MAMYU, the museum's mascot available for photo opportunities As lifelong comics fan and gold-standard nerd, I'd been looking forward to visiting the Kyoto International Manga Museum . Maybe a little too much. It boasts a collection in excess of 50,000 manga titles which create several walls of manga that stretch over 200 meters throughout the former Tatsuike Primary School. For bibliophiles it might be enough to see the shelves curving around the building or see Japanese visitors of all ages sitting reading their favourites. But the 'international' titles are restricted to a range of translations in the bookshop and a few examples of manga's influence with international books (including Australia's own Queenie Chan). Japanese manga is so popular that it almost doesn't need translation into English. Reading up on the extensive Wall of Manga There are great exhibitions which are bilingual. The Manga Hall of Fame, for example, draws together some of ...
One of the best experiences we had was sushi making at Buddha Bellies . Before we left for Japan we visited a local sushi train and tried a place in Tokyo so by the time we got to Buddha Bellies we thought we knew a bit about Japan's original street food. We were wrong. Ayuko prepares to slice and flip the rice. Our host was expert sushi chef and sake sommelier Ayuko Akiyama who starts the class with an overview of sushi's history and the huge variety of sushi. We were familiar with nigiri (rice with topping and a belt of nori) and sliced nori rolls but she also showed us a family style that was wrapped into a cone of seaweed and other kooky types. Our class was a basic one with nigiri and nori rolls that was great for kids though we were tempted to come back and do the mosaic sushi which was presented in a colourful square of deliciousness. My basic nori rolls We make sushi at home so the advanced techniques Ayuko showed us were really helpful. Turns out we've ...