Metropolis Article: A Guide to Zines in Tokyo
Here is my latest article for Metropolis, on my favorite topic in the whole world! For a week, I visited different big and small bookstores, galleries, and shops in search for the best places to buy zines. If you're interested in getting to know more about them and where to find self-published works in Tokyo, please have a look.
"In an era with high demand for digital content, it may seem contradictory to invest in print work. But these two worlds aren’t mutually exclusive. Thanks to social media, zines have boomed in Japan in the last ten years. In a country where self-publishing is more accessible than in the US or Europe and customers have a deep appreciation for craftsmanship, the zine community has thrived and continues to expand.
It can also be argued that the increase in the number of hours we spend online, whether for work or entertainment, has led some of us to search for offline forms of spending our free time. Zines are not only a medium of self-expression but also a way to connect with our inner selves and others in a creative way. Anything on paper tends to stay with us much longer than on a screen.
