Inio Asano, a bona fide earthling, was born in Ibaraki Japan in 1980. In 2001 his short story "Uchu kara Konnichiwa" (Hello from Outer Space) won the first Sunday GX rookie prize.

Later GX published his series Subarashi Sekai, available in English from Viz Media as What a Wonderful World! His series solanin and Goodnight Punpun are also available from Viz Media.

Other works by Asano include Hikari no Machi (City of Light), Nijigahara Holograph, and Umibe no Onna no Ko (A Girl on the Shore).