Winter Comiket

After running the 2020 event online, organizers plan to return to Tokyo Big Sight for an in-person event at the end of 2021.

The winter edition of Comiket (there’s another in the summer) is normally one of Japan’s biggest comic-related events, held each year at Tokyo Big Sight. The focus of the event is ‘dojinshi’ – independently created and published manga, 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.

Due to limitations on venue capacity, there is no free admission this year and no on-the-day sales. There will be two main types of admission ticket. An “early entrance” ticket will get you in at 10am—an hour before the rest—for ¥5,000. If you’re not concerned with grabbing all the good stuff before the plebs are allowed in, you can aply for a general admission ticket for ¥2,000. For both, you have to apply in advance and tickets will be allocated by lottery.

If you want to do cosplay, there is a similar process. Tickets are ¥3,500, which presumably includes admission. Allocation for these tickets too is by application and lottery.

Perhaps because of the size of the event, and its potential to be a super-spreader, proof of vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 or a recent PCR test will be required to enter the venue.

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