By Mariko Katsumura
TOKYO (Reuters) - On the face of it, the duo hardly seem fit to inspire confidence as the brains behind Japan's newest stock fund: one, a former comedian and the other, every bit the stereotypical "otaku" geek.
But their maiden fund, announced on Wednesday, may be the Christmas gift that followers of the one-time entertainer, Toshiya Imura, have been waiting for since he revealed his plans for it about two years ago.
The 40-year-old father of three had gained fame and an enthusiastic fan base by turning his obsession with stock research into 6.5 billion yen ($41.4 million) in assets as an individual investor.
His reputation was such that any time his name appeared in a regulatory filing as a major shareholder, that company's stock would surge, as followers sought out "Imura stocks" to piggy-back on his value-investment bets.
But Imura had bigger dreams: to become a professional investor to get more Japanese to profit from the stock market - a goal that aligns with the government's efforts to shepherd the roughly $6.5 trillion of households' cash into financial investments.
He doggedly began his courtship of Keizo Takeiri, a quirky, former Goldman Sachs analyst, to be his partner-in-crime.
Imura said he was instantly struck by Takeiri's photographic memory, talent for analysis and sheer geekdom when they first met in 2020.
"His knowledge was next-level," Imura told Reuters in an interview this month alongside Takeiri and an official from the fund's operator, Fundnote.
Takeiri had also previously caught the eye of Akira Katayama, a famous online gamer-turned-billionaire whose invitation to work at his hedge fund was further proof of his analytical chops.
Known to his ex-Goldman colleagues as "that stock otaku", Takeiri, 38, said his years at the elite Tokyo University were spent skipping classes, playing mahjong and researching stocks. Grooming was low on his priority list.
"He sometimes shows up with holes in his clothes and bizarrely long fingernails," Imura teased. "Maybe he doesn't care or notice? He's a real high-spec weirdo."
That sentiment is mutual.
Takeiri said Imura would send him 200 Slack messages on a typical day but then go missing for days on end when diving deep into a company's balance sheet.
"The force with which he throws himself into finding out what he wants to know is out of this world."
The pair's new fund goes on sale on Jan. 10 and will have an initial investment cap of 10 billion yen.
($1 = 157.1000 yen)