Shouhei Shimizu, the mayor of Tachikawa-city in Tokyo, announced that they will open a new special public library called "Manga Park" on the second floor of its old government office building on March 21, 2013. As the name shows, the library will be specialized in manga/comic collection and plans to own about 50,000 books. The city expects 200,000 visitors per year. The visitors can read the manga collection and enjoy the manga-themed exhibitions in the library, but can't borrow any books and materials. Admission fee will be 200~400 yen (US$2.51~5.03). Also the library will cooperate with Kyoto International Manga Museum, the biggest manga library in Japan, to exchange each other's collections.

Famous manga museums in Japan

Kyoto International Manga Museum (300,000 books)

Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum

Hiroshima City Manga Library (98,700 books)

Ishinomori Mangakan Museum

Yokoyama Memorial Manga Museum (18,000 books)

Photos taken by Mikikazu Komatsu by courtesy of Yokoyama Memorial Manga Museum

Source: Tachikawa-city via Mainichi Shimbun