Kitakyushu Manga Museum & Aru Aru City
Japan Museums: Kitakyushu Manga Museum and Aru Aru City 北九州市漫画ミュージアム
The Kitakyushu Manga Museum is in Kokura, a district of Kitakyushu City in Fukuoka Prefecture, northern Kyushu. The museum is located on the 6th floor of Aru Aru City, a multi-floored shopping mall devoted to products and services for anime, manga, idol culture, and cosplay fans, a kind of Harajuku in miniature.
Main entrance to Aru Aru City, home of the Kitakyushu Manga Museum
Entrance to Kitakyushu Manga Museum annex for special exhibitions
Leiji Matsumoto
The permanent exhibition area on the 6th floor concentrates on manga writers and artists who have a connection with Kitakyushu; and while more than thirty are listed, the best known is Leiji Matsumoto, who is also the honorary director of the museum.
Leiji Matsumoto's most famous works include Space Battleship Yamato, and several series featuring the character, Space Pirate Captain Harlock. If you come to the museum from Kokura Station you will see several statues of his characters along the walkway.
Leiji Matsumoto's life and works feature prominently in the museum, and there are also displays on the processes involved in producing manga, as well as regularly held workshops for budding manga artists. A "Time Tunnel" displays the history of manga from 1945 and there is a huge library of over 50,000 titles that visitors can peruse at their leisure. Many of the displays focus on Kitakyushu and its manga artists.
There is not a lot of information in English, so the museum may not be suitable for those with little interest in Japanese manga; but those fans with some knowledge and perhaps a little Japanese language will find plenty to experience and enjoy.
Annex
On the 5th floor is an annex of the museum that hosts changing exhibitions connected with manga and related themes. There is a separate entry fee for these exhibitions.
Outside the 6th floor entrance to the Kitakyushu Manga Museum
Aru Aru City, a whole shopping mall devoted to Japanese pop culture
Aru Aru City あるあるシティ
The rest of the Aru Aru City shopping mall is devoted to shops and services for Japan's pop youth culture. There are lots of shops selling manga, anime DVDs, J-Pop CDs, computer games, trading cards, as well as related paraphernalia such posters and figurines.
There are games arcades, an internet cafe, model car racetrack, a karaoke bar, and several cafes and bars serving alcohol, as well as a full maid cafe.
There are numerous establishments offering services for otaku (geeks), including a rehearsal space with a recording studio for budding musicians, an event space with a stage and lighting that can be rented, and a cosplay studio where cosplayers can be photographed professionally in a variety of settings.
Aru Aru City is accessed via covered walkways from the north entrance of Kokura JR Station.
2 Chome-14-5 Asano, Kokurakita-ku, Kitakyushu-shi, Fukuoka 802-0001
Aru Aru City Tel: 093 512 9566
Manga Museum Tel: 093 512 5077
Open 11 am to 7 pm, until 8 pm during the summer
Closed Tuesdays.
Entry is 400 yen for adults, 200 yen for high school & junior high school students, 100 yen for elementary school students.
Maidreamin, a "Maid Cafe" in Aru Aru City, Kokura
A whole shopping mall devoted to "otaku" products and services
Accommodation in Kitakyushu
Much of the available accommodation in Kitakyushu is situated around Kokura Station. Places include the three star Daiwa Roynet Hotel Kokura Ekimae, the Hotel Relief Kokura Station, also three star, the JR Kyushu Hotel Kokura, three star again and the Hotel Crown Hills Kokura.
See here for a full listing of hotels in Kitakyushu.
Aru Aru City, a whole shopping mall devoted to Japanese pop culture
Kitakyushu Access - Getting To Kitakyushu
Air
Kitakyushu Airport is a new airport built on an artificial island, and is unusual in Japan in that it operates 24 hours a day. Several airlines run scheduled flights to and from Tokyo Haneda Airport, but Fukuoka Airport is less than 30 minutes away by train and has flights from many more domestic and international airports.
Kokura Station concourse
Kokura Station shinkansen platform
Train
Kokura is the first station in Kyushu on the Sanyo Shinkansen line, and all trains stop here. It takes less than 5 hours from Tokyo, 3 hours from Nagoya, and a little over 2 hours from Osaka. The newly opened Kyushu Shinkansen connects to Kumamoto in less than an hour and Kagoshima in just over 100 minutes. From Kokura, take the Sonic Limited express to Kunisaki, Oita & Beppu.
The Sanyo Line runs a fast shuttle to and from Shimonoseki. The Kagoshima Line and the Nippo Line connect to all areas of Kyushu. Within Kitakyushu, the Monorail runs about 9 km from Kokura Station to Kokura Minami.
Sonic Express from Hakata & Kokura stations at Kitsuki Station
Ferry
Kitakyushu is served by several long-distance domestic car ferries. A daily ferry from Tokyo stops at Tokushima on Shikoku, There are several ferries from Osaka and one from Kobe, and a direct ferry from Matsuyama on Shikoku. There are also small passenger ferries across the narrow straits to Shimonoseki and also to some smaller nearby islands. There is a high-speed ferry to Ulsan in Korea.
Book Accommodation in Fukuoka
Guide Books on Japan
Kitakyushu Manga Museum & Aru Aru City: Kitakyushu Manga Museum in Aru Aru City is dedicated to manga and manga artists with a connection with Kitakyushu.
