Going to Comiket 78
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My parents go to Japan every few years, and they've always talked about bringing me along. Well, this summer it's gonna happen. We initially decided to go whenever tickets would be moderately cheap. However, since this trip is primarily about giving me a good experience (and because my dad can't go, saving the cost of one ticket), my parents decided to be really awesome and move the trip to August so I could go to Comiket.
Of course, I'm excited just to be able to go, but now I'm kind of worrying about what to expect. The first issue is size. Comiket brings over five-hundred thousand people. The biggest convention I've ever been to had eleven thousand guests. The second problem is my extremely limited knowledge of Japanese. My reading ability is maybe on par with a Japanese four-year-old, though I can pick up on spoken Japanese a little better. Luckily I'll be traveling with people who speak both Japanese and English for every part of the trip except Comiket.
I'm hoping that several people here have been to Comiket before and can tell me a little bit about what to expect. I'd really like some tips regarding the two points I mentioned before, dealing with the crowds and the language barrier. Any other help would be great.
EDIT: One more thing. Given the insane number of people going, do I need to do some kind of really early pre-registration to have any chance of getting in? If so, when would I need to do that?
Of course, I'm excited just to be able to go, but now I'm kind of worrying about what to expect. The first issue is size. Comiket brings over five-hundred thousand people. The biggest convention I've ever been to had eleven thousand guests. The second problem is my extremely limited knowledge of Japanese. My reading ability is maybe on par with a Japanese four-year-old, though I can pick up on spoken Japanese a little better. Luckily I'll be traveling with people who speak both Japanese and English for every part of the trip except Comiket.
I'm hoping that several people here have been to Comiket before and can tell me a little bit about what to expect. I'd really like some tips regarding the two points I mentioned before, dealing with the crowds and the language barrier. Any other help would be great.
EDIT: One more thing. Given the insane number of people going, do I need to do some kind of really early pre-registration to have any chance of getting in? If so, when would I need to do that?
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Imari
Little White Butterflies Staff
OK, I've been to several so I'll try and give I bit of a rundown.
You don't need any Japanese, although if you can understand numbers that would probably be the most helpful. Very few people actually speak to each other anyway, as it's ludicrously noisy. There is an English support booth I believe, but I've never bothered with it. It sounds like you'll probably be fine though.
With the size, you'll be OK if you plan for it. It's just like a really big market. Download or buy the CD guide before hand, and make sure you know where the people you want to visit will be. If you're just looking, be aware that to some extent they do group vendors with similar categories of merchandise together, so if you find something you like look more around that particular area. At the very least get a map of Tokyo Big Site and get a general idea of the area.
Take lots of water. Tokyo is really hot, and being in a room with 100,000 other people doesn't help.
No preregistration is needed to get in. It's free, and open entry to all. Be aware that the lines when the doors open are super long. Like people line up overnight to make sure they're first to their chosen vendors. If you don't care about that and just want to have a good time, I'd recommend you turn up at midday-ish. The crowds have died down by then and it's a bit more relaxed. People can be real pushy for the first couple of hours.
I dunno, it seems like a big deal, and if you're going over there specifically for it you probably want to plan ahead to make sure you have a good time. But it's really not as confronting as you might think.
You don't need any Japanese, although if you can understand numbers that would probably be the most helpful. Very few people actually speak to each other anyway, as it's ludicrously noisy. There is an English support booth I believe, but I've never bothered with it. It sounds like you'll probably be fine though.
With the size, you'll be OK if you plan for it. It's just like a really big market. Download or buy the CD guide before hand, and make sure you know where the people you want to visit will be. If you're just looking, be aware that to some extent they do group vendors with similar categories of merchandise together, so if you find something you like look more around that particular area. At the very least get a map of Tokyo Big Site and get a general idea of the area.
Take lots of water. Tokyo is really hot, and being in a room with 100,000 other people doesn't help.
No preregistration is needed to get in. It's free, and open entry to all. Be aware that the lines when the doors open are super long. Like people line up overnight to make sure they're first to their chosen vendors. If you don't care about that and just want to have a good time, I'd recommend you turn up at midday-ish. The crowds have died down by then and it's a bit more relaxed. People can be real pushy for the first couple of hours.
I dunno, it seems like a big deal, and if you're going over there specifically for it you probably want to plan ahead to make sure you have a good time. But it's really not as confronting as you might think.
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if you want to go there,better ride the first train in the morning if you don't want to wait a whole night before opening you really need a lot of stamina for rushing and waiting in line for some booth.for example LEAF booth can make you wait 2 hours from 3rd floor to ground floor.
bring large sum of cash because you don't want to wasting time by going to the atm.
better plan your battlefield before entering because if you entered the wrong wing,you could lose some time.
bring large sum of cash because you don't want to wasting time by going to the atm.
better plan your battlefield before entering because if you entered the wrong wing,you could lose some time.
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Cool, thanks for the info. I'm mostly going to Comiket for the experience of being there, so I don't need to mess with that huge crowd. Knowing that I can avoid that rush at the start helps. I'll make sure to plan carefully, too. And of course, if anyone else has some extra tips they can give me, I'd appreciate it.
We'll be in Tokyo for a week, with Comiket right in the middle. We're going to spend part of the trip visiting my stepmom's relatives, but we should still have a lot of free time. Could anyone recommend some places that are worth seeing? I've looked through a couple of Japanese travel guides before, so I'm mostly interested in finding out about places that aren't big tourist destinations.
We'll be in Tokyo for a week, with Comiket right in the middle. We're going to spend part of the trip visiting my stepmom's relatives, but we should still have a lot of free time. Could anyone recommend some places that are worth seeing? I've looked through a couple of Japanese travel guides before, so I'm mostly interested in finding out about places that aren't big tourist destinations.
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just in tokyo or outside?
in tokyo just the usual harajuku,shibuya,shinjuku,akiba.
if you want to watch anime movies,ikebukuro got sunshine cinema.
near the harajuku station,there's meijijingu shrine.
asakusa have another shrine.
tokyo dome in suidobashi(there's shonen jump shop there).
outside probably kyoto,osaka etc.
in tokyo just the usual harajuku,shibuya,shinjuku,akiba.
if you want to watch anime movies,ikebukuro got sunshine cinema.
near the harajuku station,there's meijijingu shrine.
asakusa have another shrine.
tokyo dome in suidobashi(there's shonen jump shop there).
outside probably kyoto,osaka etc.