My First Hometown Kyushu Period and Manga Friends
It is a miraculous coincidence that Mr. Shotaro Ishinomori and I were born on the same day in the same month (January 25, 1938), that we both aspired to the same career, and that we both lived in Nerima City.
When I first moved to Tokyo, I stayed at the Yamakoshi Kan in front of Hongo Sanchome subway station. I met Tetsuya Chiba and Mitsuteru Yokoyama on the day I moved to Tokyo. There was a Japanese-style inn called Taiyokan near my lodgings, which was a place where manga artists were confined to. There was the Tokiwaso group over there and the Hongo group over here. So I inevitably got to know everyone. Mr. Ishinomori and Grandma often came to visit me, and one of them, Tezuka (Osamu), would shout from under the lodge, "Hey, I'll feed you! from the bottom of the lodge,Haha.
Speaking of Mr. Tezuka, when I was in high school, he escaped to Kyushu and took up temporary residence in Nakasu, Hakata. However, he didn't bring anyone with him, so he approached me and Ken-chan Takai (Kenichiro Takai) and the Kyushu Manga Kenkyukai, whose works were beginning to appear in magazines. We received a telegram saying, "Tetsu tai ko" (*1), and when I called from a nearby drugstore, the man himself answered and said, "Help me! and "Please help me! And when I went to see him, he said, "Draw whatever you want. Only the name is written. It's this kind of scene. That's all there is to it. Then, except for the important parts such as the faces of the people, I drew crowds in the background, buildings, cat food, and I put the crest of the elementary school I went to in the background (laughs). (Laughs.) I wanted to leave a mark that I was involved in the project! I wanted to leave a mark that I was involved. I did a lot of pranks. I drew pictures in the middle of the night with a futon covered and a light turned on while talking nonsense, or I played a role in sending manuscripts by air mail, which had just started at that time.
Many people have told me many stories about this time, but it was so long ago that even the people who were involved in the project have some vague memories of it. The editor was in a hurry because he didn't have an assistant, so he sent Mr. Ishinomori and Mr. Fujio Akatsuka to Tokyo to wait for him, and at Mr. Tezuka's suggestion, he flew the name manuscript there by the then-new air mail service to complete the work. If that is true, it would mean that all of the later famous cartoonists collaborated on this work. I thought that was great. But, in fact, we had already finished the manuscript and sent it to them, so Mr. Ishinomori and Mr. Akatsuka were very disappointed. We were so excited that our manuscript was going to be in color! But when they received the completely finished manuscript, it was rejected. I felt rather apologetic about it. In fact, when I looked at the finished product, I did not feel that it had been revised from the manuscript we had finished in Kyushu and sent to them. So, it must have been a mistake in the memory of the editor at the time.
There was this story about Mr. Tezuka. At a department store, I drew a scene of a woman taking off her pants...or putting them on, or something like that. This caused a commotion among the housewives. They said it was too sexy. The lines of the body were too realistic. It eventually developed into a commotion when the housewives rushed to the department store, saying that it was not good for their education.
I was blessed with a good environment. In the Kitakyushu, Kokura, and Fukuoka area, there were many major newspapers with their western headquarters, so I was able to start a series of articles in the daily newspaper when I was 15 years old, in my first year of high school, and I could use the money to pay for my school fees. There were more than 30 movie theaters in that area. There were more than 30 movie theaters in Kokura alone. There were a lot of foreign and Japanese films playing, and there were a mountain of bookstores. Mie Nakao's parents also owned a large bookstore, and even now, when I meet her, she says, "I am the daughter of the Glorious Literature Museum!,Haha. It makes me kind of happy, doesn't it?
I was born in Kurume and raised in Kokura. When I sent my manuscripts, I used to send them by express mail from Kokura or by air to Itazuke...Fukuoka Airport. I would get letters from publishers saying, "Please show your courage as soon as possible. The publishers would write to me and say, "We would love to go, but we don't have the money. I would reply, "If you come, I will give it to you",Haha. I put everything in a pawn shop and moved to Tokyo. It was right around the time when everyone was at Tokiwaso.
*In those days, it was common to omit the muddle in telegrams because the muddle was also added as a charge.
I came to Tokyo and went to Nerima...
So I went to Tokyo and visited Tokiwa-so to meet Mr. Ishinomori, Fujiko Fujio, Akatsuka and others. As it happened, they were all out of town. Only Mr. Abiko (Fujiko FujioⒶ) was there, and when I was hanging around in the hallway, he said, "Who are you? He said, "I'm Matsumoto. I said, "I'm Matsumoto." He said, "Oh, you're Matsumoto? Then come in. We both knew each other's names, but not our faces. He invited me into his room and treated me to tea. He showed me around the rooms. He said, "This is Ishinomori's room. I went there many times after that, but it was very difficult in later years. He would say, "Hey, don't go to that corner. The floor will come loose and you will fall down. It was fun.
At first it was just Mr. Tezuka at Tokiwaso, but the number of residents and commuters kept increasing, and eventually everyone became independent, and the area along the Seibu-Ikebukuro Line became lively. In Nerima Ward, Mr. Tezuka was in Fujimidai on Senkawa Street, and Chiba-chan was on the other side of the station, this side...now there is a station called Nerima Takanodai, but she still lives there. And Mr. Ishinomori is in Sakuradai. I live in Oizumigakuen. In Oizumi, besides myself, there were also Moto Hagio, Keiko Takemiya, Monkey Punch, Kaoru Shintani, Kayono Saeki... I may be mistaken, but anyway, many people used to live in Nerima. Ikki Kajiwara also lived in (Oizumi) Gakuen-cho. For some reason, there were a lot of painters living around my house. When we decided to build a house here, we went up on the balcony and saw the Toei film studio over there. I had no idea. I went out there and found Toei Motion Picture, and I thought to myself, "Well, I'll probably be involved in this someday..." I was riding my bicycle and almost bumped into an actor,Haha. I went into a coffee shop in front of the station and found Shizue Abe drinking a cup of coffee in costume. She said, "It's time for a break, so I came here to have a cup of tea. It was a peaceful time. Such actors wandered around in front of the station. I was surprised to see a man dressed as a military police officer buying and eating anpan ,Haha.
A strange and too mysterious connection with Nerima
Even when I started animation and went to Toei Doga, which is now Toei Animation, it was only a three-minute bike ride away. I felt that I had moved to a very nice place.
However, there are many other unexpected connections between me and Nerima.
My father was an airplane pilot during the war, and he once lived in Iruma, where the Military Academy of Aeronautics and Astronautics was located. When I came to live in Nerima, he would say, "If you turn that corner, there is that one, and if you go this way, there is this one. He remembers seeing it from the sky. I was surprised at this. Sometimes they would ride their horses along the rows of cherry trees in Oizumi to go drinking. I also know a lot about the Narimasu Airfield of the Army, which is now called Hikarigaoka. Incidentally, I was on the selection committee when the name Hikarigaoka was chosen, so it was a chance encounter between a father and son from Kyushu in Nerima.
My first work was called "Mitsubachi no bouken(The Adventure of the Bees)" and I was 15 years old, in my first year of high school. So, I used the Makino Botanical Guide as reference material for my drawings. When I came here, I found that Dr. Tomitaro Makino's house was across the station, right? Makino Memorial Garden. It's a strange...strange connection, isn't it?
There is also this kind of story. I was once asked to think of a character for a train in Iga, and I had a hunch. Then I did some research. To my surprise, I found that Oizumi was the training ground of the Iga clan led by ninja Hattori Hanzo. It was a training ground for the Iga clan led by ninja Hattori Hanzo. I knew I should have painted here! Haha. I had no idea that my place of residence was connected to Iga.
I heard that Ishinomori was born on the same day of the month as Matsumoto Leiji and Ishinomori Shotaro, who both decided to pursue the same career... I heard that Ishinomori was born about 15 minutes earlier in time, but I wonder what the time difference between Miyagi Prefecture and Fukuoka Prefecture would be... I wonder if it would be the same in Nerima Ward, where many of them were born in the same year... He created many cartoons and animations in the same Nerima Ward. What should we say about this strange relationship...?
There are many other romantic legends in Nerima, such as the Bioni Bridge near here and Teruhime (Princess Teruhime), and it is a place where one's sensibility is ignited. Like Mater, I feel there is a connection with Tezuka's "Hinotori" and "Ribbon no kishi" as well.
The Senpai of Japanese Manga
My generation was able to meet everyone from the prewar and wartime generations, Tezuka's generation, and the current generation. There was Fukujiro Yokoi of "The Adventurous Pucher," Tetsuji Fukushima of "The Demon King of the Desert," Shigeru Komatsuzaki, Soji Yamakawa, and others, then Noboru Baba, Yoshiaki Hananohara, Tezuka from Osaka, Mitsuo Higashiura, Kikuo Tagawa, then a little later Mitsuteru Yokoyama, and after that our generation. After that came Mitsuteru Yokoyama, and after that, our generation. After that, Koki Yokoyama came out, followed by our generation. So, if Mr. Tezuka was the first postwar generation, Mitsuteru Yokoyama and his generation was the first and a half generation, and we were...not the second generation, but about the first and eighth generation (laughs). Nagai's Gou-chan and the others are in the second period. Mr. Tezuka judged the manga of our generation, and our generation judged the manga of Mr. Akira Toriyama and others of his generation. We got to meet everyone. I met Mr. Suiwo Tagawa of "Norakuro," Mr. Keizo Shimada, and so on.
Tetsuji Fukushima, whom I mentioned earlier, will be reprinting "Desert Demon King," and he worked at Akita Shoten later in his career, proofreading our manuscripts. He was checking for mistakes in the way lines were drawn and so on. When I went to greet him, he said, "Please think that Tetsuji Fukushima is dead..." I was shocked. I was shocked.
I had drinks with Mr. Mitsuteru Yokoyama at a bar in Shinjuku, and we said our last goodbyes together, "Well, I'm leaving first," and went home. All the friends I drank with around there are now parted forever.... When I ride the Seibu Line, I remember my friends from Tokiwaso, and I miss them. I think about how we were all so healthy back then....
Shigeru Komatsuzaki was also a big seller of picture stories after the war, and I used to buy his paintings as well. I received a call from a certain used book store... The president of the used book store used to come to visit me often, and since then he has become like a master of used books... He would sometimes call me and say, "There is a manuscript like this for sale, what should I do? He would sometimes call me and say, "I have this manuscript for sale, what should I do with it? I would sometimes get a call from him saying, "I have this manuscript for sale, what should I do with it? When I contacted Mr. Komatsuzaki, he would say, "It will be safe and secure if I know it is at your place, and more importantly, since you paid for it, please don't hesitate to keep it. He would tell me, "You paid for it, so don't hesitate to keep it." He had many drawings of the construction of the pyramids, huge color originals, and so on. I had a number of them, but I returned a few before he passed away, and then Mr. Komatsuzaki's study caught fire. So only the manuscripts that I was going to return later remained. After he passed away, I framed it and returned it to his wife, who accepted it with tears in her eyes, saying, "It's as if my husband has come back.... I am glad I kept it.
The Youth of Japanese Manga
In this way, I secured the manuscripts of several people and returned them to them. I returned 630 copies to Mr. Akatsuka, and finally to Machiko (Mrs. Akatsuka). She came here to pick them up. She said she could not speak, but she could see, so I showed them to her, and she replied, "Thank you. Machiko passed away shortly after that. A short time later, his ex-wife Tomoko also passed away, and Mr. Akatsuka died two or three days later.... But he brought me 630 copies in a big drop. A used book dealer in the Kansai region brought me 630 or so copies. It was a huge amount of money, but he brought them to me, saying that he only needed to pay the freight.
In the past, there were many cases where they did not return manuscripts. That's why they were circulated in places we didn't know about. Ishinomori's manuscripts were extremely expensive. I once received nearly a book's worth of Tezuka-san's manuscripts from the publisher at the time. Including the cover (smiles). I returned them to Mr. Tezuka, but in our days, it was really vague, and we did not receive the manuscripts back. We did not get the manuscript back. We drew a lot of pictures, but not a single page was returned.... That was a normal time....
That's how we drew so many separate supplements, and then suddenly we became a weekly magazine. However, the separate supplemental volumes never went away. I became extremely busy. But I was young, so I had a lot of fun. One day, we heard that the annex of Kodansha, the place where we used to get locked up, was haunted by ghosts. They said they could hear footsteps every night. We had to explore...so Mr. Tezuka, Mr. Ishinomori, Chiba-chan, and I went there. It was dark and scary, but our curiosity got the better of us. And what was it? If you were on the lower floor, you could hear the sound of footsteps. I was like, "Oh my God, what is that? Haha. When sarmatake mushrooms grew in our lodgings...they really do grow...if you look them up in the Makino Pictorial Book of Plants, you will find that they are "edible. So I put it on the instant ramen that had just been released at the time and served it to Chibachan. She ate it with "Yum, yum, yum! She ate it with a smile on her face. When Takai-kun and I were on the desk looking at the inn across the street from our lodgings, we spilled ink on the manuscript, and when we made a big fuss about it, the couple who had taken us in laughed at us. We also did a lot of other pranks that you can't really tell people about. It was really fun, Haha.
Come to think of it, one day Mr. Tezuka called me and said, "Help me! He said, "Please help me. The next day was the preview of "Tetsuwan Atom(Astro Boy)," but the projector was broken, so I couldn't edit the film. So I flew to Mushi Productions with an even rougher projector and edited the film with it. That is why the first "Tetsuwan Atom(Astro Boy)" TV series was edited using my projector. I still have that machine.
Mr. Ishinomori, Mr. Tezuka, and I each bought our own projectors and films, and we lent and borrowed them in a roundabout way, calling ourselves "Japan's three biggest anime maniacs," but we were raided by the police. When I was still in Nishi-Sugamo and had just gotten married at the age of 23, all three of us were raided at the same time. By a detective from the Foreign Affairs Division. I heard that an American film company called RKO had filed a lawsuit against us, saying, "There are people who are making money by showing films! They complained, "There are people who are making money by showing the film! So all three of us were raided at once. When they raided the house, they found a film projector loaded with film. They said, "Why are you buying this stuff? They said, "Why are you buying this stuff? This one said, "It's for research. It's for making comic book films. Then the detective let go of the pen with a flick, took a puff of air, and said, "For research, huh? I don't want to do that. Then he patted me on the shoulder and said, "Good luck! I watched him leave from upstairs and he waved his hand and said, "Good luck!" All three of them seemed to be the same. That was the "Imozuru Incident" ,Haha, in which the three self-proclaimed anime maniacs were all in the same boat. Even now, there are projectors and films that used to go round and round in this room... I am sure that both Mr. Ishinomori's and Mr. Tezuka's are there. I don't know who and what are mine that went to the two of them, because he is no longer with us, but I know who and what are in my place. I hope to properly organize them soon and display what I can.
Nerima needs a manga museum!
It is a great asset to be able to interact with manga artists of all generations. Come to think of it, the annex behind Kodansha, which is now a building, I still have the doorknob from those days ,Haha. It is a doorknob that various manga artists held. You want to display them when the Manga Museum is eventually built in Nerima. In Kyushu, a manga pavilion was recently completed, and I really think that Nerima should have the largest manga and anime pavilion in Japan. There is no other place where there have been so many artists. Mr. Ishinomori, Mr. Tezuka, Tetsuya Chiba, Monkey Punch, Moto Hagio, Keiko Takemiya, Rumiko Takahashi.... There were and still are many famous people. There is no other place like this. And then there is Toei Animation. Nerima probably has the largest number of animation production companies in Japan. Yet, even manga and anime fans do not know that Nerima is such a place, nor do the residents of Nerima City have any idea about it. But foreigners do come to Nerima. A Russian came to my place, too. A Russian came to my place. I thought there would be something there, but there is nothing.
In these times, there is a lot of information out there. The problem is probably that we are not putting it out where it should be put out. Also, I would like the residents of the district to be more proud and appeal to the public. Like the Russians I mentioned earlier, many people come from China, Europe, and the United States. And of course, from Japan as well. We must not disappoint these people. What we enjoy about visiting France is going to museums and experiencing the world of the paintings, visiting the stores where the painters used to work, and becoming a part of the cultural landscape. Then we go into restaurants and talk about the paintings we have just seen. You would also buy souvenirs featuring the paintings. If they leave with happy memories, they will want to come back again. You know what? Nerima is really a waste. If you build a manga museum around Oizumigakuen Station and turn the road to Toei Animation into a manga-anime road, it will really become a major base. People will come from all over the world. From France, China, Russia, Italy, Arabs....
What is good about Japanese manga is that it instinctively draws and animates works that are enjoyable and can be enjoyed by people from any country, while respecting ideas, religions, beliefs, and ethnic sentiments. That's why they are translated into various languages and permeate the countries where they are not translated, as pirated copies. We can talk and get along with each other around cartoons. It is also easy to understand because you start from the pictures. For example, if I translate "Hinotori," which is here, and take it with me, anyone can understand it. It's totally natural. That is the strength of manga.
The building is a symbol of that kind of cultural transmission. It would be fatal to come to Nerima and not have a manga museum or anything....
Nerima can contribute to the world through manga and anime.
I, Mr. Ishinomori, and Mr. Tezuka. Each of us is a "self-proclaimed one of Japan's three biggest anime maniacs," and we have all fulfilled our dreams. And all of us achieved our dreams right here in Nerima. In other words, this environment...there is still a lot of greenery, but it is also convenient to get around, and there are a lot of people in the same industry who can engage in friendly competition...I think it is a place where we can all work hard. That is why I want to do something about it. It's not good if you come all the way from abroad and have nothing to show for it.
Come to think of it, there is an interesting story. I designed a Tokyo Bay cruise ship called "Himiko," and a second ship called "Hotaruna" is about to debut. I have created everything from teacups to ships and buildings.... I don't understand (laughs). The Nerima Manga Museum was also built elegantly and beautifully, as if it were a landmark....
Well, that's the thing, foreign anime lovers come to me after they get on a boat I designed. I know them very well indeed. Russians, French people, people from Southeast Asia. A young man from Southeast Asia wants to be a cartoonist...and he is very good at it. But his father is angry with him. Because it costs money. Why? Why does it cost money to draw manga? I told him that all writing materials, paper, pencils, and so on, were imported. In Japan, paper was so cheap that it was thrown away as snot paper, but the cheapness of these writing materials was a distant cause of the boom in manga culture. This is the reason why learning was not inferior. Thanks to paper and ink. When Ryoma Sakamoto blew his nose with paper and threw it away, the Englishman was surprised and said, "The Japanese blow their noses with such good paper..." (laugh). Even now, there are many countries in the world where people cannot use paper and stationery freely. I wish there was a way to do something about those places.
Manga is not all about being funny. To begin with, the character "man" in the word "manga" does not have a gag-like connotation. It is "three-dimensional. Fresh. Mata ni hi ni shi, but it's not four, it's an eye. It is fresh and warm like the sun... In other words, it is a picture drawn with the eyes of a young person. When I worked with a professor at Peking University on "Biography of a Child Hero," he told me, "The Japanese used very good characters. He said to me, "Japan has applied very good characters. Katsushika Hokusai used it for the first time in his "Hokusai Manga," and I am sure he thought about it.
After all, I have a strong attachment and commitment to Nerima Ward as the place where the energy of manga, the foundation of what we are now, was created. I met many friends. I have many memories. It is also the birthplace of "Hakubenden," Japan's first full-length animated cartoon, which strongly inspired me as well. This is the starting point. I want the young people of the future to be inspired and grow up in this place. That is why I want a manga museum. I have many valuable items in this room, including first editions by Tezuka and Ishinomori and other famous artists from earlier times, but I don't want to move them out of Nerima. We do not want to lend them to others. In that sense, I really want to make the Manga Museum a reality. It is not about profit and loss. It is a way of repaying Nerima for giving me the opportunity to spend good times with so many friends.
And, you know, with the cooperation of the Seibu Line, we can run more trains. Akatsuka's "This is fine! train, Ishinomori's train, and so on. I want to pass by my friends' trains. With my friends' trains. It would be fun,Haha.
Interview/Composition: Hiroaki Maruo Illustration: Utamaru Kato
The translation is available at DeepL (free version)