All I know at the moment about the Comic Market convention is what I've read in this, the $16.00 convention guidebook that all the shops selling new manga are offering. It has the date and place, and then an encyclopedic list of the guests... this thing is as thick as phonebook! There is going to be, literally, thousands of professional and amateur manga artists and writers; and many are creators whose web pages I've run across (if you want to check out their pages too, then go to my Links Page and check out Tinami). I'm not sure what to expect, but it ought to be a blast! More later...
UPDATE, 2002:
I've learned a bit more about the Comic Market convention since I first encountered it in 1998. It's been held twice yearly -- sometimes three times -- for awhile now. It started mainly as a showcase for doujin, which are comic books published by individuals and small companies in small numbers; but now the convention is so big it showcases not only the doujin, but also larger established companies and magazines, and comic book related software and toys.
I'm not sure what the requirements are for getting a table to sell stuff, but an amazing number of people do. In addition, there is an area set aside just for those people who want to show off their cool costumes. There are movies and plenty of other minor events, as per any comic book convention, but the Comic Market -- nicknamed "Comiket" by its fans -- is distinct from others in the sheer size it has reached. On the weekends it is held, there are free shuttle-buses from the Tokyo ward JR Station to the Big Site convention center, and these are always stuffed to the gills.
If you would like to find out more, here's a link to more Comic Market information:
http://www.inter-g7.or.jp/g2/manga/HTML/MARKET.html
And for the brave or skilled, in Japanese:
http://www.comiket.co.jp/
Return to Travel Diaries: August 14, 1998...
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