As we become adults, life gets busy with one thing or another—isn’t it difficult to find the time to get completely absorbed in reading manga?
If we, who are just like that now, can enjoy these works to our heart’s content, it might just be at a travel destination away from our daily routines.
In Koshi City, Kumamoto Prefecture, there is a place we would love for you to drop by.
The exhibition booths, which regularly show a different face, are also well worth seeing. There might be an unexpected, new encounter.
The paradise of manga,
is here.
About a 12-minute walk from Miyoshi Station on the Kumamoto Electric Railway Kikuchi Line, which travels back and forth between Kumamoto city center and Koshi, a charming building can be seen behind the Koshi City Library. That is the Koshi Manga Museum, a facility where manga from all eras are gathered and can be read freely.
The characteristic feature is the chronological shelf arrangement. “Since there are many people for whom their teenage years were when they eagerly read manga, if you go to the shelves of the era after adding 10 to the year you were born, you can reunite with works that make you feel nostalgic.” The person who told us this was the museum director, Hiroshi Hashimoto. In a corner of the facility, there is also a “Yokai and Ninja Corner.” “I want to transmit Japanese culture, namely yokai and ninja, to the entire world through manga.” Works carefully selected with such a sentiment are lined up.
“There are many manga artists and editors from Kumamoto. In the past, in Kyushu, bookstores, book-lending shops, and secondhand bookstores were concentrated in Kumamoto, so it might be related to that. The number of manga researchers is the highest in Japan.” (Mr. Hashimoto, the museum director)
What captured my interest was the “Cube Zone.” I cannot suppress my excited feelings, wondering where I should read. “This is not a library. Our initial thought was, first of all, to get rid of chairs and desks. Reading while sitting, reading while standing, or reading while secretly hiding. I want people to relax as much as possible and read manga in whatever posture they like.”
Combined with the requests obtained through six months of hearings with nearby residents and the “Artpolis Concept” to build unique architecture in Kumamoto, a welcoming space for visitors who want to read manga was born.
The Cube Zone. A popular spot where you can experience the sensation of reading inside a closet. You can also read while sitting on top.
Currently, there are about 20,000 manga that you can pick up from the shelves and read. The total collection numbers about 60,000 volumes. Most of them were donated from Mr. Hashimoto’s collection.
“When I was a junior high school student, my mother once threw away all the manga I had collected. Perhaps, out of that sense of loss, my mother expected me to give up on manga. However, it had the opposite effect. On the contrary, my love for manga heightened, and I came to collect them thoroughly.”
Mr. Hashimoto, whose passion for manga and books was endless, had run a secondhand bookstore in Kumamoto City for nearly 30 years since 1987. It is said that because of the sheer volume of books, they were piled up even outside the shop. A regular customer who could not bear to see this extended an invitation, saying, “If you are having trouble finding a place to keep your books, why not leave them at my place?” This person was a Koshi City official, and later became the deputy mayor. Partly because the mayor had put forward a manifesto to make Koshi a town of manga and anime, the Koshi Manga Museum was born in July 2017.
Aiming to be a facility that is also loved by such a town of Koshi, various events are being held. From talk shows by manga artists to workshops for drawing yokai and ninja in manga. “I want people to experience the joy of drawing. Also the fun of coming up with characters.” Furthermore, as it seems there are children in recent years who do not know how to read manga, they are also working on distributing manga to elementary schools.
The museum director is a ninja researcher, and the deputy director is a yokai researcher. In the “Yokai and Ninja Illustration Contest,” which is held every year for elementary school students, both the number of entries and the level are rising year by year.
Here and there inside the facility,
heartwarming items.
Without realizing it, your heart, too, is gently relaxed and healed.
Even at the standing reading spots, there is somehow a sense of reassurance.
Works with ties to Kumamoto
are extensive.
A museum that places great importance on “enjoying manga.” The exhibits are also not to be missed. On the day of our coverage, manga by artists with ties to Kumamoto and biographies depicting great figures connected to the area were on display. It is also utilized as a place to learn about regional historical facts through manga and to learn what kind of changes manga has undergone. The space, adorned with precious magazines and book volumes that are now difficult to obtain and can only be seen here, will surely expand the antennas of the hearts of those who visit.
The admission fee is 300 yen, even if you spend the whole day. The fact that it is gentle on the wallet is also a pleasing point. Why don’t you, too, drop by this place, which is enveloped in a heart-soothing atmosphere brought about by the warm greetings and guidance from the staff?
*Kumamoto Artpolis… A project whose philosophy is the creation of outstanding architectural structures as cultural assets that can be passed down to future generations, while utilizing the rich nature, history, and local climate. Its purpose is to raise people’s interest in urban culture, architectural culture, and the like, and to create Kumamoto’s own unique, rich spaces that contribute to the revitalization of the region.
