Winter Comiket

The winter edition of Comiket (there’s another in the summer) is one of Japan’s biggest comic-related events in Tokyo. It is held each year at Tokyo Big Sight.

What happens?

The focus of the event is dōjinshi — independently created and published manga — and cosplay. So given the thousands of amateur and professional manga artists in Japan, there is always an incredibly wide range of genres and styles on display.

Tickets

There are a few ticket types to choose from:

• For those who are keen to get to the Cosplay Changing Rooms earlier than anyone else, you can pay ¥3,000 to gain access to them at 9:30 a.m. Alternatively, if you would prefer to enter the event as soon as it starts at 10 a.m., you can pay ¥5,000 to do so. Both these tickets will be sold on TicketPay via a lottery system and come with a service fee of ¥330.
• There is also the option to buy an AM Entry ticket which will only cost you ¥1,210 if bought in one of these shops: Animate, Toranoana, or Melontickets. If you buy an e-ticket, you will have to pay ¥1,331. The recommended arrival time for those with this ticket is after 10 a.m.
• The final ticket type is the PM Entry Ticket which only costs ¥440 if bought in one of the stores mentioned above or ¥1,000 at the venue. Event organisers do note, however, that you should expect long queues if you opt for this ticket type.

Cosplay

You do not need to have one of the Early Entry tickets to use the Cosplay Changing Rooms but you will need to pay ¥500 to do so.

How to get there

The closest stations are Kokusai-Tenjijo-Seimon Station on the Yurikamome Line and Kokusai-Tenjijo Station on the JR Rinkai Line.