Tokiwa-so: Manga's Sacred Place

There once was a wooden apartment building in Toshima City called Tokiwaso, where Osamu Tezuka, Fujiko F. Fujio, Fujiko Fujio A, Shotaro Ishinomori, Fujio Akatsuka, and other manga masters spent their youth. Memories of this apartment, which eventually came to be called “the Mecca of Manga”, were passed on to this museum over the course of about 70 years by local residents, and they continue to speak to us today.

Paying Tribute to this Mecca of Manga

Tokiwaso was made famous by the young masters who gathered and lived here, gracing the history of post-war manga.

In 1952, one year after the framework for the building was complete, the first manga artist to move in was Osamu Tezuka (author of Astro Boy, published by Kobunsha in 1952), also known as the “God of Manga”. Later, other unique manga artists, such as Fujiko F. Fujio (Doraemon, published by Shogakukan, 1969), Fujiko Fujio A (Ninja Hattori-kun, published by Kobunsha, 1964), Shotaro Ishinomori (Kamen Rider, published by Kodansha, 1971), and Fujio Akatsuka (Tensai Bakabon, published by Kodansha, 1967) also moved in, and at some point, the building came to be called Mangaso, meaning “Manga Manor”.

Shiinamachi (now known as Minami-Nagasaki), the area where Tokiwaso was located, was a great place to live for manga artists who came to Tokyo as it had a bustling shopping district as well as easy access to downtown areas with publishing companies. These manga artists surely were heavily inspired by this area with its many hobbyists, movie theatres, record shops, antique book stores, and more. Among the shops in the area, these manga artists often visited Eden, a modern and elegant café, both for business and pleasure. Nowadays, almost all of these shops have disappeared, but we can still see how they looked at the time through photos.

When Community and Government Came Together
Time passed, and Tokiwaso itself was dismantled in 1982. While many manga artists have passed away, the Toshima City Tokiwaso Manga Museum was opened in 2020 near the site of Tokiwaso. There was a strong desire among local residents behind the opening of the museum nearly 70 years after Osamu Tezuka moved in. Looking back, Mr. Koide, who has been involved in community activities together with his daughter, says that even among locals who watch Doraemon, there are fewer and fewer people who know that Tokiwaso – where the creator of Doraemon lived – used to be here in this area.

Signature collecting and other activities have been carried out for twenty years, but the establishment of the Tokiwaso Corner in the Toshima City Central Library about ten years ago further fueled a desire to do something locally. “Monuments at the station and around town were set up, and the Tokiwaso Street Oyasumidokoro and other facilities were opened one by one. And finally, the museum, which had been our ultimate goal, was built.”

A Desire to Offer The Experience of Visiting Tokiwaso
The goal of the museum, established after many twists and turns, is to offer the experience of visiting Tokiwaso. By encountering the atmosphere of the place where manga artists of Tokiwaso spent their youth, visitors ought to be able better understand the culture of manga. For this reason, planners were very particular about the quality of reproduction. A great amount of thought was given to reproduce everything down to parts that appeal to the five senses, such as the squeaking sound of the stairs at the entrance.

Reproducing Even the Smells of Life

Feeling as if you’ve slipped back in time, the second floor of this museum showcases the results of the highly accurate reproduction, where planners were even particular about the ageing of materials. There is a great realism that makes it seem like people are here, from bowls that look as if they’d been used until recently in the communal kitchen to original sketches drawn in the manga artists’ rooms and more.

A Good, Old Showa-era Place of Friendly Competition
After visiting the second floor, which reproduces a softness found in wooden buildings, it seems that children often say it seemed nostalgic for some reason. Mr. Koide closes his eyes, saying, “This type of building, completely different from those built today, must be new to them. Manga artists have said this, but children are always the same, no matter the year. It seems that at the time, there were adults who distrusted these manga artists, as they always stayed indoors, but the children knew that they were kind. Sometimes children would ask for signatures, and sometimes they would get the manga artists to make ramen noodles for them!”

The Difficult Path to Reproduction

However, reproducing this nostalgia was incredibly hard work. The biggest problem was color. Photos from when the manga artists lived here were black and white, so even if designers knew the floor plan, they didn’t have any idea about the colors of the rooms. So they had to rely on the valuable accounts of four manga artists, including Shinichi Suzuki and Hideko Mizuno, who had actually lived at Tokiwaso at the time. From walls and window frames to the roof, they repeatedly showed samples they had created to the artists and then adjusted them.

They reproduced what the rooms looked like at the time as best they could to show how the manga artists lived in each of the rooms. Many books and records, as well as manga supplies and clothing, are placed in the tiny rooms, and they appear as if someone could return to the room at any moment. We were surprised that even the grain of the ceiling panels was faithfully reproduced by printing the grain from actual panels. We also took note of the display of scenes of the town and prices of items at the time displayed in some of the rooms. You can also enjoy imagining what the youthful days of the manga artists were like.

The museum’s curator told us about his favorite story about these rooms. “Naoya Moriyasu, who was a member of the Shin-Manga To group, was graciously allowed to live with Shinichi Suzuki in room 20, and Moriyasu surprised Suzuki by bringing a large desk with him that he received from his teacher. This shows the easygoing relationship between these two.”

The First Floor Exhibition Room, Lined with Valuable Materials

The first floor is entirely different from the second floor, calling to mind the white halls of a modern art gallery. In addition to the works of artists associated with Tokiwaso, books and magazines that feature these artists also line the walls of the Manga Lounge. 

The curator tells us that the great relationships between the resident manga artists is one of the reasons why Tokiwaso continues to capture people’s hearts. “It is said that the manga artists helped each other with drafts. They started a baseball team and played games together, went to mahjong tournaments, and traveled together. The fact that they still were connected both publicly and privately after leaving Tokiwaso surely shows the quality of their relationships.”

Related Places, Scattered About the Town

Even today, after the name of the area changed from Shiinamachi to Minami-Nagasaki, you can sense traces of these manga legends all over the area through monuments and more. If you want to give form to your Tokiwaso memories, head to the Tokiwaso Street Oyasumidokoro, where you can easily find related items and books.

Mementos for your Memories

Popular items include slippers with a vintage Showa vibe and Tudor Candy (non-alcoholic), based on “tudor” as invented by Hiroo Terada, the second manga artist at Tokiwaso. “Tudor” refers to a drink of shochu, a distilled alcohol, that has been diluted with a fruit-flavored soda, and it was the drink of choice at Tokiwaso, much appreciated by the young, cash-strapped manga artists.

Recreation of the Group Leader’s Room

Hiroo Terada held many dinner parties together with the tudor drink. Tera-san (Terada’s nickname) was much loved for his considerate personality, and on the second floor is a space that recreates his room. Shinichi Suzuki, who spent time together with Terada at Tokiwaso, was shocked by how realistic the recreation is. You can surely imagine all the drama that unfolded in this tiny space.

The Joy of Having Manga as a Common Language

Before leaving, you’ll want to leave a message in one of the notebooks at Tokiwaso Street Oyasumidokoro. These notebooks contain the thoughts of manga fans that have visited not only from within Japan but from around the world. Pros and amateurs alike have freely expressed their own works in notebooks. You will recognize anew the invaluable gift that manga artists have left for us with a sense of unity that goes beyond nationality and age and that allows people to enjoy the same thing.

Three shops down from Tokiwaso Street Oyasumidokoro is the Tokiwaso Manga Station, which opened at the same time as the museum. Here you can read treasured works about the manga artists who lived at Tokiwaso.

Gain Courage from a Forward-moving Attitude

Manga Michi (Shonengahosha, 1977), written by Fujiko Fujio A and which describes life at Tokiwaso, is a bible of sorts not only for fans of Tokiwaso but for all manga lovers. It will surely tell the story of the identity of Toshima City residents in the future, as this book is even available in all the libraries at public elementary and junior high schools in Toshima City. Manga were considered morally offensive books and were the subject of bans back when manga artists lived at Tokiwaso. I wonder what the manga artists of Tokiwaso would think of manga today, having gained widespread global acceptable.

Passing On History Gives Meaning to this “Mecca”

Mr. Koide smiles, saying, “I want children to be excited about the fact that the people who wrote such wonderful manga lived nearby.” As long as there is a word for this illogical excitement for the true thrill of manga, surely the culture of manga at Tokiwaso will be passed on into the future. This place of residence for young manga artists has morphed into a “mecca”, welcoming all of us today.