Fifty-three years ago, Amon Miyamoto was born into a world in which he grew up listening to spirited exchanges between leading lights from the stage and showbiz in his father's coffee shop across from the modern-leaning Shinbashi Enbujo outpost of the venerable Kabuki-za theater in Tokyo's smart Ginza district.
He was influenced, too, by his mother, a former revue dancer who died when he was 21 but often took him to theaters in hopes of inspiring him to take to the stage as well. Indeed, while in elementary school, handsome young Miyamoto was taking lessons in Nichibu (traditional Japanese dancing), and would go to theaters instead of watching TV or playing baseball like others of his age.
But with being different being difficult, as it was — and is — in Japan, in his teens Miyamoto found himself marginalized by his classmates, and in consequence he became a hikikomori (social recluse).