Shinkai was born in Nagano Prefecture. He went to Chuo University where he studied Japanese literature. He was a part of the literature club there and he drew picture books there. He said that he liked creating because he had read manga, novels and had watched anime when he was young. After finishing university in 1994, he got a job at Falcom. It is a video game company. He worked there for 5 years by making video clips.