Who is Manzanar Murakami from Tropic of Orange: A Novel and what is their importance?

Manzanar is one of the more impenetrable characters. The reader can tell little about his life in the beginning and it is too easy to do what most Angelenos do, which is to simply dismiss him as yet another mentally ill homeless person. Manzanar stands on a freeway overpass every day and waves a baton as if he is conducting traffic noise the way a conductor would lead a symphony. Manzanar is Japanese-American and this causes some embarrassment for other Japanese-Americans.