Musée
Ishinomori Manga Museum
Cyborg 009 and Kamen Rider. A spaceship-shaped museum on an island in the river mouth, rebuilt after the tsunami.
Shotaro Ishinomori created Cyborg 009, Kamen Rider and Himitsu Sentai Gorenger — the series that became Super Sentai, and then Power Rangers. The museum stands on Nakase, a small island in the mouth of the Kitakami river, in a building designed from his own sketch of a spaceship. The 2011 tsunami flooded it; it reopened in 2012.
Pourquoi ça vaut le détour
Super Sentai became Power Rangers, which means a lot of people abroad grew up on this man's work without knowing his name.
Quand y aller
Quiet outside the main holiday periods.
Bon à savoir
Ishinomaki is about an hour from Sendai on the JR Senseki line, so it works as a day trip from a Sendai base. The walk from the station follows a street lined with Ishinomori character statues, and that walk is half the visit. The city was hit hard by the 2011 tsunami and there are memorials nearby; treat the area accordingly.