The Kyoto International Manga Museum has 50.000 Manga Volumes on Display for visitors to read. Most items are in Japanese but a small portion are in various other languages.
Opening times and admission
Open 10 am to 5 pm. Closed on Wednesdays.
Admission is 1200 Yen for adults, 400 Yen for 13 to 18-year-olds and 200 Yen for 6 to 12-year-olds.
You can also buy a yearly passport - 6000 Yen for adults, 3600 Yen for 13 to 18-year-olds and 1200 Yen for 6 to 12-year-olds.
You can purchase the entry ticket on the day or online, via their website.
How to get there
From Kyoto Station, get the Karasuma Line to Karasuma Oike station (5 minutes, 3 stops, 220 yen), then walk for 3-4 minutes to reach the Kyoto International Manga Museum.
Address: 452 Kinbukicho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 604-0846, Japan
A project of Kyoto City and Kyoto Seika University, the Kyoto International Manga Museum opened in 2006 and functions as both a museum and a library.
With 300.000 items varying from Edo-period woodblock prints to international manga publications, the museum's purpose is to collect and preserve manga items, as well as to conduct research into the manga culture.
The museum hosts both permanent and temporary exhibitions. You can also access online exhibitions via their website.
Part of the permanent exhibition, the Hi no Tori - a large, colourful Pheonix from Osamu Tezuka's manga series with the same name, object/artwork created by local artisan Sudo Mitsuaki stands out on the first floor. On the same floor, you can also find the 'Manga Expo' which has manga from around the globe as well as translated manga (it did not take long for me to find the English translation of One Piece)
'The Wall of Manga', with its 50.000 volumes, spreads over the museum's three floors, with each floor hosting a different category - the first floor - 'shonen' (boys), the second floor - 'shojo' (girls) and 'The Manga Hall of Fame' and the third floor - 'seinen' (young adults).
With 3 floors to explore, you can spend a good couple of hours here, and even more, if you pick up your favourite manga and decide to read for a while, take a break for a snack or drink at the cafe or, if, like me, you can't make up your mind which items to buy when you reach the gift shop.
Have you ever been there? If so, I would love to hear about your visit there, in the comments below.
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