Artist alleys in Japan vs the west
I recently returned from a trip to Tokyo and as someone who loves being in Japan for extended periods of time, I'm now riding that usual culture shock that is coming back to the west and start questioning why we do stuff so differently, and some times, so less...interestingly?
The main difference that has been on my mind is related to one of the highlights of my trip which was visiting the 「TSUTAYA CREATORS‘ MARKET Vol.2」 event that I was able to attend in Shibuya. It was a really nice indie creator market, pretty much what we would traditionally call here an "artist alley" but with a few key differences that made it feel a little bit different to me.
To start, it was on the fourth floor of a known shopping building, entrance was free and if you wanted to just wander around and look at pretty art like if it was an art exhibition you could do that. However I personally love collecting and losing myself in indie art so my plan was buying said cool indie art. And so as I walked through the narrow alleyways I started to notice that most of the booths/desks were actually full of beautiful trinkets, yet no one was there from whom I could buy them. There were a few exceptions where their creator would be sitting there like I'm used to, but as I quickly learned at this event you didn't buy the items directly from the creator instead you take them to a cashier area at the end where you pay for everything you liked! And so I started noticing that people were carrying small baskets they were filling with stickers, pins, prints, etc. So the moment I grabbed one I realized it was basically grocery shopping on indie art. That concept felt so intuitively fun.
Anyways, that explained why most creators weren't at their booth. In fact, after checking the social accounts from a few creators I followed I saw their posts that they were either planning to come later that day or had already left for the day and would return the day after. As a creator it must feel great not have to monitor your booth for the 6/8/whatever hours the event runs for. Especially knowing how safe the place was with their staff, and just Japan being a safe place overall.
I don't have enough time in this world to describe how much I enjoy Japan's neat systems and appreciation for organization, but because of how much I love that Japanese trait is why I can see much of those benefits not being transferable to western events. People stealing stuff and messing up booths is unfortunately a probability high enough that it stands between us and that ideal setup.
However, the main thing that caught my attention has to be the actual content, the concepts and subjects of the art being displayed and sold: IT WAS ALL ORIGINAL CHARACTERS. OCs aaall over the place, no re-interpretations of the latest trendy anime, funny monthly memes or based on nostalgic classics, nope every single thing was OCs directly from the mind of its creators. It was so incredibly refreshing and mesmerizing to see how far their creator took their style to even shape and design entire characters and in some cases the world they lived in. I love western-style artist alleys too and have in fact purchased my fair share of Frieren, EVA, etc. based merch from indie creators here locally and in the US... But while I have nothing but praise for the act of creating fan-art from your pure love and passion for an existing IP (which is why I've done it before too) my brain reacted so much more to see the these JP creators, well, creating these characters and stories from their pure imagination. There were still classic character tropes here and there, yanderes, gothic maids, ofc lol█s (it was Japan after all), etc but they felt more like genres of art rather than everyone drawing the same generic character body with the same hair or something. Even within the same "genre" two creators were nothing alike and that made it so much more interesting to see, enjoy and ultimately collect.
I think there could be something to be said about how differently JP artists see themselves on all the different creative mediums they grow on, but I've definitely heard and seen them describe themselves as クリエイター ("creator") much more than how we artists/creators describe ourselves here in the west, and I felt that as I found myself in this amazing sea of imagination and creativity in Shibuya.
So if I could be egoistic for a sec in this already over-egoistic world and ask for something from all visual artists on conventions here in the west, is to please design more original characters! There are many websites and shops where I can buy Bocchi, NieR and Pokemon stuff but none for your own original OCs, only your booth. I get it from a financial standpoint too known IPs sell better but if you could offer 1, 3, 10 items with your own OCs I'm sure you would be surprised how many people will find your original art interesting. I know I do. And I'm sure you may find selling at least one much more rewarding for your creative career.
I don't like hauling anything at artists alleys, instead I prefer to collect those items that truly spoke to me. So I thought of ending it here with what I bought and links to their creators.
Support your local human artists, here or abroad.
TCM2 poster art from:
Merch from: