A buzzing zine scene across Japan packs passion in multiple formats

Japan Times

2 days ago

Cartoons of salarymen mid-nap on the train and invented words to describe their sleeping positions; an illustrator's must-order coffee items while going through a breakup; a photographer's favorite playground equipment to sit on when feeling sad — anything is fair game as a subject for a 'zine."
At Zine Fest , one of Japan's fastest-growing zine fairs, a fashionable, predominantly young crowd dots the space both behind and in front of the rows of tables that stretch on and on. They turn hand-stitched pages, try to read thumb-sized miniature books or listen to a cassette tape of field recordings taken in train stations, complete with a tiny booklet. These seemingly disparate items are all sold as zines, handmade, self-published media in small circulations. They have existed in some shape for much longer, known as dōjinshi and mini comics in Japan, or fanzines in the U.S., often created by a niche fanbase. Nowadays, zines are soaring in popularity and their audience have expanded in scope, changing the zine image from nerdy to trendy.
'Public awareness of the word 'zine' is growing,' says Ko Nakanishi, 46, owner of Zine Farm, the organizer of Zine Fest. The semi-regular market event started in Tokyo's Kichijoji neighborhood in 2021 and it has since expanded to over a dozen other locations across the country, in places such as Sapporo, Fukuoka and Osaka. The January Tokyo Zine Fest saw 500 different booths selling zines, up from 150 booths in March the previous year.
At a recent Zine Fest, zines covered a vast array of topics such as salary men sleeping, commute poems and coffeeshop illustrations. The techniques and materials on display were just as varied, ranging from digital collage to handmade paper. |
KIM KAHAN
Over a decade earlier, Tokyo Art Book Fair (TABF) started out in 2009 under the name Zines Mate: Tokyo Art Book Fair . Now one of the capital's most popular indie book gatherings, its latest edition held at the Museum of Contemporary Art from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1, 2024, saw over 24,000 visitors across four days, perusing over 300 booths, of which 60-70% sold zines. TABF also runs a podcast named Zine's Mate that interviews zinemakers and small publishers.
TABF project manager Naoko Higashi says '(in the past few years) we've had a lot more applications from zine makers,' adding that she thinks that 'people are becoming more interested in zines and the number of people making them has increased.'
Given the growing appetites, there has been an influx of places that offer zines year-round. In Tokyo, there are zine-specialist shops such as Ultrecht in Harajuku, Salt and Pepper, which specializes in photo zines, in Ebisu and Mount Tokyo (Mount), a shop for strictly Japan-based creators, in Komazawa, Setagaya Ward.
Mount started in 2010 as a sporadic zine event and then, according to its spokesperson, Fumiko Sakurai, developed into a brick-and-mortar shop and gallery that shows around 130 different zines at one time on its walls. Zines are collected via an application open twice a year that anyone can submit to for a small fee. Sakurai says they accept zines from anyone who sends in their creation. Mount's aim is to give everyone, from amateurs to professionals, a chance to exhibit or sell their zines, resulting in a vast array of topics covered by zinemakers that range from teenagers to 70-year-olds.
'We display them all together, rather than splitting them into sections, to ensure that it's equal,' Sakurai says.
The making of a zine
There are extensive possibilities for a zine's format and despite a digital dominance in today's society, or perhaps because of it, there is a preference for the physical medium. Nostalgia-fueled love of the analog is a trend seen across markets: coffee table books are more popular than ever, interest in vinyl records is booming and film stock quickly sells out.
Yuki Kikuchi, 34, a writer, photographer and zine-making workshop host from Tokyo, has noticed a growing interest in zine culture that he partially attributes to technology.
'These days, it's easier to access technology to create zines, which imbues an attitude of 'I can make them, too' in a growing number of people,' he says.
Yuki Kikuchi holds zine-making workshops where he teaches participants how to make a zine only using their smartphones and a convenience store printer. |
Shusaku Yoshikawa
Kikuchi has been making zines since 2013 and running zine-making workshops in Tokyo and Okinawa since June 2024. He teaches around 40 participants at a time how to create a zine using only their smartphone and print it in the convenience store. During Kikuchi's 4-5 hour workshops, participants decide on a theme, make their zine, print it and share it in a mini exhibition. The resulting zines, while created using exactly the same means, all turn out differently — not just in content, but size and layout.
In Kikuchi's workshops, his students use the free iPhone app Pages, but budding zinemakers now have a host of other free software at their fingertips, such as Canva and even AI image generators.
It's not just software. Risograph (a type of layered printing resulting in a bright, hand-stenciled effect) printed zines are growing in popularity. Notably, Zine Farm started Riso Studio, a members-only risograph printing facility in July 2022.
A window into a life
Having run Mount for over 10 years, Sakurai has noticed a change in the content of the zines being submitted.
'During the pandemic, as people were inside the house more, the zines reflected this with a lot about feelings and diaries,' he says. 'Gradually, we've seen people start to publish zines about their holidays, shops they've visited, people they've met and so on.'
One stroll around a zine fair confirms Sakurai's impressions as many zines are constructed as mini diaries, featuring thoughts from vacations and daily life. Others, however, may not seem personal at first, but reveal a lot of the maker's internal world as you dive in.
Babe Hikari , 34, an office worker, has been creating zines of collages made with Excel for the past decade under a partial pseudonym due to the personal nature of her work. She made her first about an emotional breakup, but she's now moved toward tongue-in-cheek pop culture creations. A particularly memorable zine features Queen Elizabeth II's face, grinning in a bonnet, emblazoned with the words 'Miss You' across the front, printed just after the monarch passed away in 2022. She is joined by pictures of actor Leonardo di Caprio with 'My dream' written underneath his bust, rapper Snoop Dog ('Want to Smoke Everyday') and 'Home Alone' star Macaulay Culkin ('Always Alone').
Mount started as a zine event before its organizers decided to open a brick-and-mortar shop to showcase zines year-round. |
KIM KAHAN
For some artists, zines are a vehicle for creative experimentation. Yukiko Oka, 24, is a graphic designer who recently sold her risograph-printed zines at Zine Fest. Her works included 'Moji Motion,' which brings Japanese onomatopoeic words to life with slit animation as you slide a sheet across the pages.
'I've been making zines since I was in art college,' says Oka. 'Now that I'm working as a graphic designer, making them provides an enjoyment that is different from my day job.'
Political zines are relatively rare in Japan. In countries such as the U.S., however, activism has been a long-running theme of many zines since they first began, as the self-published pamphlets were an effective way to spread a message quickly before the days of social media. While both Mount and Zine Farm told us that they do not deal with zines promoting any particular politics or religion, there are still places to find and discover activist zines such as Dig a Hole Zines in Koenji and Irregular Rhythm Asylum in Shinjuku.
This increasing popularity of zines has enabled the emergence of zine categories, adding an extra dimension to some zine events. Zine Fest has started to cross-experiment with themed editions, such as adding a board game and a podcast corner at the Zine Fest on April 5 or the upcoming photo-centric Zine Fest slated for Aug. 23.
It's the low barrier to entry and loose definition of zines that makes them accessible to whoever wants to make or find one. Whether at events, stores or workshops, zinemakers are always happy to share the one thing all zines have in common — raw passion.
For more information on zine events and stores, visit mount.co.jp tokyoartbookfair.com , or check Zine Fest's Instagram account @zinefarmtokyo.