More than anything, it reminded me of the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau. Not the new, four-winged fortress near Tennoz Isle, but the old and cramped one in Otemachi. And it wasn't because of the exposed plumbing running along the corridor ceilings. No, it was the number of people inside; they seemed to inhabit every nook and cranny — squatting, leaning, standing, and even lying around. The difference, of course, was that they weren't "aliens" waiting for a number; they were reading, and what's more, they were all reading manga.
Judging from its latest visitor numbers, it is likely the Kyoto International Manga Museum will one day rival the Tokyo Immigration Bureau for foreign visitors — satisfied ones, at least.
Having opened in November 2006, the centrally located facility (near Karasuma-Oike Subway Station), which boasts what is soon to become the world's largest collection of manga, attracted about 30,000 foreign visitors in its first 12 months. That figure represented about 15 percent of its total of 220,700 visitors — one of the highest percentages of any museum in Japan.