Archive for 'Cool Tours' Category

Old restaurant mainly for breakfast was reborn as attractive main dinning ‘Hamanasu’

New dinning room ‘Hamanasu’

‘Hamanasu’ is used to be a restaurant mainly for breakfast. It was not bad for serving breakfast, but not suitable for dinner. New wallpaper and carpet covered the interior and lighting was totally changed in the renewal work. Serving method is rescheduled and newly an open style kitchen and a buffet table are equipped. All furniture in the dinning is also completely changed. Read the rest of this entry »

Beautiful sunset into the Sea of Japan is magnificent from your guest room

‘Yubae-no-yado Shiomi-so’ in Senami Onsen Resort, Nigata Prefecture finished its renewal project and opened a new special floor ‘‘The Ocean Club’ and the dinning room ‘Hamanasu’ on March 3, 2011. Read the rest of this entry »

Variety of trendy bathing facilities are skillfully laid out in each floor

‘Manyo-no-yu’ in New Chitose Airport

Name:	Manyo-no-yu’, the New Chitose Airport
Address:	4th Floor, The New Chitose Airport Terminal
	987-22 Bibi, Chitose City, Hokkaido, 066-0012 JAPAN
Phone:	0123－46－4126
FAX:	0123－45－3333
URL:	http://www.manyo.co.jp/chitose/
Total floor space:	4,773㎡
Onsen sauce:	Natural Onsen sauce in Bunkyo, Chitose City
	(Sodium chloride-weak alkaline hot spring)
Management:	Maruseppu Kanko Co.
Business hours:	23 hours a day from 10.a.m. throuout the year

■Floor layout

● 5^th Flloor

Read the rest of this entry »

Onsen is considered as one of the main attractions to promote visitors to the airport

‘Manyo-no-yu’ in New Chitose Airport

‘Manyo-no-yu’ in New Chitose Airport was considered as one of the main facilities in the airport building when the renovation was planned. It was expected to promote accessibility and attractiveness of the airport.

The function of the New Chitose Airport is expected to dramatically heighten by the renewal work of the terminal buildings and renovation of both facilities for domestic and international airlines. It also helps to increase number of arrivals and hours of staying at the airport. As the entrance to Hokkaido, the airport building must provide much refined hospitality service to visitors and variety of menus to attract them while staying.

The purpose of ‘Manyo-no-yu’ in New Chitose Airport is providing valuable period at the airport as an orthodox relaxation facility with using first natural Onsen water at the airport and as one of the main facilities not only for air travelers but also for local visitors.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popular Onsen Chain ‘Manyo-no-yu’ opened at the New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido

‘Manyo-no-yu’ in New Chitose Airport

Read the rest of this entry »

Two inns under the same management work in cooperation with each other

 

  

 

 

The Itsutsuro guests can use parts of public facilities in ‘Kakujoro’

 

Open-air & inner grand baths and esthetic salon in ‘Kakujoro’ are provided for room guests of ‘Itsutsuro’

  

All guest rooms in ‘Itsutsuro’ have no bathrooms, so that two charter bathrooms and one open-air charter bath are equipped instead. However, some room guests like to enjoy bathing in rather wider grand bathroom. A special path connecting to ‘Kakujoro’ is prepared from the backyard of ‘Itsuitsuro’ for these guests.

And also they can use the relaxation space ‘Riraku’ where famous SHISEIDO brand esthetic salon ‘Qi’ and L’OSERAIE is located.  

Japanese-style bar ‘Wakura’ is renovated from a 150 year-old traditional Japanese storehouse.

 

Another attraction for the room guests is a Japanese-style bar ‘Wakura’ in town, which is renovated from a 150 year-old traditional Japanese storehouse.

Parts of nearby facilities under the same management are effectively used for cover up lack of public facilities at ‘Itsutsuro’.

Not only use public facilities, but also staff members from both inns help each other accordingly. Total number of staff for ‘Itsutsuro’ is only 10, including kitchen staff.

＜Reference materials＞

Monthly Hotel Ryokan June 2011

http://ja.wikipedia.org/ 

http://www.jalan.net/

http://www.ikyu.com/

■For travelers from overseas

As a certified guide-interpreter in English and also a writer of the website “Cool Japan Guide”, I am very happy to introduce ‘Roman-no-yado Itsutsuro’　in Aichi Prefecture. If you have something to ask, like to make reservation, or need English speaking tour guide when visit Atsumi Peninsula, please feel free to contact us. Thank you for your kind cooperation, I am looking forward to your contact.

Please Contact Us/お問合せ

■Introduction of the specialist for Onsen design

I would like to introduce one of the best Japanese architects, Mr. Hiroshi Ebisawa, who is specialized in Onsen facility.

Please contact: http://www.e-koubo.co.jp/

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The new born Japanese resort inn is aimed at the youth market

Lower rates are set to distinguish from the main inn ‘Kakujo-ro’

Elements of Western style menu are skillfully employed

Compare to their main inn ‘Kakujoro’, this unique and original minded Japanese resort inn targeted on rather younger market. Main target of Itsutsuro is  couples of younger generations between 20s and 40s. Expecting average consumer price at the inn is about 15,000 yen or so. Read the rest of this entry »

Visit Japan Travel Mart 2011

“ VJTM2011″(Visit Japan Travel Mart 2011) was hosted at Pacifico Yokohama(http://www.pacifico.co.jp/english/index.html) in Yokohama, Kanagawa Pref.  by JTA(Japan Tourism Agency) ans JNTO(Japan National Tourism Organization)on this Nov.22-23. http://www.vjtm.jp/

More than 300 oversea “buyers” who are travel agencies or the Media from more than 15 international markets joined the event with more than 400 Japanese “sellers” who are travel agencies, tourist associations, hotels,bus companies,and other sorts of  tourism-related businesses. Read the rest of this entry »

Almost decayed old inn was reborn as a new style Japanese resort Inn

An almost decayed old Japanese inn in Fukue Town was reborn as ‘Roman-no-yado Itsutsuro’ on August 6, 2010. Its original structure was a long established Japanese inn built in 1830s, but was closed its business five years ago. The owner of ‘Kakujoro’ Japanese inn in the same town purchased the old structure and renovated it before reopening. Fukue Town is located at the tip of Atsumi Peninsula in Tahara City, Aichi Prefecture. It takes about 15 minutes from Irako Promontory by car.

The town used to be a prosperous fishing port in the Atsumi Peninsula, but it takes more than one and 20 minutes from Toyohashi Station on the New Tokaido Bullet Train Line.

As of 2008, the Tahara City has an estimated population of 66,354 and the density of 405.01 persons per km². The total area is 188.58 km². The city was founded on August 20, 2003 as a result of the town of Tahara absorbed the town of Akabane and then gained city status. On October 1, 2005 the town of Atsumi was merged into the city of Tahara. Toyota Motor Corporation has its award winning Tahara plant in the city which makes many Lexus-brand cars and some Toyota models. The Toyota Celica was manufactured in Tahara from 1979 to 1999. Many Lexus models are manufactured within this plant, as are many Toyota models for domestic and international markets. Read the rest of this entry »

Local food materials are cooked in traditional Kaiseki-style

‘Migiwa-tei Ochi Kochi’ in Tomonoura Onsen /　Vol. 3

Check-in and check-out procedures are done at the lobby lounge

 

As well as putting special care on its renovation design, service style is also something different from other two properties in Tomonoura. Check-in and check-out procedures are done at the lobby lounge, and a cup of welcome tea is served there. Dinner and breakfast are served in the dinning room ‘Kaede’ for all room guests, except guests in upper suit rooms. The hotel staff tries not to visit guest room so often for keeping privacy of guests in the rooms.

For creating image of the sea, wave, and islands in the Seto Inner Sea, beautiful china wares are used for dishing up.

 

Local food products are used for cooking of a full traditional Japanese Kaiseki-ryōri. For creating image of the sea, wave, and islands in the Seto Inner Sea, beautiful china wares are used for dishing up. Each dish is cooked one by one in the kitchen and served promptly to the guest at the table. As in located in Hiroshima, different 11 brands of local sake or rice wine and 14 brands of local shochu or a clear distilled liquor are lined up on the beverage list. Varieties of 6 brands wine are also listed on it. Kaiseki menu makes seasonal change once in every two months.　

Breakfast is your choice among Japanese or Western style menus. A good quality of food materials such as organic vegetables and homemade soybean curd used for the dishes. Especially organic rice is purchased from local farm ‘Chikahiro Nosan Co.’ in Mihara city, which is characterized in sticky and sweet taste. The rice won the special finest prize among local rice at the 12th Rice Tasting Contest in Japan. Eggs for breakfast are given from natural feed hens.

＜Reference materials＞

http://www.ochikochi.co.jp/

Monthly Hotel Ryokan June 2011

http://ja.wikipedia.org/ 

http://www.jalan.net/

http://www.ikyu.com/

■For travelers from overseas

As a certified guide-interpreter in English and also a writer of the website “Cool Japan Guide”, I am very happy to introduce ‘Migiwa-tei Ochi Kochi’ in Tomonoura Onsen in Hiroshima Prefecture. If you have something to ask, like to make reservation, or need English speaking tour guide when visit to Tomonoura Onsen Resorts, please feel free to contact us. Thank you for your kind cooperation, I am looking forward to your contact.

Please Contact Us/お問合せ

■Introduction of the specialist for Onsen design

I would like to introduce one of the best Japanese architects, Mr. Hiroshi Ebisawa, who is specialized in Onsen facility.

Please contact: http://www.e-koubo.co.jp/

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Cool Tours introduces Japan with video movies

As you already know, tenkai-japan has also travel agency’s function cooperating with its fellows, TNZ, a travel agency in Tokyo.
Aiming to introduce “Cool” spots and  TNZ staff, we(TNZ) decided to take a video camera and filmed Japan of today.
We are not expert in this field, however, we try our best to inform the attraction of Japan.
One of our friends Ayako, who is a singer and also a narrator of TV or radio program, reports Edo wonderland in Nikko as a first episode.

Our other purpose is to ask you guys (audience) which spot you want visit in Japan.  We will survey the spots before you go and give you useful information to make your future stay in Japan most interesting and efficient one.
So your comments and requests on timelime of twitter on Cool Tours web site will be highly appreciated.
So let’s talk with us!!

To watch the video and give us comments:  http://japan-cooltours.com/

A current style Japanese Resort with full of originality

 

Unified regeneration of 2 long-established Japanese inns to one current style Onsen & spa resort in creating a great deal of Japanese atmosphere 

 

‘Tofuya’, one of the long established Japanese inns in ‘Yoshina Onsen Resort’ renamed as ‘Tofuya Resort & Spa-Izu’ and restarted its business under the new management ‘R&M Resorts co. on November 3, 2010. The new management company is one of the groups under famous resort hotel, ‘Akakura Kanko Hotel’ in Niigata Prefecture.

The long established Japanese inn was totally renovated and employ management know-how in the resort hotel industry from the famed resort hotel in Japan, under the new concept ‘Authentic Japanese Resort harmonized in Tradition and Modern’.

As well as constructing of a new reception house, its annex building built in 1987and west house built in 1991 are remodeled while trying to make good use of these buildings as much as they can.

Although, number of total guest rooms is reduced to 23 from 30, its total premises are expanded because the new management purchased a neighboring Japanese inn ‘Taisho-kan Hosen’.

Yoshina Onsen Resort is located in Yoshina, Izu city, Shizuoka Prefecture. It is well known as ‘Kdakara-no-yu or good cure hot spring for sterility lady ’. It is in a mountain village along Yoshina-gawa river where is surrounded by rich natural forest of Mt. Amagi.

Buddhist temple ‘Zenmyoji’ & Ieyasu Tokugawa’s mistress ‘Odai-no-kata

 

The chemical properties of hot spring water are simple and weak alkaline.

The output of hot spring water is 500 liters in a minute and its temperature ranges from 44 to 55 centigrade. The hot spring has prospered in long years as an Onsen for visitors to Zenmyoji Temple. It is said that ‘Gyoki’, a famed Buddhist great teacher and the founder of the Zemyoji Temple, discovered the hot spring in 724. The good cure hot spring for lady has become nationally known since ‘Oman-no-kata, or an Ieyasu Tokugawa’s mistress, was given two babies after stayed and prayed for being blessed with children.

There are only three Japanese inns　 such as ‘Sakaya’ and ‘Hosen’, including ‘Tofuya’, all which have more than 400 year-history, and source of hot spring used to be owned by each inn. But all three sources are now under the joint control of the Yoshina Onsen Business Association.

 [Five ranking to evaluate hotel’s performance through the grapevine]

 

＜Reference materials＞

http://www.tfyjapan.com/

Monthly Hotel Ryokan June 2011

http://ja.wikipedia.org/ 

http://www.jalan.net/

■For travelers from overseas

As a certified guide-interpreter in English and also a writer of the website “Cool Japan Guide”, I am very happy to introduce ‘Tofuya Resort & Spa-Izu’  in ‘Yoshina Onsen Resort’, Izu city, Shizuoka If you have something to ask, please feel free to contact us. Thank you for your kind cooperation, I am looking forward to your contact.

Please Contact Us/お問合せ

■Introduction of the specialist for Onsen design

I would like to introduce one of the best Japanese architects, Mr. Hiroshi Ebisawa, who is specialized in Onsen facility.

Please contact: http://www.e-koubo.co.jp/

View Tofuya Reasort & Spa in a larger map

Gundam-town Kami-igusa

A Monument to ‘Mobile Suit Gundam’

 

 

Exit Kami-igusa Station on the Seibu Shinjuku Line and you will be face-to-face with a bronze ‘Mobile Suit Gundam’ statue. Kami-igusa is the location of Sunrise, the anime studio which produces ‘Gundam’. Sunrise, Inc. ,is a Japanese animation studio and production enterprise. It is a subsidiary of Namco Bandai. Its former name was Nippon Sunrise, and prior to that, Sunrise Studios. Its headquarters is located in Suginami Tokyo.Town flags feature ‘SD Gundam’ motifs, and Gundam are drawn onto store’s shatters as well.

 

Among Japan’s largest and most famous studios, Sunrise is renowned for several critically-lauded and popular original anime series, such as ‘Gundam, Armored Trooper Votoms’, ‘Vision of Escaflowne’, ‘Cowboy Bebop’, ‘Witch Hunter Robin’, ‘Mai-HiME’, ‘Mai-Otome’, ‘Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion’, as well as its numerous adaptations of acclaimed manga and light novels such as ‘Dirty Pair’, ‘City Hunter’, ‘Inu Yasha’, ‘Outlaw Star’, ‘Yakitate!! Japan’, ‘Planetes’, ‘Keroro Gunso’, ‘Gintama’ and several others. Because of the fluidity of much of their work, some fans refer to some of their animation as ‘Sunrise Smooth.’

Mobile Suit Gundam,, lit. Mobile Soldier Gundam, also known as First Gundam, Gundam 0079 or simply Gundam 79) is a televised anime series, created by Sunrise. Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Nagoya Broadcasting Network on April 7, 1979, and lasted until January 26, 1980, spanning 43 episodes. It was the very first Gundam series, which has subsequently been adapted into numerous sequels and spin-offs.

Set in a fictional universe in the Universal Century year 0079, the Principality of Zeon has declared independence from the Earth Federation, and subsequently launched a war of independence. The conflict has directly affected every continent on earth, also nearly every space colony and lunar settlement. Zeon, though smaller, has the tactical upper hand through their use of a new type of humanoid weapons called mobile suits. After half of all humanity perishes in the conflict, the war settled into a bitter stalemate lasting over 8 months.

The story begins with a newly deployed Federation warship, the White Base, arriving at the secret research base located at the Side 7 colony to pick up the Federation’s newest weapon. However, they are closely followed by Zeon forces. A Zeon reconnaissance team member disobeys mission orders and attacks the colony, killing most of the Federation crew and civilian in the process. Out of desperation, citizen boy Amuro Ray accidentally finds the Federation’s new arsenal—the RX-78 Gundam, and neutralizes the situation. Scrambling everything they can, the White Base sets out with her newly formed crew of civilian recruits and refugees in her journey to survive, and unknowingly, change the course of the war.

The series was later re-edited for theatrical release and split into three movies in 1981. The characters were designed by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and Kunio Okawara was responsible for the mechanical designs, including the titular giant robot, the RX-78-2 Gundam. When the first movie was released on February 22, 1981, it was regarded as the new age of Anime and an event called Declaration of new age of Anime in Shinjuku and director Tomino delivered a speech questioning the then social concept in which stereotypical Anime was portrayed as being bad and poorly made to the gathered 15,000 youngsters.

The series was the first winner of the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize, in 1979 and the first half of 1980. By the end of 2007, each episode of the original TV series averaged a sales figure of 80,928 copies, including all of the different formats it was published in (VHS, LD, DVD, etc.). The first DVD box set sold over 100,000 copies in the first month of release, from December 21, 2007 to January 21, 2008.

As part of the 30th Anniversary of the Gundam series, the company officially announced a project on March 11, 2009 called Real-G, a plan to build a 1/1 real size scale Gundam in Japan. It was completed in July, 2009 and taken down later. The 18 meter tall statue was reconstructed in Shizuoka Prefecture and will remain until March 2011.

＜Reference materials＞

Japan Anime Tourism Guide published by Japan Tourism Agency

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

We are very happy to introduce “Gundam-town in Suginami”. If you have something to ask or need to hire an English speaking tour guide, please feel free to contact us. Thank you for your kind cooperation, we are looking forward to your contact.

Contact us at: http://www.tenkai-japan.com/cooltours/

 

 

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Saitama Municipal Cartoon Art Museum

 

 

Name:	Saitama Municipal Cartoon Art Museum
Address:	150 Bonsai-cho, Kita-ku, Saitama-shi, Saitama, 331-0805, Japan
Phone:	+81-48-663-1541
URL:	http://www.city.saitama.jp/www/contents/1245128492178/index.html
Business hours:	9:00-16:30
Closed:	Mondays (on national holidays closed on the day following), New Year’s holidays(Dec.28-Jan.4)
Admission:	Free

 

The Saitama Municipal Cartoon Art Museum was built on the site where Japan’s first professional mange artist, Rakuten Kitazawa lived in his later years. The museum is Japan’s first museum dedicated to cartoons. Over the years the Saitama Municipal Cartoon Art Museum has held various programs, such as exhibitions of Rakuten’s works and personal belongings and the Saitama City Citizens’ Manga Exhibition.

1st Floor: Permanent exhibition room for Rakuten

 

Displays and planned exhibitions with belongings and works left by Rakuten Kitazawa are held several times a year in order to spread cartoon culture. The exhibition hall is split over two floors with the first floor displaying achievements, works and other item associated with Rakuten. The second floor displays a wide range of cartoons in special exhibitions of modern and contemporary cartoon works. There is also a well-kept Japanese garden which can be enjoyed in all four seasons.

Rakuten’s art studio (left) and well-kept Japanese garden(right)

 

Rakuten Kitazawa /Japan’s first professional mange artist

Rakuten Kitazawa, was a Japanese cartoonist and a Japanese-style painter.

He was born in Meiji 9 (1876) in the Kita Adachi district of Ohmiya in Saitama Prefecture, and established his popularity by drawing manga, primarily satirical, from the Meiji through the Showa eras. (*In1876, Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone.)

He is considered by many historians to be the founding father of modern Japanese cartoon because his work was an inspiration to many younger cartoonists and animators.

He was the first professional cartoonist in Japan, and the first to use the term “manga” in its modern sense.

He studied western-style painting under Ohno Yukihiko and Japanese-style painting under Inoue Shunzui.

In his 19 years old, he joined the English-language magazine Box of Curios in 1895, and started drawing cartoons under an Australian artist Frank Arthur Nankivell, who later immigrated to America and became a popular cartoonist for Puck magazine.

 

The founder Mr. Fukuzawa & works of Rakuten in ‘Jijishinpo’

 

When he became 23 years old in 1899, he moved to another newspaper called ‘Jiji-shinpo’ a daily newspaper founded by Yukichi Fukuzawa as a member of artists, Mr. Fukuzawa asked him to draw cartoons to make articles in his paper easier to understand. From January 1902, he contributed to Jiji Manga, a comic’s page that appeared in the Sunday edition. His comics for this page were inspired by American comic strips such as Katzenjammer Kids, Yellow Kid, and the work of Frederick Opper. His works of so-called ‘ponchi-e’ or ‘odoke-e’ in every Sunday issue became very popular.

 

Full-color satirical magazines published by Rakuten ‘Tokyo Puck’ & ‘Rakuten Puck’

 

In 1905, Rakuten started a full-color satirical magazine called Tokyo Puck, named after the American magazine. It was translated into English and Chinese and sold in not only Japan but also in the Korean peninsula, Mainland China, and Taiwan. He worked for this magazine until 1915 (with the exception of a short period around 1912, during which he published a magazine of his own called Rakuten Puck), and then returned to Jiji Shimpo, where he remained until his retirement in 1932.

In 1929, Rakuten held a private exhibition in Paris on the recommendation of the French ambassador, and was awarded the Legion d’honneur. During World War II, he was the chairman of the Nihon Manga Hoko Kai, a cartoonists’ society organized by the government to support the war effort.

Both before and after his retirement, Rakuten trained many young cartoonists and animators, including Hekoten Shimokawa, creator of Japan’s first cartoon animation. Along with Ippei Okamoto, he was one of the favorite cartoonists of the young Osamu Tezuka.

 

＜Reference materials＞

Japan Anime Tourism Guide published by Japan Tourism Agency

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://www.city.saitama.jp/www/contents/1245128492178/index.html

 

We are very happy to introduce ‘Saitama Municipal Cartoon Art Museum’. If you have something to ask, please feel free to contact us. Thank you for your kind cooperation, we are looking forward to your contact.

Contact us at: http://www.tenkai-japan.com/cooltours/

View Saitama Municipal Cartoon Art Museum in a larger map

Suginami Animation Museum

 

 

Name:	Suginami Animation Museum
Address:	Suginami Kaikan 3F, 3-29-5 Kamiogi, Suginami Ward, Tokyo, Japan.
Phone:	+81-3-3396-1510
URL:	http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/tag/index.html
Business hours:	10:00-18:00(admitted by 17:30)
Closed:	Mondays (on national holidays closed on the day following), New Year’s holidays, and temporary closing
Admission:	Free

 

Suginami Ward in Tokyo is known as an anime town, where a lot of animation productions and related companies are located. Anime is created in some 400 studios in Japan, and more than 70 of these are concentrated in Suginami Ward, making this area as a true anime town. Located in this anime town, Suginami Animation Museum is not a specified artist named museum such as ‘Ghibli Museum’ (三鷹の森ジブリ美術館,), but as like Japan’s first comprehensive animation museum. It had been originally a public facility of Suginami Ward as a morgue for animation related materials since May in 2003. Then, it was promoted into the Animation Museum on March 5, 2005.

The Animation Museum provides you a fun and systematic way to learn, experience, and understand anime. In addition to an exhibition covering general information on animation, such as the history of animation and animation production process, the museum has a participatory exhibition in which visitors can actually experience dubbing and an ad-hoc exhibition featuring popular animation works and creators. The museum also invites professional creators to give talks, and organizes workshops where you can actually experience producing anime.

 The museum is operated under the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA). The curator of the museum is a famous animation writer Mr. Shinichi Suzuki. He often appeared as a character ‘Mr. Koike’ in the works of Fujio Fujiko.

[Guidance of the Museum]

 

[1] History of Japanese anime 

A timeline tracing the history of anime in Japan 

 

When you go into the museum, a huge chronicle of Japanese anime catches your eyes. Animation was first created in Japan in 1917, but only after World War II did it begin to be produced commercially and shown regularly.

Few complete animations made during the beginnings of Japanese animation have survived. Oten Shimokawa was a political caricaturist and cartoonist who worked for the magazine Tokyo Puck. He was hired by Tenkatsu to do an animation for them. Due to medical reasons, he was only able to do five movies, including ‘Imokawa Mukuzo Genkanban no Maki’ in 1917, before he returned to his previous work as a cartoonist.

Feature-length anime films produced by Toei, a major movie company, were shown at movie theaters during summer vacation beginning in 1958, and anime first made an impact on television in 1963 with the weekly broadcasts of Astro Boy, created by Osamu Tezuka.

In 1948, Toei Animation was founded and produced the first color anime feature film in 1958, Hakujaden (The Tale of the White Serpent, 1958). This film was more Disney in tone than modern anime with musical numbers and animal sidekicks. However, it is widely considered to be the first “anime” ever, in the modern sense. Osamu Tezuka started a rival production company called ‘Mushi Productions’. The studio’s first hit Mighty Atom became the first popular anime television series in 1963. Contrary to popular belief, Atom was not the first anime series broadcast in Japan; that honor falls to Otogi Manga Calendar, which began broadcasting in 1962. The first non-series anime broadcasted was Three Tales. However, Atom was the first series to feature regular characters in an ongoing plot. American television, which was still in its infancy and searching for new programming, rewrote and adapted Atom for the US in 1964, titled differently as Astro Boy.

The chronicle area of the museum includes video footage and provides an easy-to-understand explanation of the history of Japanese anime.

 [2] How Anime is Made area

 

Each work process under general director, drawing director, and art director is introduced from the beginning to completion of cell animation with exhibiting continuity, ‘cel-ga’ or celluloid sheet on which objects are drawn for traditional animation, and also through experience of ‘afureco’, or post recording.

Just go into the dubbing booth and you can become the voice actor for one of your beloved anime characters. Within the booth are a microphone and a screen, where Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack is projected on to the screen. You assume the role of either Black Jack or Pinoko, and after speaking your lines into the microphone, your work is played right back for you.

[3] Recent technology in Japanese animation 

 

This corner exhibits recent process of making animations including a report from animation studios using most advance digital technology.

[4] The basic animation

 

You can understand what principle is based on the animated actions while learning on several devices such as zoetrope, thaumatrope, and others. A zoetrope is a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures. A thaumatrope is a toy that was popular in Victorian times. A disk or card with a picture on each side is attached to two pieces of string. When the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers the two pictures appear to combine into a single image due to persistence of vision.

[5] Digital workshop

 

The museum, which has many hands-on exhibits, also has a digital workshop, where visitors can add color to illustrations and then set them in motion as animation. For anyone who thinks they might like to become an animator in the future, this is a great place to visit.

[6] Special Exhibit Zone

 

There is also a Special Exhibit Zone, where exhibitions on various anime series are held. The exhibition presents the world of featured series, and the many changes it has undergone in all the years since it was first created. There is also a collection of panels, exhibits, and images of the series included in the exhibit.

[7] Anime Theater & Library

 

The museum also has an anime theater, where anime films are shown on a 150-inch screen, as well as an anime library, where books and documents on anime can be read and filmed interviews with anime directors and producers can be viewed. Moreover, in the library filled with a rich collection of anime-related materials, you can browse through books and watch DVDs.

＜Reference materials＞

Japan Anime Tourism Guide published by Japan Tourism Agency

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://blog.asiahotels.com/anime-town/

 

We are very happy to introduce “Suginami Animation Museum”. If you have something to ask, please feel free to contact us. Thank you for your kind cooperation, we are looking forward to your contact.

Contact us at: http://www.tenkai-japan.com/cooltours/

View Suginami Animation Museum in a larger map