Tezuka Osamu Manga Museum

The Tezuka Osamu Manga Museum in Takarazuka honors the life and art of Osamu Tezuka, featuring exhibits on his manga and anime creations.

Planning your visit

Osamu Tezuka is called the god of manga, and the claim is not inflated: he effectively invented the visual grammar of modern Japanese comics and television animation, produced some 700 volumes of work, and created Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion, Black Jack and Phoenix. He grew up in Takarazuka, and the museum there covers his life and output.

The building is designed after a European castle, referencing the Takarazuka Revue theatre that shaped his visual sense as a child — the all-female musical company whose costumes and staging influenced his character design.

Inside are original manuscripts, a library where visitors can read his complete works, a theatre screening his animation, and an animation workshop where visitors produce simple animated sequences themselves.

Tezuka's later work is considerably darker and more serious than Astro Boy suggests, and the museum covers that range, including Adolf and Buddha.

It sits in Takarazuka, reachable from Osaka in around half an hour.

Bookable options include entry and manga drawing workshops led by professional artists. Current availability is listed below.