Top Ten Anime and Manga Museums

Edit 10 October 2019: Updated prices to reflect the increase in Japan's national sales tax.

Edit 26 May 2020: Replaced entry #9.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I spent a day in Kyoto, including the Toei Kyoto Studio Park.  In addition to live-action productions, Toei is famous as one of Japan's most prolific animation studios.  Kyoto also happens to be the home of the Kyoto International Manga Museum.  With experience of both under my belt, I think now would be the best time to list ten of the best places one can learn about and experience the popular arts of manga, Japanese comic books, and anime, Japanese animated films and TV shows.

In the interest of fairness, and because I have not yet experienced many of these places in person, this list is ordered not by quality, but by geographic location, going from north/east to south/west.  I also wish to give special thanks to the website Anime Tourism 88, proprietors of Japan's 88-site Anime Pilgrimage list, for additional research used in this article.  More information:  (English) (Japanese)

1) Yokote Masuda Manga Museum, Yokote

The Yokote Masuda Manga Museum, after its 2019 refurbishment.
掬茶 / CC BY-SA

Opened in 1995, the Yokote Masuda Manga Museum makes claim to being the first manga-related museum in Japan.  Its unique, nature-inspired interior houses a manga library, galleries of illustrations by manga artists, and a recreated studio of local author Takao Yaguchi (矢口 高雄, Yaguchi Takao, b.1939).  He was best known in the 1970s for writing the manga series Fisherman Sanpei (釣りキチ三平, Tsurikichi Sanpei), about the adventures of a young fisherman.  Yokote, located in eastern Akita prefecture, is also famous for the annual Kamakura Festival, where dozens of snow huts in various sizes are erected throughout the city.

285 Shinmachi, Masuda-chō, Yokote-shi, Akita-ken, 〒019-0701.  Open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.  Admission ends 30 minutes before closing time.  Closed Mondays.  Costs ¥800.  More information: (Japanese)

2) Ishinomori Manga Museum, Ishinomaki

gleam_df / CC BY

Also known as the Ishinomori Mangattan Museum (a play on "Manhattan"), this museum is dedicated to and named after Shotaro Ishinomori (石ノ森 章太郎, 1938-1998), who was born in the vicinity.  Ishinomori-san holds a Guinness World Record for the most comics published by one author; his career has produced a total of 128,000 pages in 500 volumes across 770 titles, the most famous being Cyborg 009 (1963).  He also developed live-action hero TV shows such as Kamen Rider (1971) and Himitsu Sentai Goranger (1975), the first in the Super Sentai franchise.  This museum, along with the rest of Ishinomaki city, suffered damage from the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, but reopened, arguably better than ever, within a couple of years.

2-7 Nakaze, Ishinomaki-shi, Miyagi-ken 〒986-0823.  Open from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.  Closed on the third Tuesday of March to November.  Costs ¥840.  More information: (English) (Japanese)

3) Niigata Manga Animation Museum & Niigata City Manga House, Niigata

The Niigata City Manga House.
DAI-nk / CC BY-SA

Niigata is the hometown of many famous manga authors and animators, including Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma ½, Inuyasha), Takeshi Obata (Hikaru no Go, Death Note), and One (One Punch Man, Mob Psycho 100).  So in its honour, I have not one, but two sites to represent it with!  First is the paid-entry Niigata Manga Animation Museum, which has interactive exhibits about making anime and manga, and childrens' play areas with characters from some of the above creators.  And second is the free-entry Niigata City Manga House, whose reading room carries over 10,000 books.  Additionally, like the Comiket in Tokyo, Niigata hosts a bimonthly fan-comic convention called the Niigata Comic Market, or "Gataket" for short, which is the largest of its kind on the Sea of Japan coast.

Niigata Manga Animation Museum: 2-5-7 Yachiyo, Chūō-ku, Niigata-shi, Niigata-ken 〒950-0909.  Open from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM; opens at 10:00 AM on weekends and holidays.  Closed on 1 January.  Costs ¥200.  More information: (English) (Japanese)

Niigata City Manga House: 971-7 Furumachi-dōri 6-banchō, Chūō-ku, Niigata-shi, Niigata-ken 〒951-8063.  Open from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM.  Closed on Wednesdays, and from 29 December to 3 January.  Free to enter.  More information: (English) (Japanese)

4) Ghibli Museum, Tokyo

The exterior of the Ghibli Museum.
Taken by the author on Wednesday, 9 May 2018.

The Ghibli Museum, the official museum of Studio Ghibli, was personally designed by Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎 駿, b. 1941), the director of many of Ghibli's highly-acclaimed films.  Their list of works includes such beloved titles as My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and many more.  Since I first reported on the Ghibli Museum, they have opened up online ticket sales to overseas, English-reading visitors, making this place no less competitive to get in, but far more accessible, and in some cases affordable, than ever before.

1-1-83 Shimorenjaku, Mitaka-shi, Tōkyō-to 〒181-0013.  Open from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.  Closed on Tuesdays.  Costs ¥1,000; advance reservations required.  More information: (English) (Japanese)

Elsewhere in Tokyo, I also recommend:

• Suginami Animation Museum: A small, but free, general exhibition of animation, with some hands-on activities.  Open from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.  Closed on Mondays, and from 28 December to 4 January.  Free to enter.  More information: (English) (Japanese)
• One Piece Tower: An indoor theme park with a specific focus on One Piece, located at the base of Tokyo Tower.  Open from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM.  Costs ¥2,300, or ¥3,300 with admission to a live show.  More information: (English) (Japanese)

5) Fuji-Q Highland, Fujiyoshida

Evangelion World at Fuji-Q Highland.
Taken by the author on Wednesday, 16 November 2016.

The Fuji-Q Highland theme park has a couple of anime-themed attractions, such as the GeGeGe no Kitaro Haunted Mansion, but the big one, almost worth the price of admission alone, is Evangelion World.  Replacing a similar Godzilla-themed attraction, this museum-esque attraction features re-creations of sets from Neon Genesis Evangelion (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン, Shin Seiki Evangerion), the titular giant-robot anime franchise.  The centrepiece is a life-size bust of the Unit-01 robot, which features in a regular light show.  You may read my report from Fuji-Q Highland here, and my separate report from Evangelion World here.

5-6-1 Shin-Nishihara, Fujiyoshida-shi, Yamanashi-ken 〒403-0017.  Open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, or to 6:00 PM on weekends and holidays.  No closing days.  Costs ¥800 for Evangelion World, or ¥5,900 for unlimited rides throughout Fuji-Q Highland.  More information: (English) (Japanese)

For more official Evangelion shopping, I also recommend:

• Evangelion Store.  Open from 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM.  Located immediately north of Ikebukuro Station (JR Yamanote, Saikyo, etc. lines).
• Eva-ya.  Open from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.  Located directly below Hakone-Yumoto Station (Hakone-Tozan line).

6) Go Nagai Wonderland Park, Wajima

Indiana jo / CC BY-SA

Go Nagai (永井 豪), born Kiyoshi Nagai (永井 潔, b. 1945), whose manga career has just marked its 50th anniversary, is influential, iconoclastic, often controversial, and highly productive.  His most famous works include Devilman, Mazinger Z, and Cutie Honey, with the latter two series codifying the giant-robot and magical-girl subgenres of anime.  This museum dedicated to his many manga creations is located in his hometown of Wajima, a city on the Noto Peninsula, along the city's famous Morning Market.

1-123 Kawaimachi, Wajima-shi, Ishikawa-ken 〒928-0001.  Open from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM.  No closing days.  Costs ¥520.  More information: (English) (Japanese)

7) Kyoto International Manga Museum, Kyoto

The courtyard of Kyoto International Manga Museum.
Taken by the author on Friday, 18 November 2016.

A particular favourite haunt of mine whenever I'm in town, the Kyoto International Manga Museum was established in 2006 in a former school building.  The museum boasts a collection of 50,000 manga books that are free for visitors to read, and uniquely for these types of museums, a fair selection of them are in English and other languages.  In good weather, the courtyard (shown above) is a pleasant place to read the books, or even meet up for cosplaying. You may read my report from the Kyoto International Manga Museum here.

Kinpuki-cho, Nagagyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto-fu 〒604-0846.  Open from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.  Closed on Mondays and 1 January.  Costs ¥800.  More information: (English) (Japanese)

Elsewhere in Kyoto, I also recommend Toei Kyoto Studio Park.  The theme park and studio of this major film/TV company also has content related to its many anime productions.  You may read my report from Toei Kyoto Studio Park here.

8) Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum, Takarazuka

DVMG / CC BY

Osamu Tezuka (手塚 治虫, Tezuka Osamu, 1926-1989) is often likened as Japan's Walt Disney.  Of course there have been comics and animation made in Japan long before Tezuka-san's heyday in the 1950s and '60s, but his success shaped these industries into the juggernauts they are today.  His manga stories, including Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion, Princess Knight, and Black Jack, were adapted into some of the earliest and most popular TV anime series.  After his death, this museum was built in his honour in his home city of Takarazuka, a suburb of Osaka and Kobe.  If the name Takarazuka rings a bell to visitors, it may also be because of the all-female Takarazuka Revue theatre troupe.  They are, of course, named after the city, and perform there as well as across the country.

7-65 Mukogawa-chō, Takarazuka-shi, Hyogo-ken 〒665-0844.  Open from 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM.  Closed on Wednesdays, 29-31 December, and 20-28/29 February.  Costs ¥700.  More information: (Japanese)

9) Shigeru Mizuki Memorial Museum, Sakaiminato

Aimaimyi / CC BY-SA

Shigeru Mizuki (水木 しげる), born Shigeru Mura (武良 茂, 1922-2015), was the author of GeGeGe no Kitaro (ゲゲゲの鬼太郎).  Its titular hero, Kitaro, is a young lad who helps out humans in their affairs with yokai (妖怪), folklore monsters, both friend or foe.  Even the walk up to the museum along the aptly-named Mizuki Road, with murals, statues, and other decorations of his yokai-inspired characters dotted liberally along the way, makes for part of the experience.  All this is located in Mizuki's hometown of Sakaiminato, as little as 40 minutes away by bus from the castle city of Matsue.

5 Honmachi, Sakaiminato-shi, Tottori-ken 〒684-0025.  Open from 9:30 AM to 6:30 PM.  No closing days.  Costs ¥300.  More information: (English) (Japanese)

Elsewhere in Tottori Prefecture, I also recommend the Gosho Aoyama Manga Factory, devoted to the series Detective Conan (名探偵コナン, Meitantei Konan), known in English as Case Closed, and its author.  Open from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM.  No closing days.  Costs ¥700.  More information: (English) (Japanese)

10) Kitakyushu Manga Museum, Kitakyushu

Asai1920 / CC BY-SA

Just across the street from Kitakyushu's main train station, Kokura, stands the AruAru City mall, a manga, anime, and pop-culture marketplace in the vein of Tokyo's Akihabara district.  On top of that, in more ways than one, is the Kitakyushu Manga Museum, occupying the two upper-most floors of the building.  Among its regular exhibits, there is a special focus on local manga artists, and in particular Leiji Matsumoto (松本 零士, Matsumoto Reiji), born Akira Matsumoto (松本 晟, Matsumoto Akira, b. 1938), one of the many artists to have originated from this city.  Matsumoto-san is best known for the space-opera series he created in the 1970s: Space Battleship Yamato, Galaxy Express 999, and Space Pirate Captain Harlock.  As with the manga museums in Kyoto and Niigata, there is a wide selection of manga books for visitors to read freely, although note that there is limited English content throughout this museum.

Aruaru City 5F, 2-14-5 Asano, Kokurakita-ku, Kitakyushu-shi, Fukuoka-ken 〒802-0001.  Open from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM; closes at 8:00 PM during Summer holidays.  Closed on Tuesdays and New Year holidays.  Costs ¥480.  More information: (English) (Japanese)

Wildcard) World Cosplay Summit

A presentation for World Cosplay Summit 2014, held at Chubu Centrair Airport.
M338 / CC BY-SA

For my wildcard slot, rather than another museum, I thought I'd pick out a regular event related to anime and manga.  There are lots to choose from, from trade shows like AnimeJapan to fan-comic marketplaces like Comiket and the aforementioned Gataket.  But the one that has impressed me the most is the World Cosplay Summit, held in late July/early August in Nagoya.  Cosplay, the art of making and wearing costumes of characters anime, video games, etc., is already a popular sight at related conventions, both in Japan and abroad.  The World Cosplay Summit takes this hobby to an all-new level.  The cosplayers, selected by preliminary contests held all over the world, take part in a parade around the Osu Kannon temple and shopping district, which is already a popular choice for anime-related shopping year-round.  Then comes the main event, the World Cosplay Championship, where teams from each participating country perform skits as the characters they portray.  The costume details, the players' performance, and the special effects all make it feel like your favourite characters have come to life!

More information: (English) (Japanese)

Shibuya Afternoon and Other Pictures

This article is based on a visit made on Sunday, 20 May 2018.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I took my grandmother to visit the Sanja Festival in Tokyo's Asakusa district.  That was pretty much the last big event for the rest of our holiday together, but we still did other stuff for the rest of the afternoon and evening, so I'm putting them together in one last article which will finally, after two years, wrap up my fourth Japan vacation on this blog.

From Asakusa in the northeast of Tokyo, we took Tokyo Metro's Ginza subway line across town, to Shibuya in the southwest.  This was all the way from one end of the line to the other, although not a terribly long ride at under 35 minutes. 

In Shibuya, I escorted my grandmother on a search for some kiriko (切子) glassware, which she had seen a picture of during our calligraphy lesson earlier that day and fell in love with.  When we got there, I introduced her to the famous Hachiko statue in front of the station.

I also introduced her to the Hachiko scramble crossing, and the Starbucks that provides one of its best viewpoints.  The last time I saw the crossing, it was on a sleepy weekday morning, so coming back on a weekend afternoon made for a better contrast between its "stop" state...

...and its "go" state.

There was yet another festival going on in Shibuya that day, around the Center-gai avenue, but sadly it was wrapping up by the time we came down to get a closer look.  It wasn't all bad, though.  When we went to one of the many department stores in the area, my grandmother picked out a lovely blue stem vase.

After taking her safely back to the hotel, I went on one last shopping trip of my own, to Ameya-Yokocho and Akihabara.  In the former, I found a small sight I had never discovered before, a temple by the name of  Marishiten Tokudai-ji (摩利支天徳大寺).  It is located just a block from the market's south entrance at Okachimachi station.

Finally, on my way back "home" to the hotel, I passed by this closed alcove illuminated by pink lighting.  An odd sight, but no less cool for it.

All that was left for us the next day was to pack up and catch our flight home.  My grandmother had us reserve a taxi to take us down the road to the monorail station; it was a short ride, but with both of us taking suitcases with us up to the station platform, I'd say it was a good idea.  Early on, the Tokyo Monorail passes the Rainbow Bridge, which I have crossed numerous times before on a different rail line, the Yurikamome.

One of the stations on the monorail serves the Oi Race Course.  If horse-racing isn't your things, the site also hosts a flea market on weekends, and the Tokyo Mega Illumination, the city's largest nighttime illumination park, which takes place daily from October through December, and on weekends from January through March.  More information: (English)

And with one last moment's rest at Haneda International Airport, it was time for me to bid farewell to Japan once again.  Will I come back here upon my next return?  It's certainly likely, now that even more flights to this airport have been added since the last time I was there, including one from my mainstay Newark.  But that reunion will have to wait.  I still have many adventures planned for Japan, but when I will be able to fully realise them depends on many factors.  How soon I can save enough money is perhaps the biggest one, as well as when their borders will re-open given the current state of affairs.  And that's if my attention isn't stolen by one of the many other countries I've been looking into.  As a matter of fact, I have recently taken another holiday in the United Arab Emirates.  I would like to write about it, but since my past 178 or so articles have been focused entirely upon Japan, I think it would be best if I transitioned into talking about other countries with some high-level articles, talking about the country as a whole and offering some itinerary ideas.  Whatever comes my way, here's to many more posts on Sekai Ichi, and even more experiences of my own in Japan and elsewhere around the world.  *clink*  Kanpai!

Sanja Matsuri

This article is based on a visit made on Sunday, 20 May 2018.

The Sanja Matsuri (三社祭, lit. "three shrines festival") is a Shinto festival held annually in Tokyo, on the third weekend of May.  For 2020, this would fall on the 15th to 17th of May; however, due to the... you-know-what, this year's festival has currently been rescheduled to the weekend 16-18 October.  It is one of Tokyo's most popular festivals, drawing in as many as 2 million visitors over the course of the weekend.  As my latest time in Japan drew to a close, I happened to be in town during the 2018 Sanja Matsuri.  So after coming down from the Tokyo Skytree, I set aside some time to check it out.

Sanja Matsuri is based at Asakusa Shrine (浅草神社, Asakusa-jinja), an auxiliary shrine alongside the Buddhist temple Senso-ji.  Dating to 1649, Asakusa Shrine is the oldest standing shrine in Tokyo, having survived the air raids of World War II.  If you've seen a tall red pagoda behind Senso-ji, that's part of the shrine.  This festival was set up to honour the three founders of Senso-ji: Hinokuma Hamanari (檜前浜成), Hinokuma Takenari (檜前竹成), and Hajino Nakatomo (土師真中知), whose souls are enshrined at Asakusa-jinja.  In the picture above, which my grandmother took from atop the Asakusa Tourist Information Centre, Senso-ji's main hall is to the right and Asakusa-jinja's pagoda is to the left.

The festival starts at 1:00 PM on Friday, with the Daigyōretsu (大行列, lit. "large parade") parade along the Nakamise shopping street.  Whilst I don't have any pictures of this, I understand it looks quite similar to the Aoi Matsuri we saw in Kyoto.  On Saturday afternoon, nearly 100 small mikoshi are carried out to receive a blessing at the shrine at around noon.  They are then taken back out to spread that blessing around the Asakusa neighbourhood.  Although I wasn't around for the festival on Saturday, I imagine they would look much like this, in terms of size.

Sunday, meanwhile, is the main event.  Three larger mikoshi set off from Asakusa-jinja at 6:00 in the morning, where hundreds of guests scramble for the honour of carrying them about.  After a couple of hours, they leave the temple grounds and set off around Asakusa and back.  We were lucky enough to spot one of them as soon as we set foot outside the subway station, along with a veritable sea of people holding it aloft.

They need all those people; each mikoshi weighs a ton, and with all the gold leaf and other decorations, costs ¥40 million to produce.  This model on display at the visitor's centre shows what they look like; I imagine this one is smaller, but not by much.

Many small drum-and-flute bands were set up all over the place.

Some of them had moving floats for a stage.  This one was even decorated with what looks to be purple wisteria which, along with catching different views of Mout Fuji, had grown into a running theme of my particular holiday.

It seems not only the performers and shrine priests dress up, but also other regular people take festivals as an excuse to break out their traditional clothing.  I even saw a guy  wearing a happi coat and loincloth with no pants.  No, I don't have a picture of that.  You're welcome.

The Sanja Matsuri was the last new experience we had in Japan, but before I wrap this holiday up once and for all, I'd like to share one final set of pictures in a separate article.  Look out for it, next time on Sekai Ichi!

---

Asakusa Shrine

Hours: The shrine grounds are always open.  The main hall is open from 6:00 AM (or 6:30 AM from October to March) to 5:00 PM.

Cost: Free.

Address: 2-3-1 Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tōkyō-to 〒111-0032

Access: The Kaminari-mon gate is only 1-3 minutes from Asakusa Station (Tokyo Metro Ginza (G), Toei Asakusa (A), and Tobu Skytree (TS) lines), depending on the line and exit used.  The closest exits are Ginza exit 1 and Asakusa exit A4.  Either way, turn right under Kaminari-mon onto the Nakamise shopping avenue.  The temple is at the end of the road, about 400 metres (¼ mile) later.

Website: (English) (Japanese)