Born in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan in 1940. Established the Katsumi Asaba Design Co., Ltd. in 1975, after a brief employment at Light Publicity, Inc. Among his clients are Suntory, Seibu Department Store, Seibu Saison Group, Nisshin Cup Noodle, Takeda Chemical Industries, Ltd. and Astel Tokyo. He makes a point of annually travelling abroad in search of little known letters. In the hinterland of China he encountered the Nakhi Pictographic Script "Tomba", the last surviving hieroglyph on earth. This initiation resulted in the first solo exhibition. Recent works reflect his knowledge of letters he acquired in Turkey (Arabic) and India (Devanagari Script). He is a committee member of Tokyo Art Directors Club (ADC), the president of Tokyo Typo Directors Club (TDC), a director of Japan Graphic Designers Association (JAGDA), a member of World Cup Japan 2002 Bidding Committee, a coucillor of Japan Table Tennis Association. He is a table tennis player of the 6th grade. / AWARDS : Special Selection, Japan Advertising Artists Club (JAAC),1965 • Mainichi Design Award • Yamana Prize, JAAC • Tokyo ADC Members Gold Prize • Japanese Academy Award for Art Direction of a movie "Sharaku", 1996