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The Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum 7-65 Mukogawa-cho, Takarazuka Hyogo Prefecture, JAPAN (10 min. walk from JR Takarazuka Station) Photos copyright © 2004, 2006 Kat Avila |
 museum brochure cover *Reproduced under "fair use" provision of U.S. copyright law, Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107, for nonprofit educational purposes. |
 Takarazuka Municipal Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum map |
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The Osamu Tezuka* Manga Museum was dedicated on April 25, 1994, in the city of Takarazuka where he grew up. The museum honors the cartoonist (b. November 3, 1928-d. February 9, 1989) referred to by many as the Manga no Kamisama (God of Manga) (source: Amano, Manga Design, p. 346). He created over 500 titles and drew almost 150,000 pages of comics in his lifetime, and he had his own animation studio Mushi Productions (later replaced by Tezuka Productions) (source: "The Art of Osamu Tezuka" booklet, © 1994 Tezuka Productions). It's almost hard to believe that he earned his doctorate in medicine and was licensed to be a physician. Probably Osamu Tezuka's best known character is Astro Boy, first introduced to Americans through a televised animation broadcast in 1963 (Schodt, Dreamland Japan, p. 311). The B&W animation was Japan's first TV animation series (Schodt, p. 237). You can comfortably browse the museum in two hours or less. If you have the time, you might want to catch a show by the Takarazuka Revue at the Grand Theater across the street from the museum. The Takarazuka Revue is a unique theatre where women perform both the male and female roles. Osamu Tezuka's mother was a big fan of the theatre, and he once worked for the theatre's in-house magazine. Osamu Tezuka's manga Ribon no Kishi (Princess Knight) — considered a forerunner of modern shoujo (girls) manga — was inspired by his experiences with the Takarazuka Revue. *Western name order. His pen name comes from a beetle called osamushi in Japanese (source: The Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum brochure). |
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Links Last updated: July 19, 2009 • Astro Boy (the movie). http://www.astroboy-themovie.com/ • Kansai Digital Archives: Tezuka Osamu Memorial Museum. http://www.kiis.or.jp/kansaida/takarazuka/takarazuka04-e.html • Lorenzo Conti's fan site. http://digilander.libero.it/joe.chip/tezuka_e.htm (map and directions) • Takarazuka City Directory 2006: Tezuka Osamu World. http://www.city.takarazuka.hyogo.jp/le_html/kouhou/sitefiles/en/03teduka.html (in English), http://www.city.takarazuka.hyogo.jp/tezuka/index.htm (in Japanese) • Tezuka in English http://tezukainenglish.com/ • TezukaOsamu.net http://tezukaosamu.net/jp/index.html (in Japanese only; English site under construction) • Tezuka Osamu Museum in Hong Kong. Naoko Yue's photos. http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/558429416XHEIhE?start=0 • Tezuka Osamu World official website. http://en.tezuka.co.jp/ (members only) |
 museum ticket  10th museum anniv. exhibit |
 10th anniversary for Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum (2004) July 1 - October 26, 2004 The exhibit focused on how Tezuka's strong childhood curiosity contributed to the creativity of his later work. |
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 The glass dome "Our Earth of Glass" peeks out from the top of the museum. |
 Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum |
 The Hi no Tori (Phoenix) manga was a lifelong project. |
 character handprints & footprints |
 character handprints & footprints |
| 1st floor | ||||
 Astro Boy welcomes visitors at the entrance. |
 floor tile mosaic of Osamu Tezuka |
 Phoenix messenger capsule |
 looking toward the entrance |
 ceiling skylight |
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 permanent exhibit time capsules |
 permanent exhibit time capsules |
 (ceiling) Atom Vision Theater shows short cartoons. |
 Kimba the White Lion outside Atom Vision Theater |
| 2nd floor (where the store and special exhibits are) | ||||
 stairway to 2nd floor |
 stairway rail design |
 manga display (500 vols.) |
 Osamu Tezuka Library |
 museum store & info/animation monitors |
| 60th anniversary of comic debut exhibit (featuring 300 original cover drawings), March 2-July 11, 2006 Osamu Tezuka debuted in 1946 with a 4-panel comic "Ma-chan's Diary" for a newspaper while in medical school. | ||||
 60th anniversary exhibit |
 handbill |
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 timeline from 1946 |
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 Tezuka worked on the Hi no Tori (Phoenix) manga from 1954 till his death in 1989, more than 3,000 pages (Schodt, Dreamland Japan, p. 262). |
 Can you find Osamu Tezuka in this poster? |
Basement  animation workshop and drawing desks |
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| Tezuka Productions booth at Tokyo International Anime Fair 2006 (March 23-26, 2006) | ||||
 Astro Boy & Osamu Tezuka |
 Astro Boy & Osamu Tezuka |
 Black Jack |
 Hyakkimaru & Dororo |
 Ribon no Kishi (Princess Knight) production flyer, Aug. 1-27, 2006 |
