Shopping Guide
When speaking of the three big forms of otaku content that represent Japan, you may say that they are anime, manga, and games. Every week, over one million copies of manga magazines are printed in Japan, and it’s fair to say that bookstores always have an exclusive section for them. Magazines can cost only 200 yen and separate volumes only 400 yen. Their affordability enables both young and old alike to lightheartedly enjoy them. It’s not unusual for a bookstore to say, “Manga is our best selling genre.”
The Tachikawa Manga Park was created with such a love of enjoying manga in mind. On March 20, the park opened on the second floor of the Tachikawa Children’s Future Center in Tachikawa, Tokyo. The park boasts a collection of over 30,000 titles and intends to add more. Visitors may read to their heart’s content for an entire day for a small fee. Those over 15 years of age pay 400 yen, middle schoolers pay 200 yen, and preschoolers are free. Due to these great features, people have come to visit from quite far away.
The details on how the park was opened are also quite interesting. At the Children’s Future Center, which was established with the goal of supporting child raising and activities in the area, a formal competition was held on the second floor to decide how to use the space. In addition to the anime film Saint Oniisan, releasing May 5 in Japan, being set in Tachikawa and manga being an original characteristic of the area, manga has been established as a medium from which children can learn. This ended up being the deciding factor, and the current manga park was implemented.
As you take your first step into the manga park, you instantly understand the broadness of manga. The huge bookshelves are packed and organized by genre. Exclusive sections exist for education, history, food, sports, business, and other related manga. It may make you unintentionally think, “Is there nothing that can’t be learned from manga?”
Masato Fukushi, the principal of the facility, talked to us about the park. On holidays, the park is bustling with children from the early morning. In particular, the first spring break the park was open was a success as evidenced by the line of visitors that assembled prior to the doors opening. During the weekdays, many people in their 20s and 30s drop by, so there is also plenty of material for older visitors to enjoy as well. Tokyo Otaku Mode fans may be wondering if the park has English manga. Unfortunately, they currently do not. However, they have heard the requests and would like to address this in the future. Tachikawa Manga Park, which is anticipated to be developed even further, may become a new tourist attraction for overseas otaku visitors!
Tachikawa Manga Park Hours:
Monday - Friday: 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, Sunday, and Holidays: 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Tachikawa Children’s Future Center Official Site:
http://t-mirai.com/ (Japanese)
This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.
