Himi City Shiokaze Gallery

Getting there

The gallery's page lists three ways to reach it: a bus ride of about 6 minutes from JR Himi Station to the Himi Chuo stop, with the gallery right there; about 10 minutes by car from the Himi interchange of the Noetsu Expressway; or about 10 minutes on foot from the Himi Banya-gai complex. Groups of 20 or more are asked to reserve in advance, and the gallery's phone number is 0766-72-4800.

Exhibits on two floors

The first floor shows original and reproduction artwork, artwork about Himi itself, a profile corner with a chronology of the artist's works, character panels and a corner on his year and nine months as a newspaper reporter in Toyama before he moved to Tokyo. The second floor has a digital manga screen that the city calls the first permanent one of its kind in Japan. Visitors who stand in front of it are given a ninja technique by Hattori-kun and a business card by Fukuzo Moguro, a character from The Laughing Salesman.

Upstairs there is also a manga reading room with digital preview, an art panel that the gallery says does something when photographed with a flash, and a photo spot styled after the bar from The Laughing Salesman. A shop sells goods made only for Himi, including original postcards.

The wider manga town

The city calls the town center where the gallery stands, with its manga road, the Fujiko Fujio A Manga World. Its mascot, Himibozu-kun, was designed by the artist, and eight fish-themed gentlemen characters greet visitors along the manga road and its shopping street.