By Philip Barker
The Olympic Museum in Lausanne is celebrating Tokyo’s Olympic Games with an exhibition entitled Sport X Manga.
The centrepiece will be nine “flagship” Manga and the displays are designed to offer “a complete immersion” into Japanese culture.
Gateways, “loosely inspired by the famous toriis placed in front of Shinto temples,” have been placed in the gardens approaching the museum. The designs are meant to be a reminder of the “look” of Tokyo 2020.
A photographic exhibition recalling the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and displays featuring notable Japanese Olympians also welcome visitors.
Exhibits include the work of leading Manga artist Naoki Urusawa who has designed the poster for the exhibition.
“They appear in weekly magazines, and the matches described generate even greater passions than ‘real’ sport,” said Urusawa.
“In this poster, I have concentrated the whole essence of Japanese sports manga. In the bottom-left box, you can see the text meaning ‘To be continued!’ Because, in real manga, readers have to contain their impatience for a whole week to find out what happens next.”
Sport Manga appeared after the second world war and played an important role as Japan made its return to international sport.
Inside the museum, visitors are welcomed by Miraitowa and Someity, the Olympic and Paralympic mascots both inspired by Manga forms. Examples of the Torches will be on display.
An exhibit featuring skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing, baseball/softball and karate is also part of the exhibition.
Three photo booths have been installed, in the shape of Japanese “capsule hotels” enabling visitors to take selfies inspired by “Kaki Moji” the words used in the drawings.
They will also be able to try and recapture the moves of Captain Tsubasa, a popular character in Manga.
The programme features live streamed events which are set to include a session with stadium architect Kengo Kuma. Organisers hope that it will be possible to have a live audience.
A model of the stadium is also on display and visitors to the museum will be able to take a virtual tour of the stadium through augmented reality in which “visitors can imagine how an athlete feels when entering the stadium.”
Although events are subject to change depending on the pandemic, organisers are hoping to stage a “24 hours of J-Pop” event on June 13th.
Then a concert by Japanese Afrobeat group Ajate is planned for July 23rd to coincide with the opening of the Games themselves.
The exhibition is curated by Stephane Beaujean, a former director of the Angoulême International Comic Festival and runs until November 21st.
The Olympic Torch Relay is scheduled to visit the Manga museum at Tokiwa-sō as it approaches Tokyo in the final days before the Games.
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