On the first day of Tết (Vietnamese lunar new year), I always go outside and pick a tree branch. 

This isn’t because I’m superstitious – but because I like what it represents. 

In Vietnam, this tradition is called “fortune picking:” The branch you bring home symbolises the kind of year you’re inviting in.  

More leaves = More buds = More growth. 

I’ve always liked the quiet symbolism of that ritual: choosing what kind of year you want, rather than waiting for it. 

That idea – choosing deliberately – is how I think about my career, and why I am still making manga, even in times when felt uncertain or out of place. 

_{in my studio – wearing traditional Vietnamese Áo Dài}

In 1889, Vincent van Gogh admitted himself to the asylum at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. While there, he painted Irises. 

It’s one of his most recognisable works: vibrant, alive, almost defiant. 

What strikes me isn’t just the colour or the brushwork. 

It’s the artists’ choice. 

He chose to paint them. 

Growth can happen when the environment isn’t ideal. Sometimes it even happens in unlikely places, including in the confinement of a mental asylum, or in the depth of depression. Growth isn’t always loud, but your decision will most certainly be.  

Irises was influenced by Japanese woodblock prints, a reminder that culture moves, overlaps, inspires. Art doesn’t exist in isolation. It travels, evolves, and carries roots across borders. 

That’s how I think about manga. 

In my manga SWORD, I deliberately drew from Vietnamese cultural symbols, not as ornament, but as foundation. It was my first published one-shot, and it felt important that my entry into print wasn’t culturally neutral. I didn’t just want to prove that art can come from anywhere. I wanted to stand firmly where I came from.  

The story itself follows someone who keeps going despite all the noises: Someone who chooses to continue. 

Creating, to me, isn’t just about producing works. 

It’s about protecting and nurturing my roots. 

It’s about choosing what I carry forward 

Culturally, creatively, and personally. 

This year, I’m thinking more carefully about what I choose to bring into my stories. 

SWORD was one expression of that. 

It won’t be the last.