What kinds of 10th anniversary merchandise are available, and who can buy them?

Four made-to-order items are open to anyone: ① a Kikousai celebration set (T-shirt + tenugui), ② a stationery set (clear file, masking tape, bookmark, ballpoint pen, notebook), ③ a single embroidered 'Pyuui' mascot T-shirt, and ④ a Pyuui illustration T-shirt drawn by Yanyan (ヤンヤン). Stickers are sold on a separate line and are already on sale.

When and where is the crew-only event Kikousai, and who is eligible to attend?

Kikousai runs Thursday, December 3 from 12:30 to 19:30, with two floors of the Marui Group headquarters in Nakano, Tokyo rented out in full; only those who were COTEN crew (paid members) as of October 16 are eligible, and if applications exceed the 200-person capacity a lottery will be held. It is a paid event.

What content is planned for Kikousai?

Three pillars are planned: ① a special on-location episode of COTEN RADIO featuring Fukui, Yanyan, and Kiguchi (木口)—the first time all three have appeared together in roughly five to seven years; ② a panel talk with four management members looking back on the past decade and sharing the vision for the next ten years; and ③ a 'Jinbunchi Marché' (人文知マルシェ) where the world history database team, history research team, COTEN Games, and the radio production team simultaneously run exhibits and workshops. Interactive exhibits including a crew-contributed timeline and a curated book shelf are also in preparation.

What are the deadlines for merchandise purchases and event applications?

Sticker purchases close at the end of October; pre-orders for the other four merchandise items run October 23–November 4. The Kikousai application deadline is Thursday, October 29; lottery results will be emailed to all applicants around 20:00 on Monday, November 2, after which winners purchase tickets through the ticketing service PTX to confirm their spot.

Is there any provision for people who cannot attend Kikousai in person?

An online event is being prepared separately and will cover highlights from Kikousai; details will be announced later, and the intention is to make it accessible both to people who cannot attend and to those who were not crew members at the time of the application.

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歴史を面白く学ぶコテンラジオ（COTEN RADIO） · History

【告知】COTEN創業10周年！グッズ販売＆リアルイベントします

2026-10-23 · 27 min · 4 min read

COTEN is marking its 10th anniversary with a line of commemorative merchandise and its first-ever crew-only in-person event, 'Kikousai' (寄港祭), set for December 3 in Nakano, Tokyo. COTEN member Hika (日夏) joined co-host Fukui (深井) on the podcast to walk through the four made-to-order merchandise items and the details of the 200-person lottery event. Both the merchandise pre-order window and the event application deadline fall within the next two weeks.

Listen to this episode Go to the show page

What this episode answers

What kinds of 10th anniversary merchandise are available, and who can buy them?
Four made-to-order items are open to anyone: ① a Kikousai celebration set (T-shirt + tenugui), ② a stationery set (clear file, masking tape, bookmark, ballpoint pen, notebook), ③ a single embroidered 'Pyuui' mascot T-shirt, and ④ a Pyuui illustration T-shirt drawn by Yanyan (ヤンヤン). Stickers are sold on a separate line and are already on sale.
When and where is the crew-only event Kikousai, and who is eligible to attend?
Kikousai runs Thursday, December 3 from 12:30 to 19:30, with two floors of the Marui Group headquarters in Nakano, Tokyo rented out in full; only those who were COTEN crew (paid members) as of October 16 are eligible, and if applications exceed the 200-person capacity a lottery will be held. It is a paid event.
What content is planned for Kikousai?
Three pillars are planned: ① a special on-location episode of COTEN RADIO featuring Fukui, Yanyan, and Kiguchi (木口)—the first time all three have appeared together in roughly five to seven years; ② a panel talk with four management members looking back on the past decade and sharing the vision for the next ten years; and ③ a 'Jinbunchi Marché' (人文知マルシェ) where the world history database team, history research team, COTEN Games, and the radio production team simultaneously run exhibits and workshops. Interactive exhibits including a crew-contributed timeline and a curated book shelf are also in preparation.
What are the deadlines for merchandise purchases and event applications?
Sticker purchases close at the end of October; pre-orders for the other four merchandise items run October 23–November 4. The Kikousai application deadline is Thursday, October 29; lottery results will be emailed to all applicants around 20:00 on Monday, November 2, after which winners purchase tickets through the ticketing service PTX to confirm their spot.
Is there any provision for people who cannot attend Kikousai in person?
An online event is being prepared separately and will cover highlights from Kikousai; details will be announced later, and the intention is to make it accessible both to people who cannot attend and to those who were not crew members at the time of the application.

Why a company that never made merchandise in 10 years finally got moving

COTEN turns 10 this year. Fukui laughed recalling that the company has no culture of marking milestones—nobody inside even said the words '10th anniversary' out loud. The person who changed that is Hika (日夏), a sixth-year COTEN staff member who has appeared on bonus episodes before and took the lead in planning both the merchandise and the event.

The spark came from listening to crew members—COTEN's paid subscribers. Hika has regular direct contact with the crew, and she kept hearing the same requests: 'I want a pin badge,' 'please release more merchandise.' The company understood the demand but lacked the bandwidth to act on it.

What finally moved her was a recurring story she heard from multiple crew members. Finding someone in your everyday life who listens to COTEN RADIO or resonates with COTEN's mission is rare—but once you do, a 'Classics Club' (古典部) tends to form inside your company, spawning study sessions and book circles. Hika decided to create merchandise that could serve as a signal for finding fellow travelers, and the 10th anniversary gave her the right moment to do it.

Four commemorative items + stickers, made to order with zero inventory

Four items were announced. All are made to order, so COTEN carries no stock.

**① Kikousai Celebration Set** (T-shirt and original T-shirt): A limited set branded with the event name 'Kikousai.' The design is planned to feel like a festival tee in the vein of a Fuji Rock shirt.

**② Stationery Set**: A bundle of a clear file, masking tape, bookmark, ballpoint pen, and notebook. It's a fresh design in a category that was popular in COTEN's previous merchandise run. Fukui publicly requested that 'the ballpoint pen, notebook, and T-shirt all be high quality'—though he acknowledged he had no idea whether that request would actually be honored.

**③ Embroidered T-shirt**: A single T-shirt featuring an embroidered version of COTEN's mascot character, Pyuui. It carried over from the previous run because of its popularity.

**④ Yanyan's Hand-Drawn Pyuui T-shirt**: Yanyan sketched Pyuui in pencil, and the illustration is printed on a T-shirt as-is. The design was well received when posted to COTEN's official X account, which led directly to its commercialization.

Separate from these four, **stickers** are already on sale with a purchase deadline at the end of October. Pre-orders for the four merchandise items opened on October 23 (the day this episode was published) and close on November 4. Purchase links are in the episode description.

Kikousai: the full picture of the crew-only in-person event

'Kikousai' (寄港祭) means 'the festival of putting into port'—a name designed to match COTEN's crew membership system, where members are called crew (船乗り, seafarers). The event runs **Thursday, December 3, from 12:30 to 19:30** at the **Marui Group headquarters in Nakano, Tokyo**. Two floors—a lounge and a hall—are rented out in their entirety. Fukui expressed particular gratitude that the venue was made available on a weekday.

Eligibility is strict: **only those who were COTEN crew as of October 16** may apply. The application form was included in the newsletter distributed on October 16. Capacity is **200 people**; if applications exceed that, a lottery is held. The deadline is **Thursday, October 29**, with lottery results emailed to all applicants around **20:00 on Monday, November 2**. Winners then purchase tickets through the ticketing service **PTX** to finalize their attendance. It is a paid event. Fukui was clear that the pricing is not intended to generate profit: 'We're aiming to break even on costs.'

Kikousai content: first three-person appearance in roughly 7 years, a marché, and panel talks

The event is built around three pillars.

**① COTEN RADIO Special On-Location Episode**: Fukui, Yanyan, and Kiguchi (木口) will take the stage together for a live history discussion. This is the first time all three have appeared at an event together since 2020—roughly five to seven years. Whether the session will later be released as a podcast episode depends on 'quality,' Fukui said with a laugh: 'If it doesn't get released, that means the quality wasn't there.'

**② The Decade in Retrospect — Management Panel**: Four members of COTEN's internal management team will look back on the past ten years and share their vision for the next decade. Topics are expected to include COTEN's ongoing post-capitalism research, its investigation into the mechanisms of war, and its gender-inclusive studies.

**③ Jinbunchi Marché** (人文知マルシェ, Humanities Knowledge Market): The world history database team, history research team, COTEN Games (which develops board games), and radio producer Hashimoto (橋本) will all be gathered on one floor, running simultaneous exhibits and workshops that attendees can visit freely. Additional programming includes a participatory timeline installation spanning COTEN's 10 years—where crew members can add their own milestones—a 'Classics Bookshelf' (古典本棚) featuring books COTEN members recommend for 2026, and open space for crew-to-crew conversation.

Hika is still collecting suggestions for the event. Ideas posted to X with the hashtag **#COTEN10周年** (COTEN in uppercase) will be reviewed by the planning team.

A gesture of gratitude and a small first step

COTEN's current crew count stands at 17,000. 'The French Revolution and the Meiji Restoration were carried out by a few hundred to a few thousand people,' Fukui said. 'With 17,000 people, we can change the world.' He expressed ambition to bring humanities knowledge to business professionals and international scholars alike.

Fukui described Kikousai as 'an experiment where 200 people is enough to make us nervous,' while acknowledging that the goal is to accumulate know-how and eventually scale up—including regional events outside Tokyo. An online event for those who cannot attend in person is also in the works; details will be announced separately.

Takeaways

COTEN is releasing four commemorative made-to-order merchandise items to mark its 10th anniversary; pre-orders are open to anyone and close November 4.
The crew-only in-person event Kikousai takes place December 3 in Nakano, Tokyo, with a capacity of 200, a lottery if oversubscribed, and an application deadline of October 29.
Kikousai features three main segments—a live COTEN RADIO special episode, a management retrospective panel, and a Humanities Knowledge Marché—and a separate online event for those who cannot attend will be announced later.

COTEN RADIOコテン10周年記念グッズ販売リアルイベント

This article is edited from a machine transcript of the first 30 minutes of the episode. It is not an official summary — please listen to the episode itself.