The apartment house where Osamu Tezuka, Shotaro Ishinomori and several other celebrated mangaka lived in their youth was reconstructed and opened as a museum in Toshima Ward, Tokyo, on July 7.
The Tokiwaso Manga Museum is modeled on the apartment house Tokiwaso, which was demolished in 1982 after it became too old. The Toshima Ward office decided to restore the building as a historical center for manga culture and interviewed its former residents for the project.
The two-story museum, built in a park, houses an exhibit room and a manga lounge on the first floor, where visitors can enjoy exhibits that in and of themselves are well worth a visit. Among them is a manga image Tezuka drew on the ceiling of Tokiwaso, which is now on display in the lounge.
The second floor is devoted to the faithful restoration of Tokiwaso, complete with the rooms in which the mangaka lived and a communal kitchen they used, all created with attention to detail. For example, the stairs to the second floor are deliberately built to make creaking noises. It made me happy realizing this because I could sense the project organizers' love and respect for Tokiwaso in such details.
"We must add soul to the Tokiwaso [museum] that meets the expectations people around the country have," said Toshima Ward Mayor Yukio Takano during the museum's inauguration ceremony.
Famous mangaka Machiko Satonaka, who also attended the ceremony, said manga culture is what it is today because mangaka at the time relentlessly put out their works in the hopes of achieving new ways of expression, despite the prejudice against manga then.
"I hope this building will not only be seen as a retro building, but also serve as a symbol of the power of young people, who created convincing works when they were yet to win the understanding of the public," she said.
I want to keep watch over the museum to see what kind of soul will take up residence there in the future.
Those who wish to visit the museum are required to make reservations in advance for the time being as a preventive measure against the coronavirus.
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