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Kadokawa Culture Museum Claims to Have World's Largest Light Novel Library
posted on by Kim Morrissy
The Kadokawa Culture Museum held a post-refurbishment opening ceremony on Thursday. The first floor of the building contains the "Manga/Light Novel Museum." It currently holds around 35,000 books, boasting the status of "the world's largest light novel library."
The museum first opened to the public on August 1. It contained 25,000 books at opening, which comprised of almost every Kadokawa light novel in existence, as well as a selection of comics and juvenile literature. With the assistance of 18 other publishing companies, Kadokawa has since expanded the collection with a further 10,000 books as part of its Light Novel Archive Project. Future light novel releases will be added to the library.
The establishment has also opened the "Da Vinci Store (Manga/Light Novel Library) Satellite Branch" corner on the same floor, which will sell light novel-related goods.
The museum is part of the Tokorozawa Sakura Town facility, which itself is part of Kadokawa and Tokorozawa City's collaboration project "Cool Japan Forest Vision." The purpose is to draw foreign visitors to the often neglected Saitama area. The interactive EJ Anime Hotel, which opened in October, is also part of the facility.
The project is part of The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs' "Cool Japan" initiative, and the "Cool Japan Forest Vision" name references the area's lush greenery. Initially announced in 2015 in anticipation of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the project is estimated to cost 30 billion yen (US$238.8 million).
The Kadokawa Culture Museum will hold an "Isekai Museum" exhibition featuring storyboards, key animation, and artwork from the Re:Zero, Overlord, KONOSUBA, and The Saga of Tanya the Evil anime series from July 17 to September 26. The exhibit is also available online.
Source: Press Release
