Kyoto International Manga Museum

What makes it special

The highlight is the Wall of Manga: about 50,000 volumes on open shelves that run some 200 metres through the building, published from the 1970s onwards. Behind them sits an archive of about 300,000 items, which you can search on the museum's website.

The building was Tatsuike Elementary School, and its 1929 main block was renovated and connected to further buildings when the museum opened. On the ground floor the headmaster's office, the tiled staircase and the creaking corridors are still in place. The Tatsuike Memorial Room keeps old photographs and objects from the school's working life.

The older holdings include Edo-period caricatures, an early root of manga, along with woodblock prints, pre-war magazines and post-war rental books. A portrait artist also works in the museum and will draw you while you chat.

Visiting

Buying a ticket at reception comes first if you have not booked online. Coin lockers by the entrance take a bag if you would rather leave it there. Then take a volume from the open shelves and find a seat.

Avoid reading in the toilets and the event halls, and keep every book inside the grounds. When you finish, put each volume back on the shelf it came from, so the next reader can find it.

A children's library holds about 3,000 picture books. Artists are often at work in the building, and on some days they run workshops. Re-entry is allowed all day, so you can go out for lunch and come back to the shelves.

Tips

School groups fill the building on weekday mornings. Arrive by mid-afternoon at the latest: it is easy to lose track of time on the shelves and reach closing time halfway through a book.

Look at the walls as you move through the building, which carry drawings and autographs left by manga artists. Guide, assistance and hearing dogs are allowed inside.