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| Chubu Centrair International Airport |
The 2020 Olympics has thrown the future of Comic Market (or Comiket), Japan's biggest dōjinshi
convention, into doubt. Tokyo Big Sight and Makuhari Messe, Tokyo's
biggest convention centers, have been earmarked to hold Olympics events.
There is a scarcity of other suitable events spaces in the Tokyo area. A
Comiket questionnaire recently asked dōjin circles whether they would attend a Comiket held in Osaka or Nagoya.
On February 3, Aichi Prefecture (where Nagoya is located) announced that
it would build a convention center on the artificial island in Tokoname
where Nagoya's airport, Chūbu Centrair International Airport, is
located. The building will take up 60,000 m² (645,835 square feet) and
is scheduled to open in the fall of 2019. In a tweet, Aichi's governor,
Hideaki Ohmura, wrote that the building will provide space for events
displaced by the Olympics and that the prefecture would provide 360
million yen ($3.06 million) this year for its initial construction. The
total cost of construction, including neighboring facilities, is
estimated at 35 billion yen ($298 million).
Meanwhile, Nagoya has already been planning to build a convention center
within the city itself — specifically, at its port, and 2 km (1.24
miles) away from another convention center, Portmesse Nagoya. That event
space would cover 50,000 m², (538,196 square feet) compared to
Portmesse Nagoya's 33,000 m² (355,209 square feet). It is unclear how
Aichi Prefecture's plan will affect this project.
Comiket has always been held in the Tokyo
area since its founding in 1975 and has used Tokyo Big Sight as its
event space since that building opened in 1996. Tokyo Big Sight boasts
roughly 80,000 m² (861,113 square feet) of exhibition space, while
Makuhari Messe offers 72,000 m² (775,002 square feet). Intex Osaka, with
its roughly 70,000 m² (753,474 square feet) of exhibition space, has
also been suggested as an alternative convention center for Comiket.
J. Stimson, ANN
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