Well if Im going to start writing in this thing, I suppose the best place to start would be a recent highlight of my time in the glorious land of Japan, the 82nd Comiket!
What is Comiket I hear you ask? From Wikipedia:
Comiket otherwise known as the Comic Market, is the world's largest self-published comic book fair, held twice a year in Tokyo, Japan.[1] The first Comiket was held on December 21, 1975, with only about 32 participating circles and an estimated 600 attendees.[2] Attendance has since swelled to over a half million people.[1] It is a grassroots, DIY effort for selling dōjinshi, self-published Japanese works. As items sold in Comiket are considered very rare (because dōjinshi are seldom reprinted), some items sold at Comiket can be found in shops or on the Internet at prices up to 10 times the item's original price, and in certain cases, more than 100 times.
And they were out in droves. I was here last winter but missed comiket because it was snowing, and I am NOT waiting for hours in line in the snow. That was before I went to this event. Ill be back in winter, no question.
This is part of the queue in the entrance hall. I turned my head slightly to look to the side and this is what I saw:
Thats the queue stretching out the door about 400m behind me, down the stairs, out through the carpark, back UP the stairs and across the bridge. Event was crowded, yo.
But who gives a shit about lines, you go to Comiket for 2 reasons, Doujinshi, and COSPLAY!
That'll do for now - the event was a mass gathering of otaku and fans of otaku culture such as myself - the weather was a sweltering 35+ degree day, but the cosplayers were out by the hundreds. There was a whole etiquette to the photography thing, this is Japan after all. I started to take some random photos, when a security guard told me no it doesnt work like that - a pro thankfully came up and showed me the ropes - the cosplay area was not too far away from the entrance.
Oh...
Well if Im going to start writing in this thing, I suppose the best place to start would be a recent highlight of my time in the glorious land of Japan, the 82nd Comiket!
What is Comiket I hear you ask? From Wikipedia:
Comiket otherwise known as the Comic Market, is the world's largest self-published comic book fair, held twice a year in Tokyo, Japan.[1] The first Comiket was held on December 21, 1975, with only about 32 participating circles and an estimated 600 attendees.[2] Attendance has since swelled to over a half million people.[1] It is a grassroots, DIY effort for selling dōjinshi, self-published Japanese works. As items sold in Comiket are considered very rare (because dōjinshi are seldom reprinted), some items sold at Comiket can be found in shops or on the Internet at prices up to 10 times the item's original price, and in certain cases, more than 100 times.
And they were out in droves. I was here last winter but missed comiket because it was snowing, and I am NOT waiting for hours in line in the snow. That was before I went to this event. Ill be back in winter, no question.
This is part of the queue in the entrance hall. I turned my head slightly to look to the side and this is what I saw:
Thats the queue stretching out the door about 400m behind me, down the stairs, out through the carpark, back UP the stairs and across the bridge. Event was crowded, yo.
But who gives a shit about lines, you go to Comiket for 2 reasons, Doujinshi, and COSPLAY!
That'll do for now - the event was a mass gathering of otaku and fans of otaku culture such as myself - the weather was a sweltering 35+ degree day, but the cosplayers were out by the hundreds. There was a whole etiquette to the photography thing, this is Japan after all. I started to take some random photos, when a security guard told me no it doesnt work like that - a pro thankfully came up and showed me the ropes - the cosplay area was not too far away from the entrance.
Oh this is the entrance to the Tokyo Big Sight by the way:
Unashamedly looking like a spaceship on a launch scaffold waiting to take off as soon as the thousands of crew are aboard. Bet it turns into a robot when it joins with other famous buildings, and itll fight the 6 eyed green building robots from other worlds. Curiosity will be the head.
This is the cosplay photography area - kinda small for how many people squeeze their way into it, but it seemed to work more or less. Official procedure is, you approach the cosplayer, and loudly declare 'ONAGAISHIMASU' ('Please' or 'Can I ask a favour' (kind of)) and wait for the cosplayer to nod approval. Then you can go nuts. Say thank you when youre done, move on, and listen for the countdown - when a cosplayer is tired of posing a helper will loudly count down, when they get to zero, the photos cease.
Rei Means Zero in Japanese.
After a couple of hours of photos, I decided to take a quick look in the main hall, and then didnt leave until they sounded the ending siren. They literally sound a siren at 4pm sharp to indicate that the day is over, go home.
This is the first hall, I didn't even make it to the end before the day finished - it goes on forever. There are other halls after this one too. People plan out search patterns and grids beforehand to make sure they hit all the stands they want to and grab the rare stuff early, and now I can see why. Ive been to a number of cons and such in Aus, this could eat them as an after dinner mint. One of those crappy ones you get at cheap restaurants or hotels with delusions of 3 stars.
All the local businesses take advantage of the event and turn the anime factor up to 11 - cut outs, over priced anime girl merchandise, staff members in costume, you see it all on the walk from the station to the big sight.
After the show the road is lined with buskers and performers, taking advantage of the half a million people making their way down the short road.
These guys were doing street fighter moves and such, it was great - particularly her spinning bird kick
And then there was the station. The local station, Ariake, is not a big one. In fact it only has a couple of platforms, and a whole lot of escalators and thin stairwells. The station servicing the largest convention center in the city at the largest otaku event on the planet, with the largest people in the country.
At this point I thought 'bugger this for a lark' (more or less) and sat around playing squids and junk jack on my phone while I waited for this infinite snake of humanity to finally eat its own damn tail and let me in to the station with enough spare room for a bubble of oxygen. Took about an hour.
I ended up buying a bunch of Manga and Doujinshi, as well as some prints from some very talented artists, I started in what turned out to be the yaoi section, so it was about an hour of walking before I saw a picture of a female, but I talked to many of the artists there, networked a bit and even bought a couple - not really my cup of tea, but I know a talented artist when I see one. If anyone would like, I can post some shots of what I bought. Ill upload some more photos of the event soon, but I think thats enough for now. Theres already some more up on my flickr, check em out!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/reyanimated/
God this country is awesome.
What is Comiket I hear you ask? From Wikipedia:
Comiket otherwise known as the Comic Market, is the world's largest self-published comic book fair, held twice a year in Tokyo, Japan.[1] The first Comiket was held on December 21, 1975, with only about 32 participating circles and an estimated 600 attendees.[2] Attendance has since swelled to over a half million people.[1] It is a grassroots, DIY effort for selling dōjinshi, self-published Japanese works. As items sold in Comiket are considered very rare (because dōjinshi are seldom reprinted), some items sold at Comiket can be found in shops or on the Internet at prices up to 10 times the item's original price, and in certain cases, more than 100 times.
And they were out in droves. I was here last winter but missed comiket because it was snowing, and I am NOT waiting for hours in line in the snow. That was before I went to this event. Ill be back in winter, no question.
This is part of the queue in the entrance hall. I turned my head slightly to look to the side and this is what I saw:
Thats the queue stretching out the door about 400m behind me, down the stairs, out through the carpark, back UP the stairs and across the bridge. Event was crowded, yo.
But who gives a shit about lines, you go to Comiket for 2 reasons, Doujinshi, and COSPLAY!
That'll do for now - the event was a mass gathering of otaku and fans of otaku culture such as myself - the weather was a sweltering 35+ degree day, but the cosplayers were out by the hundreds. There was a whole etiquette to the photography thing, this is Japan after all. I started to take some random photos, when a security guard told me no it doesnt work like that - a pro thankfully came up and showed me the ropes - the cosplay area was not too far away from the entrance.
Oh...