Osaka Comicon 2023

Day 144 of writing every day.

Today might be the highlight for the Golden Week holidays for me. I’ve been out of work for over a month now and have been learning programming languages at home with the expectation that I’ll be able to find a better job with those skills once I’ve honed them enough.

Osaka is hosting its first ever Comicon this weekend. It’s been held in Tokyo before, so branching out to Osaka suggests a spread in popularity of American comics and products that followed in its wake. Marvel superhero movies have been kind of popular, and that’s probably sparked interest for many people.

It’s my first time going to one and I didn’t know what to expect.

First Impressions

The venue has been around for a while but it’s my first time coming to Intex Osaka. The station is the same as the Osaka immigration bureau, so I knew how to get there, but the size of the place and the sheer amount of people was beyond my expectations. I personally don’t like huge events since time usage becomes so inefficient and there’s a lot of bumping into people.

Getting inside the venue itself felt like an ordeal.

There were barricades and plenty of staff but it felt like directions and markers were quite lacking. If I was running things, I think I would have added more signs. I don’t think there’s much say when it comes to the experience and quality of temp staff. My issue was that the lines for people getting tickets on-site versus lines for those who already have one was not clearly marked not were staff giving clear and audible instructions to herd large groups of people.

If anything, there was a lot of confusion and just people simply following the crowd, either getting lucky they lined up in the correct line in one try, or unlucky that they have to circle around and go back to the other line.

So Many People Inside

While I think everyone that decided to go to Comicon must be feeling pretty hyped about the displays and cosplay, I don’t think anyone is excited about waiting in line for the toilet, for food stalls and trucks, for photos, and anything else that requires patience and a lot of standing around.

I could see quite a few people with their 3-day passes worn around their neck and those in costume who officially registered with the event wearing cosplay badges. Just not liking being around so many people makes me wonder who would want to spend 3 days at this event. I suppose those who traveled a fair distance and got lodging would do so, but there are also other things to do in Osaka if coming as a tourist.

If there’s anything that I wasn’t expecting, it was the food trucks being purely cashless with their transactions. It’d make sense to go cashless and spare the hassle of finding change and also exchanging legal tender when the limited amount of space is used to prepare and serve food to a line of customers that doesn’t get shorter for several hours. But that also shows how many people have adopted cashless forms of payment over the last few years. Japan’s got so many methods it might seem hard to keep track and you have to ask why use one over another.

I had enough of the crowd after about three and a half hours on my feet and made my way out. I think it was worth the cost and I’m guessing the business side of the event is probably making a killing. But one day is enough for me.