Rain or shine, Japan’s ‘dancing salaryman’ can’t stop grooving

TOKYO – A typhoon was heading for Tokyo and the streets were filling with rain. Parents huddled under umbrellas with their children and tourists rushed indoors.

But in Shinjuku Chuo Park, in a drenched suit, red tie and sneakers, Toru Utsumi, a management consultant and internet star, was dancing. Under darkening skies, he shimmied. He clicked his heels. Mimicking scenes from Gene Kelly’s Singin’ In The Rain (1952), he twirled and leapt into the air.

“The more I move,” he said, “the more my spirit rises and I start feeling good.”

Nothing gets in the way of Japan’s 60-year-old “dancing salaryman”, who has won more than one million fans on TikTok and Instagram with short, fancy-free videos that poke fun at the country’s buttoned-down corporate culture.

Utsumi dances exuberantly outside train stations, on rooftops, near castles, in cramped hotel rooms, on empty fields and at the beach. He grooves to Buena Vista Social Club in a beret and shorts, or bops to J-pop in a crisp collared shirt under neon lights.

He cartwheels, does splits and performs butterfly jumps. And he is organised, keeping a spreadsheet of more than 1,000 songs to avoid repeating himself.

In Japan, where many citizens prioritise public order and quiet streets, he is seen as something of a nuisance and rule breaker.

He has been told he is too sloppy, too undisciplined, too gimmicky and too old to dance. “I know I stand out,” he said. “That’s why it’s very difficult for an ordinary salaryman like me to dance like this.”

But Utsumi has built a fervent following abroad. His most devoted fans fly thousands of kilometres for the chance to dance alongside him. They consider him a living landmark, on a par with Shibuya Crossing or Tokyo Tower. (He has danced at both places.)

The faithful include Italian lawyer Roberto Cimmino, 27, who danced with Utsumi on a recent afternoon outside Tokyo Station during a 17-day trip to Japan with his partner, Chiara Comuzzi, 24.

As Magnando, by Italian artiste Leone di Lernia, blared on a portable speaker, the trio twisted their hips, jumped up and down, and gave one another high-fives.

Cimmino said Utsumi’s videos were an antidote to endless doom-scrolling about war, climate change and artificial intelligence. “Just a short little video of him dancing or vibing can totally change your mood and make you smile,” he said. “He’s like a joy machine.”

As they parted, Cimmino had three words for Utsumi: “Keep on dancing.”

Utsumi grew up in Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands, in what he described as “very unconventional circumstances”. His family moved around a lot because his father, a Lutheran minister, was assigned to different churches. He often felt isolated and apart from traditional Japanese society.

His fascination with dance began in kindergarten, when he would imitate the ballet dancers he saw in a hall connected to his family’s church. As a high school student in the 1980s, during Japan’s street-band boom, he danced the twist on the streets of Tokyo and played guitar in a heavy metal band.

Utsumi idolised rockers Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones. He liked the way Jagger moved his hips – “that kind of feel and atmosphere”. He said: “I didn’t have talent early on, but I had an interest.”

During the bubble-economy era of the late 1980s, when Japan’s nightlife was bustling, Utsumi was a fixture at disco halls and clubs. He fell in love with reggae and became known for what he described as a “quirky and eccentric” style.

By day, he worked as a copy machine salesman, rising rapidly up the corporate ladder. But he struggled with the stress of overbearing bosses and underperforming subordinates. He eventually left sales and began working as an independent management consultant, hoping to teach more executives to lead with empathy and care.

In 2018, when he was 52, feeling a creative urge, he decided to take up dance more formally, enrolling in classes on the side. Japan’s social dance scene has exploded in recent years, especially among middle-aged and older residents looking for ways to stay active and make friends.

Sachiko Nagatomo, Utsumi’s teacher, said he had a free-flowing, highly improvised style and struggled to stick to choreography.

He has an ability, she added, to mesmerise people with his striking silhouettes and an intuitive sense of rhythm. She attributed his success to being “completely funky and free”. “The moment he starts dancing,” she said, “he completely grabs the audiences’ attention and locks them in.”

Utsumi began posting videos in 2023, drawing on genres like hip-hop, disco, rockabilly and soul. By forcing himself to post videos almost every day, he hoped to improve his dancing. “Publicly declaring my goals also keeps me from slacking off,” he wrote in a blog.

He is now a bona fide social media star, appearing in commercials and short films. He dances on his days off – Tuesdays and Sundays – and between business trips and client meetings. His colleagues have accepted his alter ego, he said, while many of his clients are unaware of his side hustle.

He still feels nervous about dancing in public. He makes a point of packing up quickly after he records his videos and retreating into the anonymous Tokyo crowds. He smiles at disapproving passers-by who sometimes ask if he has a permit.

“I don’t have a grand goal to change society or say, ‘Let’s all work hard together, men in our 60s,’” he said. “But if people see me having fun and decide to try something themselves, that’s enough.” NYTIMES