Tamegoro Sudo, 50, is a movie producer and actor whose many friends in Tokyo's downtown Asakusa area provide him with the hilarious characters and plots in his movies. His five "Dekotora no Shu (Shu, the Dekotora Man)" movies star his favorite decorated trucks and his buddies, actors Sho Aikawa and Shingo Yanagisawa, while his latest feature film, "Enko Ereji (Asakusa Elegy)," shines the spotlight on Asakusa's young. A self-appointed ambassador for this old Tokyo neighborhood, in 2006 he created the Taito Shitamachi Film Festival to attract more people to the area. He is a nandemoyasan, a man who does any job that is not illegal to feed his moviemaking habit, including baking bread, selling tuna and bananas and organizing events where the popular Power Ranger characters entertain children. Before he became an independent filmmaker in 2000, Sudo played in over 1,000 movies in which he specialized in yakuza (the Japanese mafia) and bosozoku (bike gang) roles -- in real life, though, he is as sweet as the koppepan (soft bread rolls) he bakes.
To sell something, you need a good story. In the movie "'Otoko wa Tsurai yo (It's Tough Being a Man)," the lead character Tora-san is a cool vagabond who can talk anyone into buying anything because of the brilliantly funny stories he makes up. He is my idol and I always try to entertain people that way, whether I am selling tuna or movie scripts. Just having a good product at a reasonable price is boring, but hearing a comedy routine while shopping is special.
If one job bores you, maybe you need to add a few more to it. If I were only baking bread, I would go crazy. Same for all my jobs: none would satisfy me by themselves. I am happy because I do many types of work every day and none involve sitting down.