Gumbo
(
38)
Sun 2007/12/02 00:40
Gumbo is a free weekly manga that you can occasionally see being handed out at Akihabara, Shibuya and other station entrances.
I believe that Gumbo is actually the first free manga competing with the likes of Young Jump.
I believe that Gumbo is actually the first free manga competing with the likes of Young Jump.
These weekly manga journals are usually filled with one chapter from many different manga series. So for example you may find a chapter of Claymore or Inuyasha etc.
Apart form the manga, there is the traditional gravure idol photos too. Many people leave these on the luggage racks on a train for the next person to read. From time to time, you will see homeless folks going through carriages looking for these. They take them and resell them - you can see quite a few outside Shinjuku station.
The only free magazine that I would try to pick up as much as I could when I was living in the UK was the Eikoku News Digest - aimed at Japanese living in London. Had lots of news and classifieds. I put an ad in there once to meet Japanese language exchange students.
Apart form the manga, there is the traditional gravure idol photos too. Many people leave these on the luggage racks on a train for the next person to read. From time to time, you will see homeless folks going through carriages looking for these. They take them and resell them - you can see quite a few outside Shinjuku station.
The only free magazine that I would try to pick up as much as I could when I was living in the UK was the Eikoku News Digest - aimed at Japanese living in London. Had lots of news and classifieds. I put an ad in there once to meet Japanese language exchange students.
I've picked up Gumbo a few times but haven't come across anything to keep me coming back for more.
The reason why Gumbo is free is that they want to increase their readership as much as possible and base their business around the advertising model.
There are many free magazines being handed out in and around stations like R25.
When I was at Microsoft, I saw the advertising prices for R25 which were ridiculously sky high. Advertising is a lucrative business in Japan.
Residents in Tokyo may want to get hold of a free publication aimed at Gaijin called Metropolis - full of local information in English and an interesting read.
BTW, these were taken at the Good Smile offices when I was on their live broadcast ^^;
The reason why Gumbo is free is that they want to increase their readership as much as possible and base their business around the advertising model.
There are many free magazines being handed out in and around stations like R25.
When I was at Microsoft, I saw the advertising prices for R25 which were ridiculously sky high. Advertising is a lucrative business in Japan.
Residents in Tokyo may want to get hold of a free publication aimed at Gaijin called Metropolis - full of local information in English and an interesting read.
BTW, these were taken at the Good Smile offices when I was on their live broadcast ^^;
Tokyu Hands is a blessing from the good lord for residents of Tokyo and visitors alike.
...(more)
Sat 12/01 11:12 comments (47)
Free porn is free.
(ID #65605) Posted on 2007/12/02 00:33
Some of the magazines out here are very heavily religiously baised. The best place to go is the colleges and universities and there are a couple of good ones. And by good I mean witty... and by witty I mean sarcastic. The lowest form of wit.
(ID #65606) Posted on 2007/12/02 00:35
We don't usually get free magazines here. Too expensive to produce. However we do get several versions of daily newspapers which are usually condensed versions of full spread ones. Only problem is people tend to leave their read papers on train, buses or just blowing in public places. This causes a huge mess. Typical...
(ID #65607) Posted on 2007/12/02 00:52
Fatbastard, you for got about the ones at a lot of movie theaters, and there are a lot other magazine about cars and housings around too.
(ID #65608) Posted on 2007/12/02 00:57
True, but those Tribute mags as far as I'm concerned at the movies might as well be part of the ticket price since that's the only place you'd get them. Only time I look is when waiting for the flick to start. As for the cars and housing, they're more about classified ads then entertaining articles.
(ID #65612) Posted on 2007/12/02 01:18
Writer/Academic/Code Monkey
Hey Danny, Is figure.fm down for maintenance?
(ID #65613) Posted on 2007/12/02 01:20
Whoops. So the manga I've seen lying around at the Imperial Palace and the train was meant to be given away? I thought people didn't want them any longer, so I took them back to the hotel room to read lawl ^^;;
(ID #65614) Posted on 2007/12/02 01:21
in caliifornia if you go to asian markets or some type of area with other then english news paper theres normally tons of free magazines and newspaper. for example in sacramento if you go to oto's supermarket theres stacks of news paper and magazines that you can get free, they are able to do it because all the advertisements on these news papers. people also leave news papers in mac donalds for other people to read.. my tradition i leave my news papers there besides any advertise ments i want to keep~
(ID #65615) Posted on 2007/12/02 01:23
Interactive Media Design and Graphic Design
at metro stop close to me they hand out free newspaper which is very good and new every day. Thats about it. :-(
(ID #65616) Posted on 2007/12/02 01:40
Same as Boris... Metro newspaper aside, not much to chew on. Oh sometimes on weekdays some guys from a bid company give away free copies of the Gazette. (The annoying point in that is to see scattered paper everywhere after. Drives me mad somehow, because some haven't learned to recycle yet)
(ID #65617) Posted on 2007/12/02 02:35
Policy & Research Officer
No free magazines. We get good daily newspaper for free though.
(ID #65618) Posted on 2007/12/02 02:40
宅男 Otaku/ 工程师 Engineer
nope. no free magazines over here. but i work for a customer (company) who publish magazines so sometimes i can get them for free or at a very very cheap price - S$1. ('~')
(ID #65619) Posted on 2007/12/02 03:11
no not really, there's only this one little booklet that tells you what comin' for next month but it's not really helpful
(ID #65620) Posted on 2007/12/02 03:26
Student
I wouldnt mind those at all! Would be nice to have a book filled with idol goodness, plus it being free. Not sure why but the way the light reflects on the idol pages gives me the impression that it's not so cheap quality paper, but I may be wrong ^^; All I get here is..Animerica, and it's terrible IMO. It's not even a magazine, it's probably a pamphlet.
(ID #65621) Posted on 2007/12/02 03:30
Hey cool stuff Danny...I actually picked up a copy while I was in Japan they were handing em out at Shibuya station I think. If anyones interested I uploaded the cover and the idol centerfold for you to oogle: Cover: http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x182/Asian_Ethics/IMG_2926.jpg Idol Centerfold: http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x182/Asian_Ethics/IMG_2929.jpg http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x182/Asian_Ethics/IMG_2930.jpg enjoy
(ID #65622) Posted on 2007/12/02 03:31
we have a free newspaper handed out at train stations it's full of gossip and celebrities, and a bit of news
(ID #65624) Posted on 2007/12/02 04:01
VF-25 Pilot. Universariate Scholar.
nope, no free mags here. only newspapers.
(ID #65625) Posted on 2007/12/02 04:14
DF
the background shelves remind me of this: http://www.minaidehazukashii.com/uploads/447/genshiken01.jpg get the joke.
(ID #65626) Posted on 2007/12/02 04:20
i remember seeing some free asian mags in toronto, but not much of anything here, let alone free manga mags. all we have is boring old newspaper printed with the cheapest ink imaginable, so that after you read the newspapers, your fingers and thumbs are literally black.
(ID #65629) Posted on 2007/12/02 05:01
ひまななし
コミックGumboは、面白いとは思わないなぁ。 やっぱり安かろう悪かろうって思ってしまうね。 １度高田馬場駅前で受け取って、読んで見たけど、全然面白くない。数ページ読んで見るの止めた。鑑賞に耐える作品が無いと思った。 地下鉄構内に置かれている、メトロなんとかっていう、大人向けの雑誌が１番鑑賞に耐えるかもね。
(ID #65631) Posted on 2007/12/02 05:28
The only free periodicals I've gotten are Falun Gong newspapers >.>
(ID #65632) Posted on 2007/12/02 05:53
radical anime fan in Singapore; starting to freeze up. Mmm, end-of-year weather. (Registered on 2007/01/25 21:20)
Polytechnic Freshman. Mmm... fresh.
well, no free mags but ppl here do get free newspapers in the form of Today.
(ID #65634) Posted on 2007/12/02 07:44
Aww what a bummer! you get free mags and we don't XD
(ID #65635) Posted on 2007/12/02 07:54
Illustrator & Designer
Well, we don't get anything free like Gumbo here (at least not that I know of), but there's heaps of Chinese and some Japanese and Korean free magazines that comes out every weekend filled with little articles, classified ads and whatnot. I've even picked up an English Korean free mag once, which is nice to be able to read it. Most are printed in B&W on crappy newsprint and very little to no pictures though.
(ID #65636) Posted on 2007/12/02 07:56
Aimless Traveler
Never received any free mags in my local publication before. Most of the local magazine in my place seems to be more in tune to profit than quality, judging from the fast twice-a-month publication of most entertainment-oriented magazine and light contents. Pretty crap. Local magazines that I regard as 'decent' are military/defense magazines as there are few titles available in the market.
(ID #65638) Posted on 2007/12/02 08:35
Web Design & Development
Nothing is free here. Nothing. This town is powered by greedy old farts that feel the need to spend up to $100,000 on the biggest SUV/Hummer they can get their hands on, and then complain about the gas prices being so high. >.> In doing so, they try to earn the extra money by charging people for every conceivable thing. Like washing your windshield of your car at a gas station. Most places do that for free.
(ID #65639) Posted on 2007/12/02 08:42
Student
Hmmm, actually we've got a few free magazines but nothing falling into the otaku category...
(ID #65650) Posted on 2007/12/02 11:34
Part human, part student, 100% loser
LOL same here... Nothings free here... The only things which are free you usually see people lining up for it...
(ID #65653) Posted on 2007/12/02 11:52
High School Graduate... Now what?
Now that I think about it, here, we do get free magazines. Most of them talk about the living area or entertainment. Others are about property or job listings... They're okay, but they sure don't compare to free manga.
(ID #65658) Posted on 2007/12/02 12:08
(University)Student and Mcdonalds Grease monkey.
I'm glad you put where you took the pictures. Cos I was wondering about the cases in the background. They look intresting. Filled with magical things....
(ID #65675) Posted on 2007/12/02 17:06
ecchi student
Nothing is free where I live. If it is, there's a catch.
(ID #65681) Posted on 2007/12/02 20:17
We usually have free job advertisement magazines/newspaper stands. There are a ton of tourist magazines available wherever tourist go^^.
(ID #65686) Posted on 2007/12/02 22:18
the only free thing here in america is food samples and health/workout magazines. not a good combination are they?
(ID #65718) Posted on 2007/12/03 02:57
We have four different daily newspapers which are free. They are very popular among students and commuters. For the rest we have nothing else that is worth mentioning. ^^
(ID #65738) Posted on 2007/12/03 06:48
Antabax in Kuala Lumpur
i hope the metropolis can somehow travel to malaysia for malaysian gaijins to read or downloadable.
(ID #65763) Posted on 2007/12/03 10:54
We have fairly decent free daily newspapers on buses and some bus stops. Nice to go through them to kill the time.
(ID #65784) Posted on 2007/12/03 12:23
Chemical Engineer
That kind of publication says a lot about japanese economy. Here in latinamérica you can't have a free publication, is too expensive and if you haven't sponsors you can't publish a "pay" magazine. By the way, i like a lot your photos with your trooper suit.
(ID #65822) Posted on 2007/12/03 18:51
anime/cosplay events organizer
we have some free newspapers that are distributed at train stations and bus terminals. free newspapers is a risky business if you don't have a really good distribution channels to show to your potential advertisers. i wonder if free anime/game/japanese pop-culture magazines are feasible here ^^
(ID #65901) Posted on 2007/12/04 09:01
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