The excitement of Comic Market (Comiket) 104 in Tokyo, where 260,000 attendees embraced creativity despite soaring temperatures above 35°C.
Comic Market is Japan’s biggest doujinshi event, starting in 1975 and running for almost 50 years. It is held twice a year, each time in the summer and winter, at Tokyo Big Sight, the International Exhibition Center in Japan. This year was the 104th event, held on August 11 and 12, 2024, which had an attendance number of 130,000 each day, totaling 260,000.
Although the festival mainly focuses on doujinshi, fan-made comics and books, it comprises a lot of games, music, items including keychains and stickers. Many companies also come to promote their anime and games.
The hottest summer couldn’t control the Comiket 104 population, as fans were too thrilled for it!
It was very hot this summer—up to 36 degrees Celsius—and many attendees told stories of suffering from heat, with fainting. Last December’s event saw about 270,000 attendees over two days. The largest attendance ever is 750,000 over four days, before the pandemic.
Comic Market is the largest venue for comics, animation, and games in the world, with more visitors than any other event of its type. From its origins as a doujinshi sale spot, it has grown into a location that houses multiple hobbies and interests. It has more male participants, but many females also participate and sell their works. This has become a cultural call-up for people with different hobbies.
Comiket 102, the summer event, released all entrance restrictions in August 2023 except limits of Tokyo Big Sight’s capacity. Comiket 97—the last event before the coronavirus pandemic—saw a record 750,000 people attend the four-day event.
The Comic Market Preparatory Committee, originally a temporary body for the preparation of C69, ended up permanent after the event of C70, as its representative, Yoshihiro Yonezawa, passed away at 26 years old.
The enthusiasm even got some people sick in the high temperature…
Japan had been undergoing a heat wave over the past weeks, and the temperatures at the venue would hit as high as 36 degrees Celsius on the first day; this writer, having attended Comic Market for more than 10 years, found that very hot compared to most previous summer Comic Markets. It seems that quite a few who visited weren’t prepared for the heat, with an account here and there about people seeing others collapse because of heat stroke or themselves having reportedly collapsed because of it on social media.
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