Inside The Kitakyushu Manga Museum

The city of Kitakyushu in Fukuoka Prefecture has produced many geniuses who have decorated the history of Japanese manga. Seeking the secret behind this, we visited the Kitakyushu Manga Museum, and found efforts there to connect heritage with the future. We started off on our museum tour, which featured 3 elements: seeing, reading, and drawing.

The Reason Behind this Manga Town

Leiji Matsumoto (author of Galaxy Express 999), Jun Hatanaka (author of Mandaraya no Ryota), Tsukasa Hojo (author of City Hunter), and Eiko Mutsu (author of Tasogare Dokini Mitsuketano). There are more manga artists associated with Kitakyushu than can be counted. The secret behind this is, first, that interest in culture here is high. After the Second World War, Kitakyushu had the highest number of movie theatres and book-lending shops in Japan and cultural activities for residents thrived, creating a place to inspire and support creative types. The place for publish manga at the time was the newspaper. As Kitakyushu was an industrial city, newspaper companies were gathered here, offering manga artists opportunities to present their works.

Kitakyushu is Nothing Without the Legends

The Kitakyushu Manga Museum opened in 2012 in Kitakyushu, a city of culture. Setting foot into the museum, your eyes are drawn to a corner exhibit on Leiji Matsumoto, a manga artist representing Fukuoka Prefecture. There were also plans to establish a commemorative museum for Matsumoto himself, but he had other intentions. “The world of manga is fast-moving. If it’s just me, people will get tired of it at some point. It should be encompass all local artists.” In addition to his personal history and influence, the exhibit introduces his friends and acquaintances, too. There is quite a lot of content, including an audiovisual interview with Matsumoto himself.

The Unsung Heroes who Create Synergies through Different Fields

Cheerfully taking a photo with the museum’s symbol, a statue of Herlock, is Kitakyushu Manga Museum researcher Tomoyuki Omote (right) and curator Akane Ishii (left). The three researchers and curators each completed their studies in different areas: art history, archaeology, and Japanese history. This is how they are able to work on exhibition content from different viewpoints. These three share a common interest: manga, of course.

A Thorough Understanding of Manga, from Drawing Techniques to Data!

The fundamentals of manga are introduced from a variety of angles with the Permanent Exhibitions. In addition to information about the process to complete a manga, there is an abundance of fascinating information, including the history of manga culture in Kitakyushu and about the digital comics that are currently seeing a surge in sales compared to the paper book market. There is even a presentation space that uses gesture recognition. You thought you knew manga, but you will surely discover a new fact or two here.

Take a Look Back at History with the 3-D Exhibit

Akane Ishii says that, “Ingenuity in the layout and design were important. This also goes for this Time Tunnel, where famous manga are displayed by year. If we displayed it normally, it would just be a chronological chart. We wondered what it would be like if visitors could actually hold the works as they look at them.” Generally, manga displays tend to be two-dimensional. In addition to the bold floor design that features newspaper photos, the manga are introduced in three-dimensions by also introducing representative products from when the manga were published, such as the NES game system.

The Next Generation Must Emerge to Truly Pass Something On

The Kitakyushu International Manga Competition is one of the museum’s initiatives that symbolizes their belief in fostering amateurs as well as introducing professionals. It seems many great works arrive from America, India, Mongolia, and from elsewhere in the world. The theme for the 2020 Junior’s Division was “Run”, offering support for future artists. This is how the Kitakyushu International Manga Competition(4th,2019) Winner Exhibit looks. Master works from the Junior’s Division teeming with unbridled creativity are debuted here.

The Reading Zone, Surrounded by Manga on All Four Sides

Following along the Permanent Exhibition Area, you will arrive at the Reading Zone with its approximately 70,000 books. In this open space full of natural light, visitors can immerse themselves in the world of manga as they please. The sight of the many books in a row is quite a spectacle. You can properly distance yourself from others in the seating area, and the whole area is regularly disinfected.

Ingenuity and consideration can also be seen with the book shelves. The blue line drawn on the shelves indicates a height of 150 cm. Below this line are manga for all age groups, including children, and above it, are manga for teenagers and adults. By naturally having different manga within reach based on age, parents and children alike can enjoy themselves without worry.

New Encounters Await at the Special Corner

The Special Corner is updated regularly by library staff holding librarian certifications. They closely examine the manga that are introduced here based on the changing themes that are set up. Some of the themes include “Manga for Learning”, job-oriented manga, and in the past, “Disabilities”. Soccer manga, as well as the team mascot, are displayed in the corner supporting Giravanz Kitakyushu, a local soccer team.

Loving It So Much that You Naturally Want to Share

Naturally, manga lovers gather at the museum. A wall where visitors can recommend their favorite manga to other guests is also extremely popular among elementary school kids. And the Community Manga Sommelier is a unique system, where visitors select and compile the tone of manga matching categories such as “emotional,” “competitive, and “love”, which can be used for reference by other visitors. The system also responds to vague requests for manga that offer a certain feeling.

The Reliable Manga Sommelier

The total number of manga in the collection here is undeniably enormous, at 70,000 books. While it might seem as if you are entering a manga labyrinth, the Manga Sommelier, acting as a guide to find the one book you want to read at the museum, is a reliable presence that gives a helping hand, from help with studying to tracking something you only vageuly remember. The Sommelier responds to questions such as, “Do you have any reccomendations for teaching Japanes history to children?” or, “I read a book a while ago that was like this, but what was it?”

Taking Bits of Manga Culture from Various Points of View

In addition to the Permanent Exhibition, you’ll also want to visit the Special Exhibitions. When we visited the museum, there was an exhibition on Hisashi Sekiya, a manga artist associated with Kitakyushu. On display where his wonderful sports manga, which have swept the world and is a genre that even the great Osamu Tezuka didn’t work in. There are a variety of themes for the Special Exhibitions, with the Tsukasa Hojo & Comic Zenon exhibition (2013), the Keiko Takemiya Kaleidoscope exhibition (2017), and Kow Yokoyama Maschinen Krieger (2019) in the past.

A Valuable Collection of Originals, Kept Under Lock and Key

Many valuable originals were gifted to the museum by the Sekiya family. To keep the delicate paper in good condition, they are normally kept in a climate-controlled archive. In addition to the originals, wood engravings of the originals of other artists, magazines, supplements, related products, and more are also managed inside this storage space, which is sealed with a sturdy door.

The true value of the museum is its support in passing on culture, and because of this, meticulous care is needed for preservation work of the valuable originals. The museum is also working on collecting and managing new items to support the preservation of originals from artists and their families. In addition to Hisashi Sekiya, work is underway on the works of other manga artists associated with Kitakyushu, including Eiko Mutsu, Jun Hatanaka, Satomi Koue, Yasuyuki Kunitomo, and more. Initiatives to sort, order, and list a large amount of originals are connected to the future of the world of manga.

The Newspapers that have Cultivated the Cultural Foundation

Kitakyushu - where the presence of many newspaper companies for many years is said to have led to the growth of manga artists. The connection with newspapers is still strong today. The museum’s curator and library staff currently author a column in The Nishinippon Shimbun, entitled A Manga Museum of Encounters and Explorations. Published since 2013, each column has a different theme, with diverse topics including features on events held at the museum, highlights on talked-about manga, and more. It’s a valuable source of information where readers can encounter manga culture and deepen their understanding of the work of the museum staff.

Decorating the entrance are approximately 250 square poetry cards drawn by manga artists who have visited the museum. There are even some cards drawn by artists from overseas. This reveals the traces of Kitakyushu, which was once an international hub being physically close to other countries. Tomoyuki Omote says that, “In addition to our exchange with Busan, South Korea, we are also engaged in international exchange with the French-speaking world through the Institut français du Japon – Kyushu. I hope we can attain new mutual inspiration through interacting with people from a different culture. I also hope the museum can become something like a salon where manga artists from within Japan and around the world gather.”

Visitors are greeted by characters from the works of Leiji Matsumoto not only at the museum but also at JR Kokura Station. There are manholes spread out on sidewalks featuring manga, and it is delightful that this presentation makes you feel as if you’ve arrived in manga town. The history of manga in Kitakyushu was established by those who have gone before us. The next genius has already been born, centered around the Kitakyushu Manga Museum that offers seeing, reading, and drawing.