Kyoto Seika University in April 2003. The project launch was announced by the Mayor of Kyoto City in December 2004 at a press conference. In October 2005, the Committee on the Use of Former Primary School Sites approved use of the former Tatsuike Primary School site for the museum. The museum's name and logo were determined in October 2006, and it opened shortly thereafter in November of the same year. Awards January 2008: won the "Kansai Genki Bunkaken New Power Prize 2007" from the Agency for Cultural Affairs September 2009: won an art and culture prize at "Kyoto Souzousha Taisho 2009" May 2012: won the 41st special prize for the Japan Cartoonists Association Award May 2016: won a special prize at "The 20th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize" Facilities The museum is divided into a number of public zones. The Gallery Zone is open to the public and contains both permanent and temporary exhibition rooms. The museum also has a Research Zone, an Archive Zone, and community spaces. There is also a Tatsuike Memorial Room, a gift shop, and a tea room. The Wall of Manga, which visitors may freely access, is the main feature of the museum's collection. It contains approximately 50, 000 publications from the 1970s, most of which were donated from the rental bookstore Okubo Negishi Books. The Wall of Manga is divided by floors: the first floor features shonen manga, the second floor features shojo manga, and the third floor features seinen manga. There is also a children's library that includes approximately 3,000 picture books. Exhibitions & Events The museum features several permanent exhibits outside of its manga collection. These include a room of plaster casts of the hands of manga and anime artists who have visited the museum, an exhibition of 100 maiko illustrations by various artists, a hanging sculpture of Tezuka Osamu's Hi no Tori character, and an exhibition called "What is Manga?" that features influential manga published between 1912 and 2005. There is also a room dedicated to kamishibai, a traditional Japanese storytelling format that uses a combination of characterful narration and hand-drawn paper cards. Regularly held events include kamishibai performances that occur throughout the week, a manga studio event in which visitors can watch manga artists at work and pay for consultation on their own drawing skills, and a portrait corner where visitors can have their portrait drawn by manga artists. Operations The