Otakon

Otakon
The Official Otakon logo.
Status	Active
Genre	Anime, East Asian popular culture
Venue	Walter E. Washington Convention Center
Location(s)	Washington D.C.
Country	United States
Inaugurated	1994
Attendance	29,113 in 2016
Organized by	Otakorp, Inc.
Filing status	501(c)(3)
Website
Otakon.com

Otakon (/ˈoʊtəkɒn/ OH-tə-kon) is an annual three day anime convention held during July/August at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland's Inner Harbor district (between 1999-2016), starting in 2017, Otakon will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The convention focuses on East Asian popular culture (primarily anime, manga, music, and cinema) and its fandom. The name is a portmanteau derived from convention and the Japanese word otaku. Otakon is one of the longest-running Anime conventions in the United States and is the 5th largest North American anime convention as of 2016.

Otakon announced that an additional new convention would be created in Las Vegas, Nevada starting in 2014. It was announced at Otakon 2013's closing ceremonies that the convention will be moving to Washington, D.C. and the Walter E. Washington Convention Center starting in 2017 and continuing until at least 2021. At Otakon 2016, it was revealed that Otakon will be at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center until Otakon 2024.