Tokyo's Massive COMIKET

By Kjeld Duits, Wednesday January 20, 2016 - news

On the last three days of 2015, the 89th edition of Japan’s famed Comic Market took place in Tokyo. JAPANESE STREETS had a look

Although JAPANESE STREETS focuses on street and runway fashion, we had a look at the famed Comic Market that takes place at Tokyo’s Big Sight twice a year. Better known as COMIKET, this massive dojinshi fair was first held in 1975. Last year it celebrated its 40th anniversary.

More than half a million people now attend COMIKET and some people line up for hours in order to purchase merchandise from their favorite creators. These are conveniently located alongside the walls of the huge halls, so that the thousands of waiting people can line up outside and not bother people inside.

All around the buildings there are places where cosplayers get together to be photographed by fans. The main cosplay location is an enormous parking lot that was completely filled up with people every single day during the three day event. Some of the most popular cosplayers have many dozens of photographers surrounding them.

The whole event is a bit surreal, and can easily get overwhelming.

About the Author

Inspired by the stunningly creative street fashion that exploded on the streets of Tokyo and Osaka in the late 1990’s, photo-journalist Kjeld Duits launched JAPANESE STREETS in 2002. This makes JS one of the first fashion blogs on the net, and the very first to cover Japanese street fashion.