Kyoto International Manga Museum
Last updated: August 26, 2026
A former primary school at Karasuma-Oike now shelves one of the world's great manga collections: the Kyoto International Manga Museum's Wall of Manga runs to 50,000 volumes you are free to pull down and read — in the corridors, on the stairs, or sprawled on the lawn outside. The Manga Expo corner gathers translated editions from around the world, the main gallery traces the art form's history, and the creaking 1920s schoolhouse is half the charm in itself. A museum store stacked with some 3,000 manga and anime goods finishes the pilgrimage.
Itinerary
- Stop at: Kyoto International Manga Museum
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Frequently Asked Questions
That's the whole idea — the 50,000 volumes on the Wall of Manga are there to be pulled down and read wherever you settle, corridor floor and courtyard lawn included. Most are in Japanese, but the Manga Expo corner holds translated editions from around the world for everyone else.
The exhibitions take an hour or two — the manga-history gallery on the second floor is the anchor — but readers routinely lose half a day to the shelves. On a sunny afternoon the lawn full of people lying in the grass with comics tells you everything about the pace of the place.
The museum stands right at the Karasuma-Oike crossing, steps from Karasuma Oike Station where the Karasuma and Tozai subway lines meet — two stops from Kyoto Station. Few museums in the city are easier to reach.
The building is the former Tatsuike Primary School, built in 1929 and lovingly kept — wooden floors, stairwells and the old headmaster's office intact. Reading manga in its classrooms-turned-libraries is precisely the childhood afternoon the museum wants to give back to you.