Japan trip - the rest of it

Comiket was hardly the only thing I did while I was in Japan. I won't go into the details of all the 'normal' touristy stuff I did, but there was certainly a lot to see. A few places I went seem particularly relevant though, so I hope you find this somewhat interesting.

Japan trip - C81

I have returned from my travels. Actually I've been home for a few days now, but I came down with a rather nasty cold in the process and haven't felt up for much. Although it's a bit late by now, I have a bit to say about how it all went.

C81 guide

EDIT: the catalogue has been on the internet for a few days now. I'm not going to link it, but if you're having trouble finding it I'd suggest you google "CCC81 torrent".

Comiket 81 is less than a month away!  People with a lot more experience than I have written proper guides to Comiket, but I decided to write a brief one with a bit of info, mostly to jog my own memory before I go to C81 myself at the end of the month. I’ve only been to one Comiket before (C79) so I'm far from an expert, but there is some information I’d like to have known before I went last time that might be useful to others.

The basics:

Dates: 29-31 December
Times: 10am-4pm each day (corporate booths close at 5pm for the first two days)

Comiket is a three-day event happening twice a year. The upcoming Comiket (C81) is happening on the last three days of the year like all winter Comikets. Different days have different focuses, which can roughly be generalised as:

Day 1: Yaoi, shounen, other manga-related works. Also things based on video games.

Day 2: Touhou (doujin, music, games). Some misc anime stuff, gundam, more yaoi.

Day 3: Porn and lots of it. Also doujinsoft, Vocaloid, works based on VNs and anime. 

(This is a generalisation, see here [jp] for a comprehensive breakdown.)

This refers to the doujin circles, as each circle is only there for one of the three days; there are also company booths in a separate area which are open all three days and sell the same thing each day, or at least until they sell out.

Entry is free, but it’s very crowded. As in, VERY crowded. In fact, it redefined the word 'crowd' for me to the extent that I've found nothing to be truly 'crowded' since. This means it can be hard to get where you want to, and that you’ll have to wait in queues for anything remotely popular. If there are specific items that you're after, you can’t just rock up on the day and expect to get anywhere.

Doors open at 10am, but people start arriving from 5am (or even the previous night) to line up. Lining up is worth it if you’re after popular items, as it gives you the chance to get one or two things before the queues for circles get really big. Lining up from early morning gets you in at around 10:30am, while if you arrive at 10am you won’t get in until after 11am. If you arrive at or after noon there won’t be any queue to get in.

Each day ends at 4pm, so you’ve got a very limited window of time to work in. Considering you’ll be doing well to get in before 11am, and most things will be sold out by 3pm, and that queues can be huge, you really need to economise on your time usage.

Autumn Break

...doesn't sound as catchy as spring break, I've got to admit. I'm on my mid-semester break this week, but it's a bit of a non-event. My course at uni, presumably to be special and unique, has its break a good few weeks before the rest of the uni. Considering that most of the people I get along with at uni aren't actually doing my course, this means I'll be spending my week off doing exactly nothing. Which, to be honest, is probably what would've happened regardless. Not that that'll stop me from complaining; a little self-righteous indignation is a nice thing to express now and then.

I'm not great at planning ahead, so I decided to figure out some 'goals' for the rest of the year. I didn't really come up with much, namely:

• Keep passing my course at uni
• Go to C81

One needs time, the other money. I've got all the time in the world, but it's the process of actually applying it properly that I struggle with. Having said that, I'm not terribly worried by this one. I've managed to get through four and a bit years of uni so far, so I know I tend to get through it somehow.

The second goal is a lot more appealing though. I went to C79 over my summer holidays and loved it - I got some great loot and even managed to get it all through Australian Customs without incident. The only other convention I'd ever been to was the local one (I foolishly thought the dealer's area might have some good stuff, turns out there are people in this world who can look you straight in the eye and tell you that a Miku plushie will be $90 thank you very much), so C79 was quite the experience in comparison.

My only funding source is the student welfare payments I get (which are pretty damn generous, but not quite enough to cover another overseas holiday) so I looked into getting some work. The result of that is that I'm now spending a couple of hours a week adjudicating high-school debates. It's easy money - I watch them argue for an hour then tell them who argued better. And it's $25 a debate. If I keep this up as well as eating pretty cheaply a few more nights a week then I think I'm in with a shot at making it to C81, which would be :awesome:. Incidentally, kangaroo sausages are really cheap, so I think I'll be eating more of them from now on.

Since that's all pretty boring shit, I'll at least leave you with a terrible cameraphone photo of the Touhou cards I got last week. I bought them after seeing someone else put photos of them on jaypee. 

Now all I need is someone to play cards with ;_;