Photo/Illutration An artist’s rendition of the “Hondana Gekijo” section of the Kadokawa Culture Museum (Provided by Kadokawa Corp. (c) KENGO KUMA & ASSOCIATES (c) KAJIMA CORP.)

A sprawling complex featuring a massive manga library, accommodations and a museum will open in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, next year to promote Japan's pop culture trends worldwide.

Leading publisher Kadokawa Corp., which has been building Tokorozawa Sakura Town, made the announcement at a news conference in Tokyo in late October to announce its future projects.

The joint project by Kadokawa and the Tokorozawa city government, which is set to open in July 2020, is being built on the ruins of a sewerage center covering about 40,000 square meters.

It will mainly consist of a cultural facility, accommodations, a book production and distribution plant and the publisher’s office. The company said that 1.4 million to 1.8 million people are expected to visit the complex annually, including anime and video game fans in Japan and tourists from overseas.

The main feature is Kadokawa Culture Museum, which houses a library, a museum and a gallery. Kadokawa said it will pre-open in June next year, with Seigo Matsuoka, head of Editorial Engineering Laboratory Co., serving as director. The building was designed by architect Kengo Kuma, who also designed the new National Stadium, with naturalist Hiroshi Aramata and other experts on board.

The symbol of the museum is a space surrounded by 8-meter-tall bookshelves, called “Hondana Gekijo” (bookshelf theater), filled with about 50,000 books, including Kadokawa publications.

Other facilities planned for the Kadokawa Culture Museum will include the EJ Anime Museum, which introduces Japanese anime through a unique viewpoint, and a library boasting a collection of 2.5 million comics and young adult fictions called “light novels.”

Other notable facilities include the EJ Anime Hotel, which will feature Kadokawa’s anime, video game, comics and films for its 33 guest rooms available in five different types. Moreover, the Japan Pavilion comprising two large and small event halls can host large-scale e-sports tournaments, so-called “2.5-dimension musicals” that are based on manga, anime and video game titles, and film screenings.

A Shinto shrine designed by Kuma will also be founded.

“We want a museum the likes of which no one has seen to be a place where visitors can connect with the world through imagination,” Matsuoka said during the news conference.

Kadokawa Chairman Tsuguhiko Kadokawa revealed that there is a plan for an art festival divided into four categories: art, film and video, publication and education.

“We want it to be something that changes the lifestyles of local residents,” he said.