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Duke Saraie, the "Walking Doctor," in Akasaka, Tokyo.Walking though Tokyo's Akasaka district the other day with my trusty camera in hand, I found myself waiting at a pedestrian crossing alongside a glamorous looking couple who I asked if I could take their photo.

The man, in his late fifties or early sixties, jovial, wearing a beanie, quite heavily bejeweled, and, all in all, something of a character, instantly agreed. The woman with him was a bit more reticent, and when I tried to persuade her he told me she was "his manager" - so of course I desisted, thinking he meant it was below her.

I took a couple of shots of the old guy posing, and then chatted a little for the minute we had before the lights changed. His name was Duke Saraie, and he said he was famous - at least up until a few years ago - for "walking", which he demonstrated for me for a moment or two by holding his arms up straight, hands together, in a sort of catwalk pose. (Thus the pose for the photo without his manager, who no doubt would have stolen some thunder.)
I repeated his name back to him to confirm, we shook hands and said goodbye. Looking him up online, I discovered that this was indeed the famous "Walking Doctor" Duke Saraie, who was the star of a long-running mini-series on Kansai TV (Kansai Telecasting Corporation) called "Bi (pronounced "bee") Walk: A Gift from Duke Saraie" which ran from 2003 to 2008.

Each episode was just s...