It’s a Cat… No, It’s a Girl… No, It’s a Cosplayer!
Disclaimer: the translation is not literal, and the italics are things I added to my original Japanese script. By the way, I think the presentation was quite successful. I thank Dorsey-sensei and Yamaji-sensei for proofreading it, and the Watanabe family and my mom for listening to me practice.
「コミケ」は「コミック・マーケット」を短く（みじかく）した大きなイベントの名前です。年に二回三日間（みっかかん）、東京の「ビッグ・サイト」という所であります。「夏コミ」というのは八月のイベントで、「冬コミ」というのは十二月のイベントであります。
KOMIKE is the shortened name of a large event “Comic Market.” Spelled in English, this would be Comiket. Twice a year for three days, it is held at a place called Tokyo Big Sight. There is an event in August called NATSUKOMI, and an event in December called FUYUKOMI. They go by these names because NATSU is the Japanese word for summer and FUYU is the Japanese word for winter.
コミケは漫画やアニメが好きな人が同人誌（どうじんし）などを買うために集まる（あつまる）世界の中で一番大きいイベントです。たいてい、最初の日に漫画と小説（しょうせつ）を売って、次の日にアニメとゲームを売って、最後の日にそれ以外（いがい）の本を売ります。同人誌は漫画が好きな人が自分達で作ったとくべつな雑誌です。
Comiket is the world’s largest convention in which fans of anime and manga gather to buy Doujinshi. Doujinshi is a magazine or bound volume that contains text stories, comics, or artwork created by fans of a particular anime or manga. Usually these stories serve as alternate episodes, spoofs, sequels, etc. and the artwork can either resemble a character’s original appearance or take on a different artistic style. When I went to Comiket I recognized a lot of anime that had doujinshi of a totally different genre, for example Shoujo (targeted toward young girls) manga turned into a Shounen (targeted toward adolescent/young adult males). In general, on the first day they sell manga and novels, on the second day they sell anime and games, and on the third day they sell a wide assortment of strange, creative, nonsensical, and leftover materials and collectibles. However the types items sold can overlap from day to day.
どんな人がどんな漫画とアニメをコミケで買うかを聞くために、たくさんの人にインタビューをしました。コミケに行く前に、最初渋谷（しぶや）にある「マンダラケ」という店に行きました。その後で、秋葉原（あきはばら）にある「コミック・ジン」と「イェロー・サブマリン」という店でインタビューしました。インタビューした少年が好きな女性の一人は「なると」と「みつどもえ」という漫画をコミケで探したと言っていました。他の人は「東方プロジェクト」というゲームが好きだと言っていました。インタビューした男性の一人はコミケで好きな同人誌を探す（さがす）のが宝探し（たからさがし）のようだと言っていました。
In order to ask what kinds of people buy what kinds of manga and anime at Comiket, I interviewed a lot of people before going to the event. First, I went to Mandarake in Shibuya, later I went to Comic-zine and Yellow Submarine in Akihabara. Some people I interviewed who especially enjoyed the Shounen genre said that they would be searching for Naruto and Mitsudomoe. I looked these up, and Naruto is the famous anime that has been running as long as Pokemon (just an estimation) and is even extremely popular in the US. Although some Shounen like Naruto have a “masculine” drawing style and action-oriented plot, Mitsudomoe is a Shounen that features cute, stylized schoolgirls. Another person I interviewed also enjoyed a game called the Touhou Project, which is a shooting game, but you play as anime characters instead of soldiers like in CoD or something. One guy even compared Comiket to a treasure hunt.
ざんねんですが、人が多くて、入るのに長く並ばなければなりません。コミケの中で、迷いやすいから、コミケで気をつけなくてはいけません。宝探しのために地図が要ります。同じように、コミケのためにそこで買える漫画とアニメを説明するカタログが要ります。カタログは本とCDの二冊（にさつ）があります。両方（りょうほう）にビッグ・サイトの地図や各部屋（かくへや）の地図や色々な索引（さくいん）が入っています。使い方を説明します。最初、索引（さくいん）で好きなアニメと漫画を調べられます。次ぎ、コミケに行きたい日についてのページを選んで（えらんで）、ほしい物を売っているテーブルの場所を調べます。売っている場所はビッグ・サイトの東にも西にもあります。
インタビューした人たちが同人誌を買いたければ、頑張って（がんばって）コミケのカタログを買って、イベントに行く前に読んでおいたほうがいいと言いました。２４００円で買う事ができなかったら、コミケの色々な入り口の所で読めます。
Unfortunately, Comiket is extremely crowded and you must wait in a long line in order to enter. In the morning at opening time, around 10 AM, the cue is usually the longest because you have your serious anime fans who camped out in the night in order to snatch popular, rare collectibles as soon as possible. When I went to Comiket, I waited until about 1 PM so there would be no line, just rivers of people flowing from hall to hall. Because it is so easy to get lost among the crowds, you must be very careful. Like a treasure hunt is done best with a map, you should really use a catalogue to navigate Comiket. It comes in two forms, CD and book form, both for 2400 Yen, about thirty dollars. They are so expensive for two reasons. First, admission is free, but once upon a time, you were required to buy the catalogue before entering Comiket, like your ticket in. Although this is not done anymore, enough serious players buy the catalogue that the organization still profits very much. Second, the catalogue is packed with information and is valuable like any guidebook. It includes maps of Big Sight, maps of each table, and a bunch of indexes that list the circles that sell Doujinshi and other products. You are supposed to use the first index to look up the anime or manga you want, one index is by artist, one by title, one alphabetical by picture (the easiest to identify if you don’t know kanji). Then you choose the day you will go to Comiket (table diagrams change each day). Lastly, you are directed to the corresponding map, showing the East or West Wing, the room number, the section, and the table. By the way, the catalogue is only in Japanese, probably to control the population and discourage an increase in international visitors since Tokyo Big Sight, though gigantic, has its limits.
今年、五十万人がコミケに来たようです。コミケでお客さんはたいてい品物（しなもの）を売ったり買い物をしたりコスプレをしたりします。例えば、メイドやレインボ・ダシュというキャラクターを見ることができるかもしれません。しかし、コスプレする人にお願いしないで写真を撮ってはいけません 。コスプレをするには、８００円を払わなくてはいけません。時々プロのコスプレする人もいます。インタビューした人たちによると、プロはお客さんと話してくれたり、話してくれなかったりするそうです。
This year, over 500,000 people were expected to attend Comiket. At the event, customers sell, shop, and cosplay. Cosplay is the combination of “costume” and “play,” in which fans dress up and take on the personalities as anime characters. When they are good enough, it’s kind of like legitimate acting but in public instead of on stage. When I went, I saw a lot of cat-girls and maids. Thomas said that he found someone dressed as Rainbow Dash, a character from My Little Pony. Brenda took pictures of Haruhi Suzumiya and Smile Precure, among other cosplayers. However, you must pay 800 yen for permission to cosplay at Comiket, and sometimes there are even professional cosplayers (like what I mentioned about “acting”). There are strict rules about asking permission to take pictures, and professional cosplayers may perform but not even speak to customers.
さて、日本のマーケットとアメリカのコミコンがちょっと違います。コミケと日本にある他のマーケットは同人誌で有名で、日本には、漫画とアニメのイベントは漫画家のためです。アメリカのコミコンはコスプレやパネルデイスカッション(panel discussion)で有名です。アメリカには、漫画とアニメが好きな人のためです。アメリカのコミコンにお金を払わなくてもコスプレができます。払わないで（はらわないで）コミケに入れる（はいれる）けど、アメリカのコミコンに入るために５０ドルほどを払ってはいけません。コミケなどに集まる人はたいてい３０才ぐらいの男性だから、日本のマーケットにはたくさんアドルト本を売ります。アメリカのコミコンに集まる人のほうが若いから、アドルト本を売るのは恥ずかし（はずかし）過ぎます。インタビューした人に、そんなわけでコミケのほうがいいように言われました。
Finally, Japanese anime conventions and American anime conventions are very different. Japanese conventions were created for the artists to display and sell their work, as the main activity is buying and selling, but American conventions focus more on the fan community, with game competitions, a larger population of cosplay, exclusive movie viewings, and panel discussions. I have yet to attend an American anime convention, but after doing so much research on the Japanese version, I am very interested in experiencing first-hand what these differences are.
最後に、ご清聴（ごせいちょう）、ありがとうございました。
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