Asami Araki (荒木 麻美, Araki Asami), nickname Chami (チャミさん, Chami-san),[1] is the wife of the Japanese manga artist and the author of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Hirohiko Araki.
The two have been married for over 30 years and have two daughters. She is most notable for having inspired the characters Yukako Yamagishi and Scarlet Valentine.[3]
Biography
Asami and Hirohiko Araki first met sometime during the late 1980s. They first met when Asami attended her friend's marriage interview, where Araki, a friend of the potential groom, was seated across from her. According to Asami, it was love at first sight, although Araki was apparently completely oblivious to the whole situation. After their first meeting, she managed to get ahold of Araki's phone number.[4][1]
While on his way to the pool at the gym one day, Araki got a phone call from Asami asking him out on a date. Araki then told her to bring a swimsuit and invited her to join him at the pool. When she arrived, Araki told her to play around as he swam a few laps around the pool with a Mona Lisa-like smile on his face. She then sat awkwardly at the side of the pool by herself waiting for him to finish.[3]
In 1990, Araki and Asami got married after only 3 months of meeting during the serialization of Part 3. After being married for about two years, Araki was inspired to create the character Yukako Yamagishi in Part 4. Instead of just drawing women for the sake of it, Araki wanted to draw another side of women that weren't typically depicted at the time and drew from his own experiences being married,[5] although it's unlikely that Asami was quite as extreme as Araki claims. In the first ten years of their marriage, Asami compared Araki to living with a middle schooler, acting very childish and often playing pranks on people such as ding-dong ditches on his neighbors even as an adult. Despite his mischievous nature, Araki was beloved by their neighborhood, although older residents would still treat him like a child.[3]
In November 2009, Asami gave an interview in Araki's place at University of Tokyo's school festival. There, she revealed how surprisingly shy Araki used to be, recounting an incident where she invited a friend over, only to have Araki exclaim "Ah! A stranger!" before promptly closing the door. His shyness also extended to public events, as during the JOJO in Paris exhibition in 2003, Araki was worried that no other Japanese people would show up. However, as Shueisha staff members started to arrive, his shyness began to fade away. Asami noted that Araki had became a lot more sociable since, hosting parties for fellow manga artists, although she remarks that manga artists are also pretty bizarre people.[3]
Interviews
| # | Interview | Type | Media | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bubka (August 1997) | Interview |
Magazine |
August 1997 |
| 2 | Weekly Shonen Brackets 100Q (April 2003) | Interview |
TV Program |
April 15, 2003 |
| 3 | xxxHolic Guidebook (November 2006) | Interview |
Guidebook |
November 17, 2006 |
| 4 | Quick Japan (December 2007) | Interview |
Magazine |
December 10, 2007 |
| 5 | JoJo and Asami Araki's Bizarre Life (November 2009) | Interview |
Event |
November 21, 2009 |
