Kyoto International Manga Museum

A great venue to visit especially if you are an avid manga or comic book reader. Has a great homely vibe to it coupled with the general quietness maintained to give visitors a great reading experience. Possessing a great collection of manga from various eras beginning in the early 1930s, has exhibits that go into depth regarding the historical trends, styles and stories of manga and their authors and even has a small video game section. What stuck out most however, were the casts of the hands of various authors and artists, and the exhibit on adapting manga into animation form. However, it may appear dull for certain visitors

Kyoto International Manga Museum – A Paradise for Manga Lovers! An absolute gem in the heart of Kyoto! The museum houses an impressive and diverse collection of manga, including rare series dating all the way back to the 1960s. It’s not just about reading — it's also a fascinating journey through the history and evolution of manga, with insightful exhibits on how manga are created, from concept to final art. A unique and engaging experience for fans and curious visitors alike. One small note: the live manga drawing workshops are a great idea, but with only two instructors available, it feels a bit limited. With such interest, having more manga teachers would definitely elevate the experience even further. Still, a must-visit for anyone interested in Japanese culture, art, or storytelling.

Staff was amazing, it's a beautiful place to visit! It was like a library at the top as you're allowed to take out manga for reading after you're done with your tour. I really loved learning about the history of manga, seeing some of the oldest series and the manga publishing pipeline. One of the higher floors has a restoration/preservation section which was very cool. Unfortunately I was feeling pretty shy and didn't attend any of the cool panels but maybe next time! Also check out the Cafe nextdoor, if you want to see artist's drawings on the walls as you eat some yummy cake

This Museum was awesome! A great place to chill and read manga. Which is great for a taking a break after walking all day. Plenty of places to sit and read a few Mangas from your childhood. I read a few of my favorites!

Besides being a museum, it’s also a library for Manga lovers. There are rooms suitable for reading, but few copies in different languages. Only true enthusiasts will find it interesting. There was also a really cute guy working there 🤭 — definitely earned some points during the visit!

The Kyoto International Manga Museum is a must-visit for manga enthusiasts! With walls lined with thousands of manga from all genres and eras, it’s a haven for readers and collectors alike. The mix of Japanese and international manga makes it an inclusive and fascinating place to explore. You can read freely in cozy spots, learn about manga’s history, and even experience live drawing sessions by professional artists. The outdoor reading area is especially relaxing on a nice day. Whether you’re a lifelong fan or new to manga, this museum offers a unique and memorable experience in Kyoto!

This is such a wonderful place. The question most people ask is should I go even if I csn read/ speak japanese. The answer is a huge YES. Or three yesses if you like. There are some non Japanese manga ( alot of different languages including English, French ( BD) Spanish Russian and also non European languages. The vibe is cool and there is a good history of Manga in English. The exhibition Manga and Human Rights is on July August 2025 and it is very moving. Highly recommended. If only to see people of all ages sitting and consuming Manga. Oh there are classes and also you can book to have your picture drawn Manga style. For the latter you need to book in advance but admission you can get online or at the museum

Tickets is about 1,800 yen for an adult as of review date. There were plenty of seatings available through the museum for you to browse the manga available in the museum. There was also a small booth available where you could pay to have the staff draw an anime picture of you. But you needed to make a reservation, not sure how you could do that. It was fully booked by the time I reached around 3:30pm.

The international manga museum is a museum dedicated to preserving the history of manga - to that end, there are thousands of manga works spread along the two main floors of the museum. Most impressive is a room that has multiple decades of manga from the 1950s to present. In this room is an eight panel exhibit of manga history which traves its origins from the 1800s to the present day. I found this exhibit very interesting with lots of visuals (photography of the panels was not allowed). There was also an exhibit on the works of manga author Ryoko Kui, author of the Delicious in Dungeon manga. The exhibit was all in Japanese with an accompanying paper that translated important notes into English. I hadn't heard of this author before. It was interesting to see the details of her works. There are also a lot of secondary exhibits - you can see Japanese puppet shows which were the inspiration of current day manga panels, old exhibition posters, get tips from manga artists in a separate area, and even have a manga-style portrait of yourself drawn. There are also some areas with history of the building itself, which used to be a school. The most heartwarming part of it to me was seeing all the kids from all walks of life sitting with their families and reading manga throughout the museum. I think that for 1200 yen there is enough to justify admission. There is clearly a lot of passion for the work being done within the museum. It isn't the most elegant or sexy museum, but if you have any passing interest in anime it's worth checking out.

Great! It's so fun for a rainy day. Only takes cash tho... we got my anime portrait done too! Def recommend! LOVE IT! Sailor moon forever! #MOON PRISIM POWER! MAKEUP UP!

So it's raining like mad and you just spent the entire morning trekking outside to see the famous Rokuonji and its Golden Temple. The next item on your list is another famous temple, Kiyomizu-Dera. At that point, you just feel like getting a hot drink, curling up inside a warm building, and maybe picking up a nice book. Oh look, an international MANGA MUSEUM. How awesome! And that's how we decided to skip a historic Kyoto landmark and spend the rest of our day reading comic books. No regrets. Why are a bunch of people so mad at this place being more of a library and is mainly Japanese? This is a fairly small, niche museum. Making it a place that locals can also come to relax and check out a mindblowing selection of manga makes perfect sense to me. Not everything needs to be made for tourists. That being said, we still spent a couple of hours here. Being surrounded by manga spanning the decades was awesome. There were interesting exhibits along with the massive collection of books. Some permanent exhibits included the history of popular manga throughout the ages as well as sections dedicated to the making of manga. There was a room filled with wax moulds of artists' hands and a giant colourful phoenix statue dominating one of the hallways. There were even artists on site that can draw you as a caricature (note that there is probably a queue and a fee). There was a special exhibit going on about a new anime called "Peacemaker Kurogane", detailing some historical events on the Shinsengumi. It was very fascinating as you followed the large print-outs from the manga and it detailed real-life events and compared it to the storyline. Another room went into detail on the creation of a lovely manga called "Natsume Yujin-Cho", which had some sort of anniversary and was being celebrated everywhere. The drawings were mesmerizing and it felt like I was in a very sentimental art gallery. And of course, the library element. I've never seen such an impressive collection of manga. A multi-story building with walls upon walls of it. Children and adults took up the chairs, even sitting along the shelves, absolutely immersed in their books. There was even a small section with a variety of translated titles. I spent two hours on a bench discovering the masterpiece that is Assassination Classroom. No judgement. Just a bunch of people reading comic books. All in all, the International Manga Museum was like chicken soup for a weary traveler's soul. So wholesome, so cozy, and just the perfect place to be on a rainy day in Kyoto. (12/100) - 2019

That's right, I'm giving this "library" a 5-star. The International Manga Museum used to be a school, and it felt so nostalgic walking through it. It reminded me of my own school, with the very, very creaky wood floors, spiriling staircases. Put me in the mood for learning. And you can do (i) some (/i) of that here. Most of the museum is reserved for stacks and stacks of manga (in Japanese, of course). The museum's target is manga preservation, popular and unpopular. Despite not having any Japanese reading skills, I enjoyed walking around, searching for manga I knew and flipping through the pages. Tons of people around sitting down in benches reading manga. This is definitely not a museum just for the tourists. There's some interesting exhibits to see, including manga through the ages and plasters of famous manga writer's hands. Aside from perusing the stacks, we went specifically to get a portrait done by Kasumin. Their drawing corner is open Friday, Saturday, Sunday and random weekdays. They post the schedule and the artist on shift a month prior. I loved our portrait so much I may have shed a little embarrassing tear. Right by the drawing corner is also where all the manga in English (and other foreign languages can be found). There was a good selection to choose from, so not reading Japanese shouldn't be THE deterrent from paying the museum a visit. I'd personally still visit just for the portrait, but I found the entire museum (or library) enjoyable.

If you need to kill some time, why not make a stop here. Although as others have reviewed, it is more like a library of manga than a museum. There are a few museum-esque exhibits, but not a whole lot. The floors squeak like no tomorrow. Tried our best to take light steps as to not disturb readers, but it is literally impossible not to make a screaming step with each movement.

Surrounded by manga - old and new, shounen and shoujo, English and Japanese, stretching in the sun with a stack of them beside you, learning about the history of manga and their place in developing Japanese and international culture, having artists draw manga-style caricatures of yourself, only taking a break to buy a smoothie at the connected cafe or to have a simple meal in a cafe with walls doodled on by dozens of famous manga artists~ if this doesn't sound like heaven to you, then this is probably not the place for you. But for me and my friends, after a week of walking more than 30,000 steps a day, exploring Kyoto, Osaka, Koba, and Nara- a day lounging in the sun reading manga was the perfect way to end our week. For the small entrance fee of 800 yen, we passed maybe five hours in this museum. We did some research beforehand, so we knew which caricature artists would be there and how expensive it would be - if I remember right, it's something like 1500-2000 yen for a caricature of yourself - anime or cartoon style. As someone who spends her free time doodling, drawing, and sketching, I had a lot of fun making small talk with the manga artist, and I was extremely pleased with the results. She let us decide how we wanted our anime-selves to be dressed, which was also a lot of fun to choose. All three of us had a caricature done. Make sure to get there early if you don't have a lot of time! The artists' wait lists fill up quickly! There were a bunch of exhibits throughout the museum as well - geisha drawn by 200 manga artists, the history of manga, and I remember there being something to do with robot figures too. The history of manga was, by far, the coolest thing and it was in this gigantic room with monthly manga magazines from the beginning of manga history. It was sort of humbling, standing among all these books that led to the silly romance manga I spend my time reading today. My Japanese isn't very good, so I wasn't able to read any of the Japanese manga, but there's a fairly large collection of English manga to read as well. We were able to take the manga out to the lawn with us. The lawn is actually astro turf, and it's a huge space littered with hammocks and bean bags. It was the most relaxed I had been in maybe a month, and it was exactly what all of us needed that day. Lazy, sunlit hours of reading manga. There's a cafe connected to the museum as well. The prices are a little steep, considering the quality, which was a harsh reminder that we were at a tourist spot, but the decor for the cafe was one of the coolest things I had seen all day. I imagine all manner of famous artists visit the museum, and when they do, they stop at the cafe to doodle one of the characters. Some of the doodles I recognized - One Punch Man, Kimi ni Todoke, and even Ponyo! The food isn't anything spectacular, but it's hard to pay attention to that when you realize that you're standing where dozens of famous manga artists stood. I was so enamored with my experience that I actually bought a postcard to bring back along with my caricature. I know that if I'm ever in Kyoto again, I'll be stopping by here for another relaxing day of manga-reading.

Unbelievable experience! How to describe it in words is impossible! If in Kyoto VISIT THIS! Reasonable admission fees, a wide range of souvenirs, and a display of Japan's very own Bob the Builder from the '50s! Be aware of camera restrictions as you may get told off (Japanese style!).

A hidden gem in Kyoto in the midst of all the temples. International Manga Museum greets you at a price of ¥800 for hours of manga reading. There are a variety of languages including, but not excluded to: Spanish, French, English, Korean, Chinese, Italian, Japanese. Depending on the time you go there are special exhibitions going on. I went during the love in Eroica exhibition. There are a total of three floors all filled with walls of manga. At the second floor you can see the steps manga is drawn and also how mangas were adapted depending on the country. Also in the second floor books are organised chronologically. If you arrive at the right time you'll be able to watch a kamishibai, paper entertainment that existed before TV's for kids, for free. He also asks quizzes for free prizes. Overall had a really unexpected great experience.

Hmmm, although most people have given this museum good reviews, I really wasn't very impressed. It's more of a library than a museum... I brought a group of teachers here (we were showing them lots of sides of Japanese culture, so I thought it would be good to include some Manga...) The exhibition section was pretty rubbish. It was two rooms full of cardboard cut-outs of lolita-esque manga characters. They looked like highly sexualised depictions of young girls, mostly in teeny skirts or thongs... so it was a little embarrassing that this was the only side of manga that the teachers got to see. I would have been really interested if the exhibition included information or examples of historical mangas...ah well. Why you might like to go: - There is a huuuge range of manga comics to browse, so if you are a fan, this might be cool. - The museum is set in an old schools, so it is cool to see the school architecture - their office is located in the staff room, which still looks like a staff room!) - The shop has some nice gifts

Can confirm what others say about how it should be renamed to library instead of museum. There's one room that shows the history of manga, creation process, and influence in anime, dojin, games, etc. There's also a room with plaster casts of manga artists hands. Other than those, it's basically a manga library. If you can read Japanese and want to spend a day reading manga, then this is perfect for you. Otherwise, I'd suggest saving the 800¥ and going somewhere else. No photography allowed anywhere.

I really do not recommend this museum or is it really a library. This is not recommended if you do not speak Japanese. There is barely anything in English and there is very little interactive things that you can do it's basically just a bunch of Mungo listed in a three story building. They could've made this so much better, but it's really really boring what a shame! I think this could be a great place if they put some more effort into it.

as someone else also mentioned, this place really is more of a library than a museum. So if you can read Japanese and like many many many series - you can probably find what you like here and much much more. It's just floors and floors of shelves of manga. Many people here looked like they were on lunch break, and was here for a quiet escape, grabbed a book ad sat down to read. If you are looking to learn about manga history, artists, the craft - nope, won't find it. So really not worth the 800¥ and the trip here.

Overly disappointed based on the 800 yen entrance fee. It's mainly a library of books. All of the nonbook related merchandise is before you buy your ticket so if your looking for souvenirs don't pay as there is othing past the front to purchase.. Unless your fluent in japanese and want to spend a day reading old manga, there are better places the entrance fee could be spent.

We visited the Manga Museum during our time in Kyoto because our boys (7,9,11) enjoy comics and manga of all sorts... and since the museum was highly reviewed in our guidebooks, we thought it would be a fun way for the kids to experience a different side of Japanese culture. Mostly it's a large library and accompanying bookstore, so we spent maybe 90 minutes browsing the shelves just like you would at one of those. We don't read Japanese, so our browsing was all about the pictures. There was also one large room with some displays about the history of manga. I found this pretty compelling for 15-20 minutes; it helped that some of the charts and text were translated into English. I bet this is a terrific destination if you are a serious manga fan, and presumably even better if you read Japanese. As an English-speaking tourist who just likes comics... I'd call it a pleasant stop for 1-2 hours, but probably not worth traveling across town.

I was a little disappointed by this museum and probably should have read other Yelp reviews before visiting and traveling from the hotel specifically to visit this place. Its largely a collection of manga books that you can pull off the shelf and read, so very much a library-like experience. The exception is that most of the books were in Japanese so unless you can read Japanese, it made for a slightly more difficult experience. They were very keen on the fact that you could not take any pictures throughout much of the museum (due to copyright laws). But I would have been interested to take pictures of the environment, not specifically of copyrighted books. But anyway, we found the gift shop and the vending area to be more interesting than anything else in the place. I was hoping for some introduction to the history of Manga and how it evolved over the years (similar to Comic museum in Brussels). And I'd hate to sound like a ignorant tourist that expects everything to be in English, but considering many tourists from other countries do speak English to some degree, I think that would have been nice to have more information available in English.

Probably a great place if you're a local but I would consider this more as a library than a museum. A majority of the content is stacks of Japanese manga.

As I had been indulged in Manga, or comics in my childhood, my mom got furious at me and threw away the one into the garden, which I borrowed from my friend. It becomes my embarrassing and shameful memory. This museum holds about 300000 items ranging from old historical comics to contemporary popular ones. I suppose that Japanese Manga is very refined, complicated and elaborately drawn, so special for foreigners. The reason why I visited here is that I did want to read the nostalgic comic once again. Its title is "Onihime" or Goblin Princess drawn by the famous horror master, K. U. I'm ashamed to say that I wept bitterly without minding the public eye at the sad story which left me a strong impression. Special events or exhibitions are held throughout the year. I obtained a pair of tickets to see the retro girl's Manga collection a few years ago. The original pictures were overwhelming and impressive. Others, you can also take part in the workshops, in which you can make or draw Manga like a professional Manga artist. It was constructed on the site of the former primary school. A spacious greenery ground spreads in front of the building. Kamishibai or traditional Japanese story-telling with pictures (written on papers) is regularly performed here. I hope such a traditional Japanese culture which has a good influence on children's emotion will remain eternally. A café and a museum shop are installed. If you stop in, I advise you to have a box lunch and stay here from the opening to closing. There is also an eating space outside the museum.

Get your manga pic done for a small fee and also have a tutorial on how to draw