In a recent announcement it seems that the much-loved Steve Wozniak will be bringing Comic Con to Tokyo next year.
As he is one of the main founders of the Silicon Valley version of Comic Con, it makes sense that he would bring such an event to a similarly tech focused Tokyo.
With Ray Park and Ian McDiarmid in tow, Wozniak said he was keen to bring American pop culture to Japan as well as leverage domestic properties and technology.
The only real problem is that Tokyo doesn’t need Comic Con.
This is because Japan and Tokyo has a large number of these types of events already.
If anything, the idea for Comic Con originated from Japan, as upbeat fan based events here have always been at the heart of its pop culture.
Especially as many of the events in Japan openly eschewed the self-loathing and shame that used to commonly beset fandom in the West.
Since dropping this morbid nonsense, Comic Con has become a force for good in the West fueled by the wide-eyed enthusiasm of its fans.
So bringing this back to Japan feels really weird. Not to mention that, on the whole, Japanese pop cultural properties are far more popular than their Western counterparts here. Trying to force the issue with an event in Tokyo like this may actually backfire.
In any case, the plan is to the huge Makuhari Messe for Tokyo Comic Con and I am curious to see how it will fare when it opens its doors next year.
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