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Comic Market 99 Event Slated for May 2-5 With Attendance Restrictions Planned
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
The Comic Market Committee announced on Tuesday that it is aiming to hold the planned Comic Market (Comiket) 99 event on May 2-5, 2021. The organizers plan to hold the event at Tokyo Big Sight's West and South Exhibition Halls, and the event will not use the Aomi Exhibition Halls.
The announcement stated that, due to new capacity restrictions, it is "extremely likely" that a lottery will determine those chosen to participate. Therefore, not all circles, companies, general attendees, and cosplayers who wish to attend may be able to receive passes. Although past Comikets gathered 200,000 attendees per day, the upcoming event will be limited to tens of thousands of participants per day.
Though a lottery will likely determine the final selection of participants able to attend, all general attendees must purchase participation certificates in order be eligible. People not properly wearing masks over their noses and mouths will not be allowed to enter the venue. The organizers request that all participants use the government's COVID-19 contact-tracing app during the event. The announcement also noted that people who live in prefectures with heightened COVID-19 precautions, as well as those in countries for which Japan is not currently issuing visas, will not be able to attend.
The Comic Market Committee announced in July that they were aiming to move the planned winter Comic Market 99 event from this winter to the Golden Week holidays in 2021 (which will take place in April and May, 2021). The committee cited scheduling issues considering Tokyo Big Sight's East Exhibition hall will remain unavailable until fall 2021 due to the Olympics, and the difficulty of taking preventative measures restricting the maximum capacity of each hall due to the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The committee also stated it is considering projects for the 45th anniversary of Comiket in December, building upon the "Air Comiket" concept that it used in May when Comiket 98 was canceled.
The Comiket 98 event that was planned to take place from May 2-5, 2020 was canceled to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. The event was planned for May instead of the normal August timeframe due to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics scheduled to take place in July-August. However, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics are now postponed to a planned July 23, 2021 start.
Sources: Comic Market's website and Twitter account via Otakomu
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