second visit to Kyoto International Manga Museum

Once again, I went to the museum that is going to celebrate its second anniversary this month. The Manga Museum, which establised at the site of former Tatsuike Elementary School, still keeps some of the 1929 buildings. Currently it is holding an exhibit called "HEIAN - Grace & Mystery of MANGA in the ancient KYOTO," show casing Manga from Kyoto during the era that the Genji Monogatari (Tale of Genji) was written in the Heian Period (794-1180). It was quite interesting and mysterious for me to see such an exhibit (1000-year old) in a building (100-year old). It is said that over 450,000 people visited the museum since then, and yesterday, I witnessed over 100 visitors including foreign tourists there despite of a weekday.#

Visit to Kyoto International Manga Museum

I had a chance to visit Kyoto International Manga Museum where an exhibit called "World Manga Exhibition: The Summit of Manga" was held. It was quite interesting to see a variety of Manga from the U.S., France, Germany, Belgium, Australia and Southeast Asian countries. I found out that some of them were Japanese Manga with English, French, German and other languages. My heart leaped up when I saw many editions of "Superman," who was my hero in early childhood, on the shelves. Manga characters could give a great impact on the people, especially when they are young. And I highly respect the idea to establish such a unique museum in Kyoto.#

Visit to the Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum

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I have taken an American, who was a bestseller and visited Japan for few months to research Manga culture, to the Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum in Takarazuka City, Hyogo Prefecture. I had known the museum for a long time, but it was also my first visit there. The director of the museum showed us the collections starting with a history of Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989), the godfather of modern Japanese Manga. Tezuka's great works such as "New Treasure Island (Shin-Takarajima)," "Kimba, the White Lion (Jungle Taitei)," "Princess Knight (Ribbon-no-Kishi)," "Black Jack" and others were well displayed. http://en-f.tezuka.co.jp/ Right after the World War II, "Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atom)" became a Manga hero for the Japanese kids including me. The director saw us off at the front door of the museum after taking a group photo in front of a big figure of "Phoenix (Hi-no-Tori)" which was also Tezuka's masterpiece.#