© Tetsuya Chiba, Shogakukan
This year’s 19th edition of Shogakukan‘s Great comic The magazine announced on Friday that Tetsuya Chiba‘s Hinemosu Notari Nikki The manga will go on hiatus due to Chiba’s poor health. The magazine’s editorial staff stated that Chiba is eager to resume serialization of the manga as soon as possible, but the editorial department will prioritize Chiba’s health and recovery.
In a separate statement from Chiba, he claimed that the intense summer heat could be the cause of him feeling unwell. Chiba added that he will focus on recovering to draw manga again. He apologizes for the worry he has caused and asks readers for patience as he takes time to recover.
Chiba launched the autobiographical short essay manga in Great comic in December 2015. Shogakukan published the first compiled volume of the manga in 2018 and the seventh volume in November 2025. The manga previously went on hiatus in August 2024 and resumed serialization in December of that same year.
Chiba debuted as a manga creator in 1956. He is perhaps best known for his Ashita no Joe (Tomorrow Joe) boxing manga, which ran from 1968 to 1973 and has remained a mainstay of Japanese popular culture for decades. The manga inspired two television animes in 1970 and 1980, as well as two anime films in 1980 and 1981. The manga’s story was reimagined in a new science fiction setting with new characters in 2018. megalobox anime, which credits the original manga as its origin. The sequel series of megalobox, Megalobox 2: Nomadreleased in April 2021.
Ashita no Joe received its first official release in English under the title Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow in December 2024.
Chiba was nominated to the Japan Academy of Art in 2022 as one of its first two manga creators (along with Yoshiharu Tsuge). He is also currently president of the Japan Cartoonists Association.
Chiba was honored with the prestigious Order of Culture award in 2024 and is the first manga creator to receive this honor. The order is awarded to those “who have made outstanding contributions to the development” of Japanese culture.
Chiba is 87 years old and underwent heart surgery to limit his coronary artery in January 2022. Chiba noted in a blog post in 2024 that he also underwent eye surgery.
In November 2021, Chiba revealed that he was admitted to a hospital in Tokyo after he began to feel unwell after the summer of that year ended. He said he began to have abnormalities one after another in his heart valve, coronary artery and throat. Then he began treatment for a tumor in his throat.
Fountain: Great comic number 19