Today the plan is to go to a manga museum. Michiel is very interested in Manga, both films and comics and we think it is worth checking out as it is such a big part of Japanese culture.
me and loads of Nijntjes
completely imerged in a manga comic book
on the way we see some big rabbits…, i already explained to you about Dick Bruna, the creator of Nijntje AKA Miffy, well, this is her but loads of them!! off course I dont miss the opportunity of having my picture taken with this celebrity 
Once in the Manga museum we see it is a massive library as well as a museum. Lots of children, but also adults come here to read the books. There are people sitting, lying and crouching everywhere, clutching a manga book. The history of Manga is explained, as well as some of the Japanese Kanji Characters, how they came about… a special project was displayed and explained which took my interest. it’s called Linga Comica 3 by ASEF, the Asia-Europe Foundation. It’s basically a project, which they ‘plucked’ 14 emerging comic artists, for a 2-months online collaboration through comics. They all came from different countries and were paired up to write/draw a story about certain topics such as cultural differences or global warming. it was so interesting to see these comics by two artists in two styles come together and a fasinating read. unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures, so if you were interested, you’d have to click on the websites to read and see more.
Michiel and I in traditional Kimono
How the Kanji for trees/forest is made up
Another interesting special exhibitions was about how the Japanese used to wear Kimono’s and where Manga began in Japan, a story that captured me is the tale on Genji. Everyone in Japan has heard of it, as it is actual history, that became more popular when Ms. Yamato Waki brought out a manga version. It is about Genji, who is the emperor’s son, who lives as his subject after this mothers death and therefore loses his right of succeeding throne. He has love affairs with many court ladies including his stepmother! drama! me and my brother both bought a book (there are 12 parts) which we will swap after reading. luckily it is written in English as well as Japanese 
There was also a section about european comics and how this was seen as European manga, comics such as belgian suske en wiske and tin tin were mentioned and very old comics were shown. Apparently manga was initially made for children but when these children grew up they still liked manga so it grew with them and became for teenagers too, then adults. now manga is read by young and old.
In the evening, we go to the Kodai-ji Temple to see the ‘light show’ it is not really a light show but more clever positioning of lights so that the autumn colours come to their right even in the dark. it looks amazing especially with the lights reflecting in the pond.
the baboo garden next to it also looks fantastic, it was definitaly worth seeing!!
Kodai-ji temple at night
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