Information for the Lucky Star exhibition at the Edit and Art Gallery in the Kadokawa Musashino Museum¹, in Tokorozawa Sakura Town, in Winter 2023. Like all exhibitions at Kadokawa Museum, it is recommended that you purchase a ticket in advance, particularly for a weekend. Tickets are already on sale.
Lucky Star Exhibition
Lucky Star is one of dozens of manga by Kadokawa publications, the company behind the hugely successful Kadokawa Musashino Museum. Thanks to the huge repertoire of anime / manga within their own publishing house, as well as collaborations with internationally acclaimed comics / cartoons, there is always an exhibition worth seeing at the Kadokawa Museum.
This Lucky Star exhibition has been keenly awaited by fans of the manga, which span not just Japan, but the whole world. The author of the original Lucky Star manga is a Saitama native and the anime is based on the cities of Kuki and Kasukabe in Saitama Prefecture. So it is very fitting that this exhibition is hosted in Saitama Prefecture.
Anime 88
Moreover, it is even more fitting that the exhibition is in Kadokawa Musashino Museum as it is number one on the Anime 88. Anime 88 is a ‘pilgrimage’ of 88 key anime spots in Japan. Since 2019, Kadokawa Museum became the “Fudasho #1”. A Fudasho is like an information center. As Fudasho #1 Kadokawa Museum regularly hosts exhibits from the Anime 88 pilgrimage. Of course, Lucky Star, is one of the Anime 88.
Washinomiya Shrine
In fact, Lucky Star is a prime example of how anime has been driving tourism in many locations in Japan. The real life Washinomiya Shrine in Kuki City, known as the Takanomiya Shrine in the Lucky Star manga, has become a popular tourist destination. The featured image at the top of the post was taken in the vicinity of the shrine:
What to expect
The exhibition will start on Saturday December 10th and run until Sunday February 26th. In this exhibition, you can see various contents from the original manga. Such as four-panel manga by Yoshimizu Kagami, itasha and even portable shrines . In addition, there is a corner where the content will continuously change during the exhibition period. Simultaneously, the “Saitama Anime Sacred Land Exhibition” (part of Anime 88) is being held, with information for 9 anime works set in Saitama.
There will also be additional special events during the period of the exhibition. For example, on the first Sunday of the event (December 11th) there will be a pop up studio “Lucky Channel DJ”, at noon and 3 pm, with characters Inori and Matsuri Hiiragi. They will also be showing some of the movie versions of the anime on different dates. For example, on December 18th they will be airing The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.
Other exhibitions currently (December / January) on at Kadokawa include:
Information
Date: Saturday December 10th 2022 to Sunday February 26th 2023.
Time: 10 am to 6 pm on weekdays and until 9 pm on Saturday and Sunday. (Closed on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Tuesdays of the month).
Cost: 1400 yen for adults, 1200 yen for Junior High School students, 1000 yen for Elementary School kids. If you purchase a ticket online it is 200 yen cheaper, per person. Free for children under six years old.
Venue: Edit and Art Gallery, Kadokawa Culture Museum. The Edit and Art Gallery is on the fourth floor of Kadcul, located in what is called “Edit Town”. The “Aramata Treasure House” is also on the same floor and also two lecture rooms. For a complete floor to floor guide please do see the Kadokawa Museum post. View on Google Maps.
Access
About an eight to ten minute walk from Higashi Tokorozawa station. Look out for the Anime Manhole covers on your way! Parking available – it costs 200 yen for 30 minutes, but capped at 600 yen on weekdays and 1800 yen on weekends.
Lucky Star Channel (The official website of the Lucky Star anime / manga)
The official Anime 88 English website
¹Kadokawa Musashino Museum is also known as the Kadokawa Culture Museum or Kadcul for short.
Previous Exhibitions
The very first exhibition at the Edit and Art Gallery was from June 12th 2020 to early 2021. A Japan first exhibition by Ken and Julia Yonetani. Due to its popularity the period of the event was extended from one month to half a year! The next display was “The Power of Earth, The Power of Association” from early 2021. Earlier this year (2022), there were two consecutive cat photo exhibitions by Mitsuaki Iwago.