Manga creator Hideo Azuma won the Gran Guinigi award for “Riscoperta di un’opera” (“Rediscovered Work”) for his Disappearance Diary (Shissō Nikki) manga.
Azuma published the sequel manga Shissō Nikki 2: Al-Chū Byōtō (Disappearance Diary 2: The Ward for Alcoholics) through East Press in October 2013.
In 2009, Hideo Azuma became the first creator from Japan to be honored with an Ignatz Award nomination for Disappearance Diary.
The manga depicts the addicted patients, doctors, and the caring yet strict nurses that Azuma encountered in the ward.