Ken Akamatsu

Ken Akamatsu
赤松 健
Akamatsu at Japan Expo 2015
Member of the House of Councillors
Incumbent
Assumed office July 26, 2022
Constituency	Proportional
Personal details
Born	(1968-07-05) July 5, 1968 (age 56) Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic
Spouse	Kanon Akamatsu
Children	2
Education	Chuo University
Occupation	Manga artist, politician
Known for	Love Hina, Negima! Magister Negi Magi, UQ Holder!
Awards	Shōnen Magazine Newcomer Award (1993) Kodansha Manga Award (2001)
Years active	1993–present
Signature
Website	kenakamatsu.jp

Ken Akamatsu (赤松 健, Akamatsu Ken, born July 5, 1968) is a Japanese manga artist and politician who has served since 2022 as a member of the House of Councillors. He made his professional manga debut in 1993, and is best known as the author of Love Hina (1998–2001) and Negima! Magister Negi Magi (2003–2012), both serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine; a sequel to Negima!, UQ Holder!, was serialized from 2013 to 2022. In 2011, Akamatsu founded J-Comi (now Manga Library Z), a free digital distributor of out-of-print manga.

Akamatsu has been a managing director of the Japan Cartoonists Association since 2018, and is a vocal advocate for protecting freedom of expression in manga and anime from expansions in censorship and copyright law. In the 2022 Japanese House of Councillors election, he won a seat as a candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party in the national proportional representation block on a free expression platform, becoming the first manga creator in the National Diet. On November 13, 2024, he was appointed Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Reconstruction as part of the Second Ishiba Cabinet. ^[1]