bonnierforlagen.se. ISBN 9789163842993. Archived from the original on 2015-08-02. Retrieved 2025-06-16.
  8. ^ Katz, Noam (April 2016). "So many stories to tell" (PDF). Highlighting Japan. Government of Japan. pp. 16–17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 December 2021.
  9. ^ Yoshikawa, Minori (23 Oct 2018). "オーサ・イェークストロム／Åsa Ekström - スカンジナビアの森で育った少女が日本で漫画家デビュー。日本人を含め、世界中の人達に大好きな日本の不思議を伝えたい". HIGHFLYERS (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-06-16.
  10. ^ "Ekström, Åsa - Author presentation page". Limetta.net. Archived from the original on 2015-08-01. Retrieved 2025-06-16.
  11. ^ "A cultural clash transformed into pure art" (PDF). ikea.com. ikea. February 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 Feb 2010. Retrieved 2025-06-16.
  12. ^ a b "オーサ・イェークストロムが海外生活に憧れる人に贈るアドバイス―「勇気だけあれば大丈夫」【彼女たちのLOVE & CAREER vol.2】" (in Japanese). Mynavi. 2015-03-26. Archived from the original on 2020-08-03. Retrieved 2016-06-23.
  13. ^ 砂崎良 (2016-06-03). "[:ja]日本はインスピレーションが得られる国｜過去記事[:en]Japan - an Inspirational Nation | Past Articles[:]". Hiragana Times. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
  14. ^ a b Ekström, Åsa. "Q&A With Åsa Ekström: How a Woman from Sweden has established Herself as a Manga Artist in Japan". Japan Up Close. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
  15. ^ Ekström, Åsa. "北欧女子オーサ『ようこそ』". 北欧女子オーサ オフィシャルブログ「北欧女子が見つけた日本の不思議」 (in Japanese). Retrieved 16 June 2025.
  16. ^ "北欧女子、日本の不思議をマンガに 「行けたら行く」って来ないの?". withnews (in Japanese). 朝日新聞社. 2015-03-04. Retrieved 2015-06-05.
  17. ^ Yokosawa, Taro (5 May 2016). "From anime to Zen, foreigners are mastering Japanese culture". The Nikkei.
  18. ^ "【書展 16】《北歐女孩日本生活好吃驚》漫畫家 歐莎‧葉克斯托姆將來台舉辦簽名座談會" (in Chinese). 巴哈姆特 GNN新聞. 2016-01-15. Archived from the original on 2016-04-24. Retrieved 2016-06-23.
  19. ^ "北欧女子オーサの「さよならセプテンバー」が、ガイマン賞2015で1位に". Natalie. 2015-12-15. Archived from the original on 2016-08-14. Retrieved 2016-06-23.
  20. ^ オーサ・イェークストロム. "北欧女子オーサ『皆さまにご報告』". 北欧女子オーサ オフィシャルブログ「北欧女子が見つけた日本の不思議」Powered by Ameba (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-06-16.
  21. ^ オーサ・イェークストロム [@hokuoujoshi] (2021-10-10). "今日は私の誕生日を兼ねて自分事ですけどお知らせがあります。最近、SNSであまり活動をしなかった理由はこれです! この前、赤ちゃんが生まれたのですよ✨ただ、1ヶ月早かったから、まだ入院中ですけど、しっかり元気な男の子です❤" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  22. ^ "（オーサ 北の国から ルポｆｒｏｍスウェーデン）私、故郷に戻りました １３年ぶりのスウェーデン暮らし：朝日新聞". 朝日新聞 (in Japanese). 2024-12-07. Retrieved 2025-06-16.
  23. ^ KADOKAWA CORPORATION. "「オーサ・イェークストロム」 を含む検索結果 - KADOKAWA". KADOKAWAオフィシャルサイト (in Japanese). Retrieved 16 June 2025.
  24. ^ KADOKAWA CORPORATION. "オーサ・イェークストロム(マンガ（漫画）、文芸・小説)の作品一覧". 電子書籍ストア BOOK☆WALKER (in Japanese). Retrieved 16 June 2025.

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