#Comiket 99 Postponed Due to the Extended State of Emergency

Tokyo Big Sight for Comiket 96 (photo: Daryl Harding)

The Comic Market Preparatory Committee announced tonight on their official Twitter account and the website for Comiket that previously announced event for Golden Week 2021 will not be going ahead, with the next Comiket, still dubbed Comiket 99, being prepared for Winter 2021. This is the third postponement/cancelation for the event due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the last physical Comiket held in December 2019.

The post about the postponement states that the reasons behind the delay are due to the extension of the State of Emergency in Greater Tokyo, as well as the expectation that events (even through to Golden Week in May) will be limited to under 10,000 people (including staff members), which is difficult for an event that has 20 to 30 times that in attendance alone, let alone the staff members, exhibitors, and circle participants. Currently, during the State of Emergency, events are limited to 5,000 people or 50% of venue capacity, whichever is lesser. 

The Preparatory Committee was planning for the event in earnest, but due to the uncertain nature of the times, and time needed to prepare for the event (such as approving doujinshi circles), it was decided to postpone Comiket 99 now. The committee explained that they are in discussions with the Tokyo Government about the situation the event is in, as well as been involved in discussions on how to help out doujinshi artists who are losing out due to the pandemic.

Announcements concerning circle participation will not be going ahead for this iteration of Comiket 99, with those who applied being emailed directly over the next month, and the catalog for the event will not be printed.

Source: Comiket on Twitter

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Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.