Ten p.m. in Shimokitazawa, a neighborhood of circuitous alleyways ten minutes or so west of central Tokyo by train. Think Long Island City or Williamsburg in Brooklyn, early nineties. Three separate bands busk on street corners at the bottom of a hill. Above them loom a giant McDonald’s and several closet-sized ramen shops. Three cops appear, batons in hands, nodding sternly, and the bands crumple their gear into canvas sacks and disappear. A few minutes later, one of the bands, a hyper-speed blues trio, reappears and plays two more numbers before applauding passers by. Then they fold it all up again.

Just past 10:30 Rikimaru Toho bounds down the station stairs with plastic bags in both hands and a plastic washbasin under one arm. Toho is a professional manga reader. He has been out here every Saturday night since five years ago, when he moved to the city from the seaside village of Chigasaki. On Sunday afternoons, he’s at nearby Inokashira Park, only a few stations away.

“My job is bringing manga to the streets. When I was younger, I loved folk songs. I played guitar and sang. I discovered that I could hit all the high notes when I sang. So I thought, if I twist my voice around a little, I’ll sound like a high-pitched anime character. Childlike. I wanted to be an anime voice actor. I thought I’d practice for the job by reading manga out loud. Suddenly, I realized my guitar had turned into a manga book. It was my new instrument.

“I was a classic hikikomori and NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) type of person. I couldn’t fit in. Now I get offers to perform on stages in clubs and theaters. Media people in Japan are interested in me. But the best thing about my manga performances is when audience members are sweating when they thank me after a reading. I’m the one who performed—but they’re the ones sweating!”

Toho holds up a Kazuo Umezu horror manga and opens it to page one. He is growling out the dialogue, his eyes bouncing. A twenty-something couple stops to listen. The boy laughs and hugs his girl closer. Like American kids at a county fair, they choose another story, a romance, and settle in.



In this short clip from Japan, the Manga Man reads from Slam Dunk, Takehiko Inoue's hit manga series about competing high school basketball teams. The scene depicts a crucial moment in the story when the hero, a newbie, manages to steal the ball from a veteran captain. Toho starts with streams of onomatopoeia, evoking mayhem on the court. At around the :50 mark, the hero says: "Heh-heh. I got the ball!" At around :57, the crowd roars: "Amazing! He finally got it! He got the ball away from the captain!" And at 1:05, a young female fan featured in closeup gushes: "He's so awesome. And now everyone understands how great he really is. Yes!"