A Walk Through Niigata's Manga Kingdom

Niigata Prefecture, embraced by the beautiful but unforgiving sea and mountains, renowned throughout the manga world as a place that has produced numerous prominent artists. At its heart, Niigata City has plenty to delight manga creators and fans alike. It’s now time to head off on a tour of Niigata to enjoy its manga culture!

Japan’s ‘Snow Country’, fertile ground for artists

When talking of Niigata’s manga artists, there are almost too many to mention: Fujio Akatsuka (creator of Tensai Bakabon), Rumiko Takahashi (Urusei Yatsura), Shinji Mizushima (Dokaben), Takeshi Obata (Death Note), Nobuhiro Watsuki (Rurouni Kenshin)… the list goes on. The prefectural government also regards manga to be a part of local culture that the people of Niigata should be proud of and thus has established the Manga/Anime Team to promote these areas. In addition, while manga award competitions are now commonplace in many parts of Japan, it was Niigata that held the very first one in 1998. Celebrating its 23rd anniversary this year, the Niigata Manga Competition will again host a grand awards ceremony that demonstrates how highly Niigata values its manga culture.

The Niigata Manga Competition, attracting the discerning eyes of industry pros

Such is the confidence placed in Niigata-born manga artists, editors from several well-known manga magazines gather to act as judges for the annual Niigata Manga Competition. The final round of judging is presided over by none other than Mineo Maya, author of Patalliro! and Tonde Saitama (‘Fly me to the Saitama’). Only ‘Manga Kingdom’ Niigata could perhaps bring together such a group of professionals at the forefront of the manga world. The competition now attracts entries from professional and amateur artists from Japan and around the globe.

The Niigata City Manga House: where our manga tour starts!

Our tour starts with a visit to the Niigata City Manga House, located in the center of the prefecture’s capital. The facility has no admission fee and visitors can peruse over 10,000 manga books at their leisure. It also runs daily classes in the art of the manga. Director of the Niigata City Manga House and manga artist in his own right, Toshimasa Koike, says that he hopes the facility can support upcoming generations of manga artists. “Niigata has produced so many manga artists; so many people here will know one in their neighbourhood or even have one in their family! It’s an artform that is highly familiar to us all. I’d like for everyone that comes to the Manga House to become just as familiar with our manga culture.”

The Niigata Manga House was established in 2013 with the purpose of passing on, developing, and handing down Niigata’s rich manga and anime culture to the next generation. Inside, you can find the signatures of many famed artists who have visited the facility scrawled on the walls.

Some of the permanent exhibits allow for visitors to engage with them physically. Entering the Manga House, you are greeted by life-sized figures of some of the timeless and beloved characters created by Fuijo Akatsuka, a manga artist that Niigata and all Japan can be proud of. Posing for photos with Iyami, a character from Osomatsu-kun (Shogakukan, 1962) in his iconic ‘Sheeh!’ pose is highly popular with all that visit! Using modern technology, various characters, some that made their debut some 60 years ago, are brought to life in fun and interactive exhibits.

On the second floor can be found the thousands of masterpieces that make up manga history. “We held a series of review meetings among the staff and narrowed it down to what we have here,” Koike explains. “There’s a wide variety of works, from manga by veteran artists to those that are still in serialization by the younger generation. One special part of the Manga House is that visitors can leave their recommendations for others to read. It gives everyone the pleasure of encountering manga they may never have heard of before.”

Ample space is given to works by artists from Niigata. Dear Boys by Hiroki Yagami, Ns’ Aoi by Ryo Koshino, and Initial D by Shuichi Shigeno are just three of the many homegrown manga featured at the Manga House that have found a wider audience after being remade as anime or TV dramas. Meanwhile, many children who visit have left their notes of recommendation around the shelf containing Niigata-born Kaoru Igarashi’s Ijime (‘Bullying’), a manga series tackling this serious topic that became a social phenomenon. Koike’s personal recommendations include works by two artists that have led the arrival of a fresh style to manga, Fumiko Takano and Yoko Kondo. Being able to engage in discourse through the recommendations left by others about manga and the way that they cross generations is a particular appeal of the Manga House.

Each day, the Niigata City Manga House hosts many enthusiastic adults and children who take part in the foundation skills workshop called ‘Manga no Ippo’ (‘Manga first steps’). Under the guidance of an instructor, participants learn how to create their own manga, from elementary coloring to rendering complex facial expressions. “The concept of ‘Cool Japan’ that the country has been promoting of late has long been tied to the history of manga in Niigata. I hope I can continue to cultivate that culture by enabling parents and children to enjoy drawing their own manga like this,” Koike says.

Japan Animation and Manga College: Drawing future talent

Just one street over from the Niigata City Manga House, halfway down a stretch of Furumachi-dori, also known as ‘Manga Street’, lined with statues of various characters from local artist Shinji Mizushima’s popular 1972 baseball manga, Dokaben (Akita Shoten), lies the Japan Animation and Manga College. This school teaches budding manga and anime creators all the specialized skills that will help them become professionals in these industries.

Jump aboard the playfully-designed ‘Michael Bus’

Befitting this manga-mad town, the Loop Bus that makes its way in a circuit around Niigata City’s sightseeing spots also has been given a manga theme. One features illustrations of the funny felines from Niigata artist Makoto Kobayashi’s famed What’s Michael? (Kodansha, 1984) on the exterior; the cute tabby and his friends also show up here and there in a specially designed interior, too. These homegrown characters take tourists across the elegant Bandai Bridge and beyond to all the main sights.

Niigata City Manga and Animation Museum: A rich repository sure to excite fans!

Next stop is the Niigata Manga and Animation Museum, a place where visitors can also get a hands-on experience at making manga and anime themselves. Here and there about the museum are the official mascot characters, based on Niigata’s famed tulips and sasa dango (bamboo leaf dumplings), who will guide you about!

The Niigata Manga and Animation Museum has several permanent exhibitions and interactive installations; it also has a space for special exhibits and feature artists. Entering the museum, you see a lively layout with bold renditions of works by such Niigata luminaries as Fujio Akatsuka and Rumiko Takahashi. Just inside the doorway, the collection of autographed original art on message boards by numerous legendary artists sends fans into rapturous delight!

The interactive, game-like attractions are especially popular with museum visitors. For instance, there is a quite acrobatic game in which you use your whole body to navigate scenes that appear on a giant screen to catch Lum, one of the main characters in Rumiko Takahashi’s Urusei Yatsura (Shogakukan, 1978). Just outside that corner is a fun game in which various characters from Fujio Akatsuka’s works appear.

The Voice Acting Experience Corner is where you can try your hand at being a voice actor with your friends in a space that recreates a real dubbing studio. At the end, you are scored on how well you did! Meanwhile, visitors can put together their own original manga story in a manga creation game, combining backgrounds, characters, and dialog as they like.

Various valuable materials and footage has also been donated to the museum by animation production studios that are connected to Niigata. The animation production process is introduced in a very easy-to-understand manner in a series of displays.

Time for a break at a café that is a ‘cosplay’ mecca!

The local private sector is also making its own efforts to promote Niigata as a manga fan destination. In the section of Niigata City known as Shimomachi, the city’s ‘pleasure quarter’ from ancient times and a place where the atmosphere of a port town can still be felt, is the café complex called Gotokuya Jube. This unique café also has a bar, a shop, and a cosplay photo studio! This one-of-a-kind space, overseen by master Tsutomu Miyahara, the café’s mascot, Chibita the cat, and the beautiful ‘maids’ and danso (women dressed as men) ‘butlers’, is an indispensable part of this city of manga.

Shimomachi has actually opened the area to coplayers to take photos around the streets, even within the precincts of shrines and temples. The locals all seem quite happy with the arrangement! “I’m really grateful!” smiles Rika, a maid at Gotokuya Jube who also likes to cosplay in her spare time. “We often introduce places around town that are good for photos or where to change clothes and so on via SNS. You can also take photos in places that have really great atmosphere, like some abandoned buildings or the old red-light area.”

Unlike regular maid cafes that can be found in Japan, locals of many ages gather at Gotokuya Jube. Manga and cosplay seem to be a natural fit at this cosy café and bar. “The real charm of the place is that people can come and interact with each other 365 days of the year. Oh, and the fact that we serve alcohol from noon!” laughs the affable Miyahara, who has many fans among those that visit his unique cafe.

Get into character for Gatafes, a Niigata autumn tradition!

The Niigata Anime/Manga Festival, nicknamed ‘Gatafes’, is a now regular fixture on the Niigata calendar. This annual event attracts upwards of 50,000 people, many in cosplay, who are entertained at the lively festival with talk shows and a stage where popular anime songs are performed. The event has gathered even more momentum in recent years through strong collaborative efforts between the public and private sectors. Another event that cannot be overlooked is Gataket, one of the largest fanzine conventions in Japan that has been going now for 35 years and one of the main contributors to expanding Niigata’s manga and anime culture.

Familiar characters even adorn the airport
Such is Niigata’s connection to manga, it is even used for promoting the prefecture at the Niigata International Airport. A series of large, colorful manga by Niigata-born Etsushi Ogawa, best known for Chuka Ichiban! (Kodansha, 1995), promote the traditional entertainment of Sado Island and Niigata’s many sake breweries and feature some of the characters from said work. Perhaps these attractions will be on your list the next time you visit Manga Kingdom!