Considered the "Heartland of Otaku culture," Akihabara, Japan is a constantly changing town featuring everything that defines "Otaku" including Anime, Manga, games, music, and a Maid cafe. You name it. The name, Akihabara, roars in foreign countries and many travelers visit there. But they don't know there is another classification in the Otaku culture besides these genres. And that is "Doujin." It is an independent Otaku product. These products are released by individuals and small groups as a hobby, and include music, Manga and games. They have no relation with majors corporations and labels, and thus they are not sold in the shops that deal in commercial releases, unlike the independent music of rock bands which we can find albums of in Tower Records. These "Doujin" items can only be found in specialized shops or at events in which producers of these items sell as venders. By the way, we call these groups of producers, "Circle." This independent market has greatly emerged recently and has been steadily growing the past couple of years. In fact now a lot of people who are working in the commercial sector are originally from "Doujin" Market, and still release their works through the "Doujin" market when they make things that they really want to make despite worrying about commercial sales. Therefore, we can not talk about Otaku culture without the "Doujin" market, and that is the newest and hottest Otaku market.
Many English websites introduce Otaku News, but they are only giving you commercial Otaku information and have never touched this new world of "Doujin." Last month, "Tokyo Game Show," the biggest commercial Game convention was held and drew 200,000 people in four days, but that is only equal to the number of attendance for 1 day of the biggest "Doujin" event called "ComicMarket." "ComicMarket" is a 3 day weekend event, and has been held biannually with a draw of more than 600,000 people!!Why does it draws so many Otaku fans in Japan?
It's because so much of the creator's intention is in their works, and people who look for something unique.
We will let other Otaku sites introduce the commercial Otaku news and focus on introducing current hottest news of "Doujin" releases and events. We will go deep into the world of Otaku as we cover circle creators who vend their works at "Doujin" events, and by doing that, we believe that we can grab your attention.
We are also planning to set up an online store in near future where you can buy these various artists' works that you can not find in Tower Record and Amazon.com
