Check Out Akira Toriyama Mansion ;)

[Hellspawn28]

Toriyama seems to respect Superman. If someone ask on who would win then he would say something like "They would stop fighting and become good friends".

[FindKenshi]

Actually, his purpose (or at least his career) sorta' is to entertain others... seeing how he's in the Entertainment industry, and all....

[Videlphia76ers]

A house that original is paper. Him having a hand in the design wouldn't surprise me.

[rereboy]

Actually, his purpose (or at least his career) sorta' is to entertain others... seeing how he's in the Entertainment industry, and all....

With his mangas... not with every aspect of his life.

[SaiyaJedi]

A house that original is paper. Him having a hand in the design wouldn't surprise me.

He does mention in a number of interviews from 1995–’96 that he is busy planning an expansion of the house / Bird Studio. Since the façade doesn't look any older than that, I have to imagine that he did have a significant hand in the overall look.

The house itself was originally built sometime in 1981 or ’82 after he hit it big. It's supposedly on a plot of 60 tsubo (200 m² / ~2150 sq. ft.), but I don't know how big the structure itself is (obviously there was room to expand). It was designed to house Toriyama's parents, him, his then-fiancée, and their eventual children, though.

[Luso Saiyan]

Call me old-fashioned, but the very idea of a random guy taking a dozen photographs of a person's house and posting it online where anyone (normal people as well as freaky people) can see it, just because the guy who lives there wrote a very successful manga/book/whatever, is waaayyyy too creepy.

I disagree, these seem to be some very generic pictures (not paparazzi-style). It's the house of the person who created Dragon Ball, if I was there I would take some pictures as well.

[Payne222]

He does mention in a number of interviews from 1995–’96 that he is busy planning an expansion of the house / Bird Studio. Since the façade doesn't look any older than that, I have to imagine that he did have a significant hand in the overall look.

The house itself was originally built sometime in 1981 or ’82 after he hit it big. It's supposedly on a plot of 60 tsubo (200 m² / ~2150 sq. ft.), but I don't know how big the structure itself is (obviously there was room to expand). It was designed to house Toriyama's parents, him, his then-fiancée, and their eventual children, though.

You can tell he's a good guy simply by the fact that he expanded his house after his success to take care of his parents.

But damn, his plot is smaller than mine...

[SaiyaJedi]

He does mention in a number of interviews from 1995–’96 that he is busy planning an expansion of the house / Bird Studio. Since the façade doesn't look any older than that, I have to imagine that he did have a significant hand in the overall look.

The house itself was originally built sometime in 1981 or ’82 after he hit it big. It's supposedly on a plot of 60 tsubo (200 m² / ~2150 sq. ft.), but I don't know how big the structure itself is (obviously there was room to expand). It was designed to house Toriyama's parents, him, his then-fiancée, and their eventual children, though.

You can tell he's a good guy simply by the fact that he expanded his house after his success to take care of his parents.

But damn, his plot is smaller than mine...

Ah, crap. I misremembered: It's actually 260 tsubo, which is about 860 m² (or 9,250 sq. ft.). This seems actually quite a bit larger than what's seen in the photos, but it's certainly possible that they sold off some of the land later on (or that it's all out in back of the house).

Incidentally, I've taken all this info from the 1982 #19 issue of FOCUS, a long-defunct photo-essay magazine. Since I don't know that we'll ever use it on the site, here's my translation:

"500 Million Yen" Plus "a Bride"——"Arale-chan" Akira Toriyama's Wedding

There is probably no one whose life has changed more dramatically over this Golden Week than this man: the creator of "Arale-chan", Akira Toriyama-san (age 27). The second [of May] was his momentous wedding to Yoshimi Katō-san (27) at Nagoya's Reception House [Teishin Kaikan]. Yoshimi-san is a fellow cartoonist from Nagoya [under the pen name "Nachi Mikami"], whom he has been seeing for a little over a year. Quite the opposite of the peerless Arale-chan, Toriyama-san is apparently shy around women. Even at 27, when face-to-face with a girl, his face turns red and he can't speak well. However, he was able to act naturally around Yoshimi-san. And so, he was attracted to Yoshimi-san, who "has a good personality, and looks after [his] well-being". When asked about his thoughts on the ceremony, his off-the-cuff answer of, "When I saw her bridal headdress, I thought I was going to burst out laughing, and in her yellow dress [for the reception], she looked like a walking curtain," is perhaps what you would expect of the creator of "Arale-chan".

The previous day, an event which even he himself "can't fathom" occurred. In the earnings rankings for 1981, he was by far the top [of his category] among big names, having made 539,240,000 yen [roughly $2,275,625 US in May 1982]. Since he was an author-in-training with a monthly salary of 30,000 yen [~$126.60 US, May 1982] in 1979, that works out to a thousand times [what he made] two years earlier, and ten times the 55,410,000 [~$233,833.50, May 1982] he made in 1980. Meaning that in the past two years, he has become a rich man indeed. Incidentally, "Arale-chan's" [home of] Dr. Slump has sold about 20 million copies, and its character merchandise numbers some hundreds and thousands of different items. The character merchandise sent to Toriyama-san's house wouldn't all fit inside, so he had even rented an apartment specifically to use in lieu of a storehouse.

This "rich man" has now become quite famous, but he has apparently never liked ostentatious things. For a man of his earning-power, one would expect the ceremony on this day to be held at a first-class hotel in grand style, but they chose this event hall in order to make it as low-key as possible. Even so, they permitted the unanticipated media onslaught to photograph them on the strict condition that it be "only five minutes". Then, in unusual style, only the groom was present at the post-reception press conference, because he "[didn't] want to get her caught up in all the commotion."

Even now, this "rich man" lives with his parents in Kiyosu Town in the suburbs of Nagoya. Apart from his work, he lives an eccentric lifestyle: not drinking alcohol, he will go to cafes with the allowance of several thousand yen he gets from his parents, build plastic models, or go out to play with the neighborhood kids when they stop by [saying], "Akira-kun, come play!"

What concerns us poor people more than anything is how he will spend that 539,240,000 yen. However, about 430 million [~$1,814,625.50 US, May 1982] of this great sum is taken out in taxes. Even as a bona fide rich man, he thought of these taxes as "harsh". So, what's left is a little over 100 million yen [~$422,006 US, May 1982]. This was used to buy a 260-tsubo [859.5 square meters, or 9,252 square feet] plot near his home and build a house on it, so now it's all gone. For the time being, he'll be able to continue living off the "Arale-chan boom", but he won't be able to rely on Arale-chan forever. "My comic won't change after I'm married", he says, but what sort of characters will this "rich man", who in two years has acquired a mansion and taken a bride, come out with from within the walls of his estate?

So what do you think, guys? Will this "Toriyama" kid make it after the Arale-chan boom goes bust?

[JamesOwnz]

Japan is really small and overcrowded so i'm not surprised they consider this a mansion

[Eire]

he lives an eccentric lifestyle: not drinking alcohol

ROTFL. Some things just refuse to change, no matter where you are.

[rereboy]

Call me old-fashioned, but the very idea of a random guy taking a dozen photographs of a person's house and posting it online where anyone (normal people as well as freaky people) can see it, just because the guy who lives there wrote a very successful manga/book/whatever, is waaayyyy too creepy.

I disagree, these seem to be some very generic pictures (not paparazzi-style). It's the house of the person who created Dragon Ball, if I was there I would take some pictures as well.

If I created a internationally very successful series of books/comics and some time later, there were pictures of where I live being posted online for everyone to see without my consent or knowledge, I would feel creeped out when I found out.

I can't speak for anyone else, but that's how I would feel I and think that's a normal reaction.

[Eire]

What a day I actually agree with you...

[UpFromTheSkies]

Call me old-fashioned, but the very idea of a random guy taking a dozen photographs of a person's house and posting it online where anyone (normal people as well as freaky people) can see it, just because the guy who lives there wrote a very successful manga/book/whatever, is waaayyyy too creepy.

I disagree, these seem to be some very generic pictures (not paparazzi-style). It's the house of the person who created Dragon Ball, if I was there I would take some pictures as well.

If I created a internationally very successful series of books/comics and some time later, there were pictures of where I live being posted online for everyone to see without my consent or knowledge, I would feel creeped out when I found out.

I can't speak for anyone else, but that's how I would feel I and think that's a normal reaction.

I would be creeped out too, unless I made an eccentric, attention grabbing house with a sign displaying my name and my company name, and a message to my fans... then I might expect it.

[rereboy]

I would be creeped out too, unless I made an eccentric, attention grabbing house with a sign displaying my name and my company name, and a message to my fans... then I might expect it.

Maybe Toriyama doesn't mind all that much. Like I said, I can't speak for everybody.

What a day I actually agree with you...

Hmm... If you are referring to me, your comment is lost on me. I don't usually notice who often agrees with me or not, so I couldn't tell if you often agree with me or not.

[Gaffer Tape]

Taxes took away 4/5ths of his earnings?! That's ridiculous!

[rereboy]

Taxes took away 4/5ths of his earnings?! That's ridiculous!

Not really. That's only a problem if you live in a country where the government doesn't give you awesome public services. I'm not familiar with how Japan is regarding that, but I imagine its not that much different from countries like Norway and such where there's pretty big taxes but then you get rewarded in the public services. And in countries like that, the bigger the income, the bigger the taxes.

[Gaffer Tape]

I don't wish to turn this into a government debate thread, but even after your rebuttal I still maintain it's ridiculous. There's no point in trying to excel and succeed at anything if government is just going to come along and lay claim to 80% of it. Hell, even Toriyama in that article complained about it. And I don't blame him. He doesn't like to work that hard anyway, and I'm sure he was probably thinking he could have put in quite a bit less work, gotten himself in a lower tax bracket, and still come out exactly the same.

[rereboy]

I don't wish to turn this into a government debate thread, but even after your rebuttal I still maintain it's ridiculous. There's no point in trying to excel and succeed at anything if government is just going to come along and lay claim to 80% of it. Hell, even Toriyama in that article complained about it. And I don't blame him. He doesn't like to work that hard anyway, and I'm sure he was probably thinking he could have put in quite a bit less work, gotten himself in a lower tax bracket, and still come out exactly the same.

Without turning this into a government debate, these type of taxes only soften significantly the difference between him and people who make less. He still earns more than them. So, if he worked less, he would still earn less than he did, not the same amount.

Societies with these kind of system usually have other concerns besides just earning money. Preventing tremendous social inequality and promoting the ability and will of the government to take good care of its citizens in all manners of public service are real concerns. So, they have those models of taxes, and, in return, awesome public services, like probably free health care and all sorts of support, and greater social equality. The philosophy is basically that a better society benefits all, so, even those who make the greater sacrifice (the people with higher income and higher taxes) will still benefit very much from it (and they still earn more than other people).

Of course, this type of mentality doesn't work if, in a society, the individuals focus too much about the money they earn and don't want to "pay for other people's health" like I've seen argued regarding universal free health care, even though that would benefit them also. This happens because the type of mentality behind societies with those kind of high taxes usually requires a great deal of global thinking as a society, so, societies where there's more of a individual thinking, these type of mentality is not well received.

In short, its just a different type of philosophy.

[Insertclevername]

I would always figured Toriyama would live more of a remote area. Cool house, wish we could see on the interior.

Taxes took away 4/5ths of his earnings?! That's ridiculous!

Christ...

[Attitudefan]

Taxes took away 4/5ths of his earnings?! That's ridiculous!

A very American, right wing, response.

All the wealth that the 1 percent of people in America have, there's places like Detroit and Chicago.

And that screwed up Healthcare you guys have. My god, for an industrialized country, you have public works and Healthcare that would be considered third world by international standards. Don't think I don't know what I'm talking about? I'm a political science student, and we discussed this in class just the other day.

Japan isn't like that. Most people are relatively wealthy.

But rich guys gotta be rich, right?