Hybta Watanabe was born in Fukushima, Japan in 1961. He went on to attend Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo, graduating in 1984.
At this time he began his apprenticeship at Comme des Garcons, the company run by legendary Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo, as a patternmaker. In 1987, he was promoted to chief designer of Tricot knitwear line and then moved on to design for the Comme Des Garcons Homme line.
Starting in 1992, he has worked under his own name as part of Comme des Garcons. He started his own line under the Comme Des Garcons name called ‘Junya Watanabe Comme Des Garcons’ in 1993 and began showing in Paris that same year.