As part of the ongoing otaku culture invasion of America, Manga Cafe Mika, San Francisco's first manga kissaten or manga cafe had its "soft opening" this weekend in Japantown Center. A grand opening is planned for Saturday, May 3, from 10 am - 8 pm.

So what's a manga cafe? The deal is you pay by the hour to hang out and read as much manga as you like. There's usually soft drinks available, Internet access and comfy lounge chairs. While Manga Cafe Mika's staff and management are still working things out, many of the pieces are in place to make it a fun place to discover new and classic manga.

Owner Jodee Kikuchi, a Bay Area native who has lived in Japan for the past 30 years, her brother Bruce Nakahida and Kikuchi's son Claude are behind this venture. Stocked with 20,000 volumes of manga purchased from a manga kissaten in Okinawa, Manga Cafe Mika's inventory is about 90% Japanese language manga and 10% English language manga. Based on the peek of the selection on preview weekend, there's also a modest selection of the latest monthly manga magazines from Japan, including monthly Hana to Yume, Margaret and both the Japanese and English editions of Shonen Jump magazine.

The Kikuchi family is figuring out additional features and amenities to offer (possibilities tossed around including selling collectible anime figurines from Japan, cosplay costumes and accessories and appearances by Japanese anime seiyuu (voice actors), since Kikuchi's daughter Mika Kikuchi is an actress who has voice credits including Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle). In the meantime, they have a Japanese manga artist in residence at the cafe for the next 3 months, Yoshinao Sakurai (a.k.a. Kuzuki Sakura) who was seen sketching away at his window seat in the cafe.

Check out more photos and my profile of Manga Cafe Mika, or check out their official website (which is still undergoing some renovations). Also, check out Gia's preview video of the cafe interior and Japanator's original post, which tipped me off to this new addition to the Bay Area manga/anime scene.

Image credit: © Deb Aoki