[SEIYUU] New Seiyuu Museum opens and celebrates Japan's voice acting industry

In Japan, seiyuus are treated like rock stars and the popularity of some of them rival that of idols. A voice acting studio, 81produce, has recently opened the Seiyuu Museum, a museum specially dedicated to the voice actors who not only dub anime and movies, but have also entertained many around the world.

Found in Sasazuka, which is located west of Harajuku, Tokyo, the Seiyuu Museum features a look at the history of the voice acting industry, with exhibits containing dubbing scripts which range from anime to Japanese-dubbed scripts of Hollywood movies. There are even scripts for the dubbing of tokusatsu series and many others.

The museum also features a chronological timeline of the history of Japan’s voice acting industry.

But perhaps the most interesting part of the museum is a traditional Shinto shrine dedicated to seiyuus. Inside the shrine, a Sony C-38B Condenser Microphone can be found and has been used by over 60,000 seiyuus over at HALF H · P STUDIO. It was used when the studio first opened back in 1995.

And like any other Shinto shrine, this seiyuu-dedicated one also has an area for emas, the traditional Japanese prayer boards which are used by believers  to write their prayers and offer them to the gods. The emas found in the shrine are made of paper (instead of the traditional wood) and many of them have been made by seiyuus, fans, and people with links to the voice acting industry.

Seiyuu-related memorabilia, from autographs to other items, are also on display. The Seiyuu museum also takes a look at other seiyuu-related activities such as several seiyuus being singers and actors besides the fact that they are also seiyuus. There are even a few awards on display!

Finally, visitors can always remember their visit to the Seiyuu Museum by bringing home a few omiyage as they offer up a few seiyuu-related merchandise for sale. There are also CDs, drama CDs, and even drawings done by Takuya Eguchi, best known for his role as Hachiman Hikigaya in My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU.

The Seiyuu museum opens at 11:00 am and closes at 4:00 pm and is open from Tuesday to Saturday.

source: Kai-You