Watase Yuu was born in Osaka, Japan. Her birthday is March 5, and even though she doesn't list the year, it's been established as 1970 - based on how old she was when she debuted.

Watase Yuu is a pen name. In other words, it's not the mangaka's real name. (A girl's gotta have some secrets)

The individual kanji mean:

wata(ru)	se	yu	u
transit, ford, ferry, cross, import, deliver, diameter, migrate	rapids, current, torrent, shallows, shoal	permanence, distant, long time, leisure	eaves, roof, house, heaven

However, when combined, kanji can take on vastly different - sometimes poetic - meanings than when used individually. Don't try to use these definitions to try to come up with a translation of her name.

An interesting tidbit: Yuu is a name generally given to boys. Early in her career, people often mistook Watase for a male artist because of her style of work & because of the name. A Japanese acquaintence once remarked that Watase Yuu's speech patterns sounded like a boy's, and Watase herself has expressed an interest in working on a shounen (boy's) manga... so maybe she's a tomboy at heart ^_^

But the only way to find out exactly what the name means is to ask Watase-sensei herself...