Chie Shinkyū is a Japanese manga artist born on September 20, 1980 in Hiroshima City’s Minami-ku, Hiroshima Prefecture. She attended Hiroshima Municipal Ohba Elementary School, Hiroshima Jogakuin Junior and Senior High School, and later graduated from the Faculty of Education at Hiroshima University. From a young age, she expressed a desire to become a manga artist, writing this ambition in her elementary school graduation yearbook. After university, she worked in a hospital before moving to Tokyo in 2005 to pursue her dream, studying under manga artist Fumiyo Fujieda and working as an assistant. She made her professional debut in 2006 with a one-shot manga in a special issue of Weekly Comic Bunch. Her first serialized work, Takane no Hana, was published in Weekly Comic Bunch in 2007.

Shinkyū is best known as the original creator of Wakako-zake, a manga that began serialization in Monthly Comic Zenon in 2011. The series follows a young office worker named Wakako who enjoys dining and drinking alone around Tokyo. Reflecting her own lifestyle, Shinkyū returned to Hiroshima as her home base while continuing to produce this work. The manga proved popular and was adapted into a live-action television drama that aired on TV Tokyo in January 2015. A short-form anime adaptation followed in July 2015. In addition to the screen adaptations, a character-branded sweet potato shochu called Asagi Usagi was developed in collaboration with Mercian and featured within the manga. She also created the related manga Taishū Sakaba Wakao - Wakako-zake Betten, expanding the original series’ universe. Beyond these, Shinkyū has appeared as a guest extra in the live-action adaptation of Wakako-zake, playing a diner in a Hiroshima restaurant.

Her body of work frequently explores themes of food, drink, and the simple pleasures of solitary living. Many of her manga have a semi-autobiographical quality, often centered on a young woman navigating daily life in a city. She has also published several essay-style manga about cats and her personal experiences with food and travel. Other notable works include the serialized manga Takao-kun, as well as standalone volumes such as Yeah! Single Love Song, Shin Kiyū no Shuui wa Neko, and Shin Kiyū no Hitoribure Tawagami.

Shinkyū’s industry significance lies in her contribution to the food and drinking manga genre, where her work has successfully bridged the gap between niche manga readership and mainstream popular culture through live-action and anime adaptations. Her authentic, low-key portrayal of after-hours relaxation has resonated with adult audiences in Japan, and her cross-media collaborations, such as the shochu partnership, demonstrate a broader influence on lifestyle branding tied to manga properties.