Settled in a former primary school and surrounded by a parc made with synthetic grass to let people read a borrowed manga lying in it, International Museum of Manga of Kyoto is a haven of peace. Caution : fan of manga you could forget the world around you... and even more if you have some basis of japanese.
Museum Entrance
Visit of the museum
Open in 2006 by the city of Kyoto in collaboration with the Seika University, which offers a manga section, the museum has been settled in a former primary school. That is why its organisation is quite intricate. After crossing the courtyard of synthetic grass where lectors can lie to read when the weather is good, we arrive in the hall. Then you can reach the cashier where they will speak to you in English or in Japanese. On your left, the entrance of the exhibition with comics from all around the world (say hello to the French Titeuf and the Belgian Tintin), and on your right, a shop where you can find some mangas, of course, but also artbooks, goodies and other specialized books to learn how to draw mangas.
There are a lot of temporary exhibitions. When I visit the museum, it was the week of the demonstration of the students'works of the university: I saw their projects: drawing, storyboards, mangas and other illustrations at the entrance of the museum and short movies were broadcasted on a giant screen. Students were around explaining their projects... even if my bad level of Japanese was a barrier... For these events, you can check the english of the museum which is quite furnished.
The most impressive part of the museum, I thought, was on the second floor of the museum when I discovered the wall of mangas... A room whose walls are entirely covered with mangas classified in alphabetic, gender and year order. Naruto and One Piece are definitively not the only mangas... even if they are the best known in France. At the center of this room, some temporary exhibitions with drawings of the biggest mangakas and some games in Japanese. The following rooms, linked by corridors covered by mangas, present the process of fabrication of a manga, how it is made, drawn... (the story, the storyboard, the drawing...).
Due to the impressive amount of books and explanations which describe each piece, it is really interesting to have basis of Japanese language to appreciate entirely the place and to lose yourself in it. Indead, the museum is full of benches and coaches where you can seat to imerge yourself in mangas. But Japanese knoledges are not necessary to understand everything. Your eyes will shine even if you are not able to decipher a single word: the amount of images the museum contains should be enough to spend a great amount of time in it if you are a lover of art or if you have any interest in drawing (and not fundamental in mangas as the presented drawings are not always stylised one).
The museum is located on the street Karasuma-Oike, in the disctrict of Nagagyo-ku. From the main station of Kyoto, you can take the Subway Karasuma line and get off at Karasumaoike stop around ten minutes later. It should cost you 210 yens. From the same station, you can also decide to walk: there are only three kilometers between it and the museum.
It is opened every days (except wednesday) from 10 am to 6 pm. You can enter it until 30 minutes before the closure but you should not stay there for only half-an-hour: it is too short to really enjoy it ! During summer, between the 14th of July and the 31st of August 2011, the museum never close (even the wednesdays) and you can stay until 8 pm. Exceptionnally, the museum is closed during the New Year Hollidays (at least the fourth first days of January while almost all Japan stops leaving) and for three days in the year for the maintenance.
To enter the museum, you will have to pay 800 yens for the adults, 300 yens for middle and high school students and 100 yens for primary school students. As many museums in Japan, there is no discount for students of University... There are some advantages for those who want to go to the museum quite often: there exist the MMPass with illimted access to the museum and of its library but not to the temporary exhibitions. It is 6000 yens for adults, 3600 for middle and high school students and 1200 for primary school students. The entrance is sometimes free for some events, as for the week of the exhibition of the students of Seika university where I went by chance at the end of February in 2011.
Conclusion
After the visit of three shrines, two museums of Japanese drawings and calligraphy and of four commercial centers, a stop is inevitable at the International Museum of Manga. First, because it is the only existing one in the whole world. Second, because mangas are an another part of Japanese culture worth seing. And last but not least, because what is presented is basically beautiful.
Marièke Poulat
* Website in English and in Japanese :
http://www.kyotomm.jp/
http://www.kyotomm.jp/english/
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