The Publishing and Distribution System of Japanese Manga and Doujinshi

The popularity of Japanese comics or better known as manga had reach worldwide. The production of the manga had also led to the creation of derivative products such as animated series and doujinshi. However, most readers outside Japan accessed these media in a translated format that is published independently from the original publisher. As such, many of the readers might not know the distribution system of the original media. In this paper, we discussed the distribution of manga and doujinshi in Japan. These include discussions regarding the general overview of the manga industry, the different types of published manga and doujinshi, as well as their distribution system. Lastly, this paper also discussed briefly what is the unique characteristic of the Japanese manga and doujinshi industry.