Photo/Illutration Fans wait in line at the Yokote Masuda Manga Museum in Yokote, Akita Prefecture, on May 1, 2019, the first day after its makeover. (Tsutomu Yamatani)

YOKOTE, Akita Prefecture--A museum here boasting the largest collection of manga manuscripts has eclipsed its goal of drawing 120,000 visitors a year just seven months after opening following a major renovation. 

The Yokote Masuda Manga Museum had a promising start May 1, with ardent fans forming a long line to get inside the venue, which has a collection of 230,000 original illustrations drawn by 179 cartoonists, officials said.

It is the largest such collection in terms of the number of featured artists and collected pieces.

Visitors taking advantage of the free admission can explore original manuscripts on permanent display and 25,000 comic books from the museum's collection. Tickets must be purchased only for special exhibitions.

The facility has won over visitors by continually holding special showings, including one devoted to the popular "Fullmetal Alchemist," city officials said.

They are also pleased with the growing number of young people flocking to certain special exhibitions.

The Masuda Mange Museum, Japan's first devoted to manga, opened in 1995 to display works created by Takao Yaguchi, 80, who was born in Masuda, now part of Yokote. It initially drew 130,000 visitors a year, but the figure hovered between 60,000 and 70,000 around 2010 after similar facilities were established across the country. The facility had also fallen into disrepair.

Meanwhile, momentum was building to preserve manga manuscripts, which risked being scattered and lost owing to the advanced age of many cartoonists as well as families of deceased manga artists, bankruptcy of publishers and other issues. Encouraged by Yaguchi's intention to donate 42,000 original drawings, officials decided to remodel the museum to boost exchanges among visitors through the collection, preservation and utilization of manuscripts. 

Original manga drawings are highly valued because, unlike printed comic books, hand-illustrated manuscripts show how they were carefully crafted. In 2018, an original drawing from Osamu Tezuka's "Astro Boy" fetched 269,400 euros (33 million yen, or $300,000) at an auction in Paris.

There are estimated to be about 60 to 70 facilities devoted to manga and anime across Japan. However, most are inspired by individual cartoonists, making the Masuda Manga Museum unique.

“There were many manga (at the museum) from the good old days. It was fun. I definitely want to bring my grandchild, who lives in Sendai, next time,” said Katsuhiro Hatakeyama, 63, who visited from Noshiro, also in Akita Prefecture, with five family members in early December.

The museum is close to the “Masuda no Machinami” (Masuda townscape) area, which is designated an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings by the central government.

"There have been no major changes in the number of visitors (to the area)," said Kohachi Chida, 69, head of the Masuda Town Tourist Agency. "However, some young people drop by to see traditional storehouses on (the day of) their repeat visits to the manga museum."

Takashi Oishi, 49, subsection chief of manga strategy at the city government, added: “We still have much ground to cover to boost exchanges among visitors. We want to organize exhibitions offering a high level of satisfaction and work closely with local communities to increase the number of visitors.”

One such initiative was launched in December. The museum hosts workshops for children on how to preserve original manuscripts and helps them understand special exhibitions, with the intention to enrich the content.

A large-scale exhibition is planned this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Yaguchi’s manga career.

“The charm (of the museum) is that I can look at the original drawings and get close to manga artists,” said a repeat visitor from Tokyo.