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The tentatively named Tokyo International Manga Library. (Photo courtesy of Meiji University)

Meiji University has decided to open an international manga library, which will be one of the biggest of its kind in the world, it has emerged.

Plans are being made to open the tentatively named Tokyo International Manga Library around fiscal 2014. It will house manga, magazines, fanzines and original manga pictures, as well as commercial video game machines and animated character products, among other items. It is expected that there will be over 2 million items at the library by the time it opens its doors.

The idea to create the library emerged after the university received a collection of over 140,000 titles from the late manga critic Yoshihiro Yonezawa, who attended Meiji University and who helped build up Comiket, the biannual market for self-published comics, and the university started collecting items two years ago.

The proposed library will house a book storeroom together with other areas such as a reading room and an event hall. It will be constructed either by modifying one of the university's existing facilities on its Surugadai campus near JR Ochanomizu Station in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, or by building a new facility. The library will be preceded by the opening of the "Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial Library" on Oct. 31, displaying manga works to the general public.

Kaichiro Morikawa, an associate professor in Meiji University's School of Global Japanese Studies who has played a central part in the plans, emphasizes the scholarly value of manga.

"Manga are mirrors which reflect the lifestyles of the public after the war, and they are also precious in scholarly terms. There is a need to systematically preserve them," he said.

Similar plans for a national media arts center were shelved earlier this year by the Democratic Party of Japan.

"They had the capacity, but we started out with the content," Morikawa commented, adding: "When it comes to storing information, we want to take on that role."