Gumbo
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.
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.
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.
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 ^^;