Love comics? Manga? Anime? Video games or card and board games? Cosplay? Fun bits of Japanese pop culture?

Then make time for Comic Market 97! (コミックマーケット 97)

Comic Market has a history of more than 40 years, and has grown into a regular Tokyo event, consistently drawing 35,000 publishing groups and more than 500,000 attendees over the multiday convention. Booths from comic publishers and independent artists fill the halls, alongside tons of others doing everything from showing off upcoming video games, to selling clothing and accessories.

If you want to look at the full catalog of participants and a map detailing where every single booth will be, an online version (website registration necessary, but totally free) will go up a couple months ahead of time, or they offer a paid hard-copy catalog. Comic Market has also started requiring tickets for entry, which can be purchased alone or along with the hard-copy catalog ahead of time at a number of stores in Japan (find the list in Japanese right here). The event is extremely crowded and hectic, so they recommend getting discounted tickets in advance, but day-of tickets can also be purchased at Tokyo Big Sight.

(If you're a little confused by the name, don't worry, comiket and comike are just nicknames for the comic market!)