Yokote Masuda Manga Museum
The Yokote Masuda Manga Museum is a mecca for fans and connoisseurs of Japanese comics. In keeping with Masuda’s history of craftsmen and storehouses, the museum operates as an archive and gallery of hundreds of thousands of genga, or original artworks. Established in 1995 as the first manga museum in Japan, the Yokote Masuda Manga Museum was founded on the concept of sharing and furthering manga culture.
The Manga Culture Exhibition on the first floor gives an outline of manga culture in Japan, the goals of the museum, and an explanation of how manga are created. The Permanent Exhibit that leads up to the second floor offers guests a closer look at a rotating display of 74 original artworks from over 100 different artists. The second floor of the museum features an exhibition of manga from artists born in Akita, a walkway with famous quotes, a workshop where classes are held, and a manga library where visitors can browse some 25,000 titles.
The first floor also contains a special exhibition space for temporary collaborations and a café featuring original wall sketches from famous manga artists. Across from the café is the Manga Kura Exhibition, a large, state-of-the-art storage facility that houses the museum’s collection of over 400,000 genga. Each piece in the archive is carefully scanned and catalogued by the museum staff. Through this work, the museum hopes to preserve the legacy of Japanese manga for future generations of artists.