Tokiwa-sō (トキワ荘 Tokiwa-sō) was an apartment where Osamu Tezuka and many young manga artists once lived before they became famous. Tokiwa-sō was a small, inexpensive apartment in Toshima-ku, Tokyo. Residents included Shotaro Ishinomori, Fujio Akatsuka, Fujiko Fujio, Yoshiharu Tsuge. It existed as a sort of atelier from 1952 to 1982.
The business of manga production today in Japan has a prototype in the collaborative activities pioneered at Tokiwa-sō. According to Tam Bing Man (one of the duo of actor), who was an assistant of Osamu Tezuka in earliest days, Osamu Tezuka first introduced this production system employing many assistants to make manga, in order to meet the deadlines of publishing in weekly manga magazines. This model of several assistants helping a main artist is still used today, providing young manga artists with training.
There is a monument to the characters of the "Tokiwa-so Apartment" manga in Tokyo> near Ochiai-Minami-Nagasaki Station (Toei Oedo Line). Shown on Wikimapia: http://wikimapia.org/#lat=35.7246841&lon=139.6863925&z=20&l=0&m=b&show=/17849408/