# GaWC - Inventory of WORLD CITIES



## ckm (Apr 7, 2006)

I've just read a book by Jane Jacobs and she talked about Global Cities, and researching on the Internet I just found this website. I think it's quite interesting rating major cities from most global to less globalized. I think some cities are a little underrated, rating Shanghai only 4 points or Mumbai 3, and other are overrated (Brussels 8 points¡). I was surprised about founding Tashkent, Tijuana or Bologna as global cities (even with minimal evidence and 1 point). What u think?

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/citylist.html

*A. ALPHA WORLD CITIES (full service world cities)*

12: London, New York, Paris, Tokyo

10: Chicago, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Milan, Singapore

*B. BETA WORLD CITIES (major world cities)*

9: San Francisco, Sydney, Toronto, Zurich

8: Brussels, Madrid, Mexico City, Sao Paulo

7: Moscow, Seoul

*C. GAMMA WORLD CITIES (minor world cities)*

6: Amsterdam, Boston, Caracas, Dallas, Düsseldorf, Geneva, Houston, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Melbourne, Osaka, Prague, Santiago, Taipei, Washington

5: Bangkok, Beijing, Montreal, Rome, Stockholm, Warsaw

4: Atlanta, Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Miami, Minneapolis, Munich, Shanghai

*D. EVIDENCE OF WORLD CITY FORMATION*

Di Relatively strong evidence

3: Athens, Auckland, Dublin, Helsinki, Luxembourg, Lyon, Mumbai, New Delhi, Philadelphia, Rio de Janeiro, Tel Aviv, Vienna

Dii Some evidence

2: Abu Dhabi, Almaty, Birmingham, Bogota, Bratislava, Brisbane, Bucharest, Cairo, Cleveland, Cologne, Detroit, Dubai, Ho Chi Minh City, Kiev, Lima, Lisbon, Manchester, Montevideo, Oslo, Riyadh, Rotterdam, Seattle, Stuttgart, The Hague, Vancouver

Diii Minimal evidence

1: Adelaide, Antwerp, Arhus, Baltimore, Bangalore, Bologna, Brasilia, Calgary, Cape Town, Colombo, Columbus, Dresden, Edinburgh, Genoa, Glasgow, Gothenburg, Guangzhou, Hanoi, Kansas City, Leeds, Lille, Marseille, Richmond, St Petersburg, Tashkent, Tehran, Tijuana, Turin, Utrecht, Wellington


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## LosAngelesSportsFan (Oct 20, 2004)

looks like your new here, so you probably havent seen this chart posted everytime there is an argument over which city is better than the other. Its interesting for sure, and pretty much correct, but get ready for a war in here if this thread doesnt get locked.


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## ckm (Apr 7, 2006)

LosAngelesSportsFan said:


> looks like your new here, so you probably havent seen this chart posted everytime there is an argument over which city is better than the other. Its interesting for sure, and pretty much correct, but get ready for a war in here if this thread doesnt get locked.



Yep, I'm new here. Just 25 posts around xD

I didn't know if this chart is really known, since I haven't found a "Search engine" in this website... I couldn't check it.


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## Nouvellecosse (Jun 4, 2005)

You can search the website by going to your favourite search engine and entering site:skyscrapercity.com along with what you're searching for.


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## DrJoe (Sep 12, 2002)

This list might as well be the bible on SSC.


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## bay_area (Dec 31, 2002)

This list tracks the concentration of certain law firms, accounting firms and the like. It does not take into account whatsoever the cultural aspects of cities that are just as valid and important in determining the importance of any City on a global scale.


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## CrazyCanuck (Oct 9, 2004)

> Detroit, Dubai,


hehe


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## coth (Oct 16, 2003)

uhh... can we finally stop making XXXth thread about same...


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## Effer (Jun 9, 2005)

GaWC needs to update there "Inventory of World Cities", I think they made it in 1999!


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## pottebaum (Sep 11, 2004)

What a ground-breaking thread!


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## coth (Oct 16, 2003)

Effer said:


> GaWC needs to update there "Inventory of World Cities", I think they made it in 1999!


so they did it in 2004.
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/rb/rb146.html


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## PhillyPhilly90 (Aug 12, 2005)

Philadelphia isn't even a Gamma world city...that suxs. We need that glory back.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Threads like these end up getting

:lock: :lock: :lock: :lock: :lock:


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## Jaye101 (Feb 16, 2005)

GLOBAL CITIES

Well rounded global cities

1. Very large contribution: London and New York Smaller contribution and with cultural bias: Los Angeles, Paris and San Francisco
2. Incipient global cities: Amsterdam, Boston, Chicago, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Toronto

Global niche cities - specialised global contributions

1. Economic: Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo
2. Political and social: Brussels, Geneva, and Washington








hmmmmm


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## Minato ku (Aug 9, 2005)

Not very clear.


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## Vapour (Jul 31, 2002)

Jaye101 said:


> GLOBAL CITIES
> 
> Well rounded global cities
> 
> ...


No "large contribution" for Tokyo? These guys at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/ are quite funny.


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## teh (Jun 5, 2005)

*Global Financial Centre Survey 2005*

Hi Check out this 2005 report.

http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/NR/r...9043-CBDBD44A7271/0/BC_RS_compposition_ES.pdf

It says London & New York are by far the true Global Financial Centre. The most promising third Global Financial Centre in 10 to 15 years time is likely to be Shanghai.


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## Vapour (Jul 31, 2002)

I must admit I get wildly entertained by these "financial centre" claims, as if the world economy was only about gambling in stock markets.


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## coth (Oct 16, 2003)

Vapour said:


> No "large contribution" for Tokyo? These guys at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/ are quite funny.


GLOBAL CITIES

Well rounded global cities

1. Very large contribution: London and New York Smaller contribution and with cultural bias: Los Angeles, Paris and San Francisco
2. Incipient global cities: Amsterdam, Boston, Chicago, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Toronto

Global niche cities - *specialised global contributions*

1. *Economic*: Hong Kong, Singapore, and *Tokyo*
2. Political and social: Brussels, Geneva, and Washington


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## Vapour (Jul 31, 2002)

Yeah, I read that. Just economic? Are these guys that old that they have never seen Japanese animation? (most studios based in Tokyo) Or played with Japanese videogames? (again most based in this city) Or had an Edomae sushi meal? (Tokyo style sushi, the most popular overseas) Or ever heard of Judo? (founded and developed in Tokyo), etc...
What "contribution with cultural bias" has San Francisco that Tokyo lacks?


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## otto (Apr 28, 2006)

> 1. Very large contribution: *London* and *New York* Smaller contribution and with cultural bias: *Los Angeles*, Paris and *San Francisco*
> 2. Incipient global cities: Amsterdam, *Boston*, *Chicago*, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, *Toronto*


Anglocentric!


> Accountancy
> 
> KP KPMG
> CL Coopers & Lybrand
> ...


O, WOW, most are USA /UK based. Thus overrepresented in USA /UK !


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## Skyscraperama (Dec 9, 2005)

coth said:


> GLOBAL CITIES
> 
> Well rounded global cities
> 
> ...





Vapour said:


> Yeah, I read that. Just economic? Are these guys that old that they have never seen Japanese animation? (most studios based in Tokyo) Or played with Japanese videogames? (again most based in this city) Or had an Edomae sushi meal? (Tokyo style sushi, the most popular overseas) Or ever heard of Judo? (founded and developed in Tokyo), etc...
> What "contribution with cultural bias" has San Francisco that Tokyo lacks?



I have to admit, Vapour got you there, Coth.


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## bay_area (Dec 31, 2002)

> Yeah, I read that. Just economic? Are these guys that old that they have never seen Japanese animation? (most studios based in Tokyo) Or played with Japanese videogames? (again most based in this city) Or had an Edomae sushi meal? (Tokyo style sushi, the most popular overseas) Or ever heard of Judo? (founded and developed in Tokyo), etc...
> What "contribution with cultural bias" has San Francisco that Tokyo lacks?


All the Japanese Animation combined falls at the feet of Pixar Animation-a company whose studio is yards from The Bay Bridge-whose movies have been seen by billions around the world.

Also,
This talk of Cultural Bias perhaps refers to the fact that Tokyo is nearly void of any racial or ethnic diveristy. Meanwhile San Francisco is one of the most diverse places on the face of the earth. Im not talking about little communities of white people-Im talking about non-racial and non-ethnic majority-which is the case for the entire San Francisco Metro Area. People from every country in the world.

Also,
San Francisco stands at the forefront of a myriad of social movements and causes that have changed the world. SF is known for the beat movement in the 50s, the hippie movement of the 60s, the anti-vietnam movement of the late 60s, the gay movement and the black panthers came on to the scene in the 70s-SF is quintessentially known as an anti-establishment City. These are all perceptions known all over the world.

California Cuisine is the most influential style of cooking in The United States and in many parts of the world at this time and it all started in San Francisco and the first wine growing region to receive international acclaim outside of Europe was in the suburban valleys of San Francisco.

San Francisco literally came on the world scene overnight during the gold rush when the world travelled here to head into the Sierra Nevada to search for gold-leading to the invention of jeans(a la Levi Strauss-ever heard of jeans?) and the world's first chinese community outside of Asia. 

Also,
It cant be underscored the accomplishments of Stanford and UC Berkeley.

In the late 70s, Silicon Valley began to emerge and is today the world's premier technology capital. In the 80s, Apple, Intel, HP and others came on the scene and changed the world of personal computers. In the 90s, the likes of yahoo, ebay, google and the like came on the scene and are ubiquitous in offices and classrooms around the world.

The region is accustomed to rising and falling-then rising again. We now stand at the forefront of Biotechnology. Lots of cities are powerful in this respect, but there's no doubt that San Francisco is one of the most significant.

Its all about business that changes the world and social movements that affect the world. San Francisco is one of the most influential in both respects.

Tokyo is obviously one of the most important business capitals in the world-goes without saying. But there is life outside the office cubicle and there is more to importance then stock exchanges.


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## coth (Oct 16, 2003)

Skyscraperama said:


> I have to admit, Vapour got you there, Coth.


?
you could notice - this is GaWC rating, not mine...


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## Skybean (Jun 16, 2004)

otto said:


> Anglocentric!
> 
> O, WOW, most are USA /UK based. Thus overrepresented in USA /UK !



Toronto is neither in the UK nor the USA.


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## Vapour (Jul 31, 2002)

bay_area said:


> All the Japanese Animation combined falls at the feet of Pixar Animation-a company whose studio is yards from The Bay Bridge-whose movies have been seen by billions around the world.


^This is a joke, a bad one. The global reach of Japanese animation can be compared all American combined, and its movies/series have also been seen by billions since the 70s. Manga is also a major feature of pop culture for those under 25.
Even Japanese films have had some significant impact.



> Also,
> This talk of Cultural Bias perhaps refers to the fact that Tokyo is nearly void of any racial or ethnic diveristy. Meanwhile San Francisco is one of the most diverse places on the face of the earth. Im not talking about little communities of white people-Im talking about non-racial and non-ethnic majority-which is the case for the entire San Francisco Metro Area. People from every country in the world.


You've got a point. Anyway Tokyo is not "nearly void" of ethnic diversity, that sounds like you have to walk for hours to come across with a foreigner. Wrong.



> California Cuisine is the most influential style of cooking in The United States and in many parts of the world at this time and it all started in San Francisco and the first wine growing region to receive international acclaim outside of Europe was in the suburban valleys of San Francisco.


Californian cuisine is nowhere close to sushi (let alone all Japanese cuisine) in global reach/recognition. I guess nobody in my hometown in Europe can identify a single dish or tendence of Californian cuisine, while they certainly know about sushi or have tried it.



> Also,
> It cant be underscored the accomplishments of Stanford and UC Berkeley.


I don't. 



> In the late 70s, Silicon Valley began to emerge and is today the world's premier technology capital. In the 80s, Apple, Intel, HP and others came on the scene and changed the world of personal computers. In the 90s, the likes of yahoo, ebay, google and the like came on the scene and are ubiquitous in offices and classrooms around the world.


"The world's premier technology capital"? Pretentious. It certainly is for IT, but there's more of technology out there. Photography, Consumer Electronics, Auto industry, Elect. components... are Sony, Canon or Honda less recognized than those you mentioned? Also, Tokyo-based Fujitsu, Toshiba, NEC and Hitachi have a significant role in world IT industry. Add videogame developers.
But this was supposed to be about "cultural bias".



> The region is accustomed to rising and falling-then rising again.


Tell Tokyo about it. 



> We now stand at the forefront of Biotechnology. Lots of cities are powerful in this respect, but there's no doubt that San Francisco is one of the most significant.


Congratulations, but Tokyo stands at the forefront of many of hi-tech industries as you know.



> Its all about business that changes the world and social movements that affect the world. San Francisco is one of the most influential in both respects.
> 
> [...]
> 
> Also, San Francisco stands at the forefront of a myriad of social movements and causes that have changed the world. SF is known for the beat movement in the 50s, the hippie movement of the 60s, the anti-vietnam movement of the late 60s, the gay movement and the black panthers came on to the scene in the 70s-SF is quintessentially known as an anti-establishment City. These are all perceptions known all over the world.


These social movements you mentioned is what makes SF "big" in my opinion. But I understand there's more to consider to get a full "cultural picture". My claim is not about placing Tokyo instead of SF in that classification, but at least in the same rank. And as for business, Tokyo is home to more global-reaching large companies than any other city.



> But there is life outside the office cubicle and there is more to importance then stock exchanges.


Indeed there is. There's also life outside western-centrism.


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## bay_area (Dec 31, 2002)

> ^This is a joke, a bad one. The global reach of Japanese animation can be compared all American combined, and its movies/series have also been seen by billions since the 70s. Manga is also a major feature of pop culture for those under 25.


Well, we can use your sushi comparo here(and I'll concede that sushi is far more associated with Tokyo then Cal Cuisine is with SF)-I dont think most people would recognize a Japanese Anime character over Buzz Lightyear or Nemo? Just a thought.



> The world's premier technology capital"? Pretentious. It certainly is for IT, but there's more of technology out there. Photography, Consumer Electronics, Auto industry, Elect. components... are Sony, Canon or Honda less recognized than those you mentioned? Also, Tokyo-based Fujitsu, Toshiba, NEC and Hitachi have a significant role in world IT industry. Add videogame developers.


Okay, then I'll take IT and you can take electronics.LOL



> Tell Tokyo about it.


Certainly, Tokyo is just as resilient as San Francisco as far as overcoming hard times-both economically and in the realm of natural catastrophes. 



> Indeed there is. There's also life outside western-centrism.


On this point, I agree 100%.


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## Phil (Aug 23, 2002)

bay_area said:


> Well, we can use your sushi comparo here(and I'll concede that sushi is far more associated with Tokyo then Cal Cuisine is with SF)-I dont think most people would recognize a Japanese Anime character over Buzz Lightyear or Nemo? Just a thought.


The difference is that there are litteraly hundreds of "famous" anime characters .
As much as I like US animation movies (I even own a 10 inches buzz lightyearz :angel: ), I think you really underestimate japanese animation . In France for example, there's tons of series, probably millions of fans, and most are between 15 and 30 years old; series like dragon ball z or saint seiya/ knights of the zodiac were imported around 15 years ago and are , I would say, far more "important" to my generation (i'm 25) than The lion King or Aladin. I would even say that there's at least as many mangas in stores as there is american comics (probably more mangas actually....) , even in the US, where japanimation seems to be booming only since a few years (probably thanks to the pokemon + some video games) , I've seen many japanese stuffs...
Series like Bleach or Naruto see their last episode illegally downloaded all around the world the day after it was on tv in japan, just like lost episodes.
I'm not saying it's bigger or more important or anything, but it shouldn't be underestimated.


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## i_am_hydrogen (Dec 9, 2004)

The GaWC ratings should be taken with a grain of salt because they represent only a small percentage of the picture in terms of what makes a city. Don't accept them as the end-all-be-all of world city rankings.


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## otto (Apr 28, 2006)

As for Tokyo`s non-economic role: Tokyo`s R&D is world class, Tokyo is the educational mecca of the world`s second economy, the political capital of an important country, the most liberal/ socially concerned city in Asia, the Asian cultural pivot, it`s radiating beams of popular youth culture along every continent except Africa.
It`s the world`s major source of ODA, the role model for every upcoming economy, and it has been a window into the 21st century all along form the midn 80s.

*@Skybean*
My point was that if the measure used is the represatation of a set a companies through the world, and that set of companies happens to be mostly USA/ UK based, then nobody needs to be surprised to get an Anglocentric list. Or don`t you agree with me that Coopers & Lybrand have more expertise in English accounting than Swahili accounting. Do you think White & Case have more chance setting up branches in LA, Toronto and London than in Riga, Osaka, Phnom Pen?
There`s a language bias in this GaWC that can`t be accounted for. A city, in short scores higher, if the market share of USA/UK financial/ accountency / etc services is bigger.


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## bay_area (Dec 31, 2002)

Phil said:


> The difference is that there are litteraly hundreds of "famous" anime characters .
> As much as I like US animation movies (I even own a 10 inches buzz lightyearz :angel: ), I think you really underestimate japanese animation . In France for example, there's tons of series, probably millions of fans, and most are between 15 and 30 years old; series like dragon ball z or saint seiya/ knights of the zodiac were imported around 15 years ago and are , I would say, far more "important" to my generation (i'm 25) than The lion King or Aladin. I would even say that there's at least as many mangas in stores as there is american comics (probably more mangas actually....) , even in the US, where japanimation seems to be booming only since a few years (probably thanks to the pokemon + some video games) , I've seen many japanese stuffs...
> Series like Bleach or Naruto see their last episode illegally downloaded all around the world the day after it was on tv in japan, just like lost episodes.
> I'm not saying it's bigger or more important or anything, but it shouldn't be underestimated.


I probably do underestimate the scope of Japanese Anime since my knowledge on the topic is very little-so I'll concede that.


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## unoh (Aug 13, 2005)

NYC, Tokyo, London are world three top cities.





Table 1: CITED MAJOR CITIES 
Authors Major Cities Identified1 
Budd (1995)2 Tokyo, London, New York, Paris, Frankfurt 
Cohen (1981) Tokyo, London, Osaka, Paris, Rhine-Ruhr 
Drennan (1995)2 London, New York, Tokyo 
The Economist (1992)2 New York, Tokyo, London 
The Economist (1998)2 London, New York, Tokyo 
Feagin and Smith (1987) New York, London, Tokyo 
Friedmann (1986) London, Paris, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles 
Friedmann (1995) London, New York, Tokyo 
Friedmann and Wolff (1982) Tokyo, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, New York 
Glickman (1986) New York, Tokyo, London, Paris 
Hall (1966) London, Paris, Randstand, Rhine-Ruhr, Moscow, New York,Tokyo 
Heenan (1977) Coral Gables (Miami), Paris, Honolulu 
Hymer (1972) New York, London, Paris, Bonn, Tokyo 
Knox (1995a-b) London, New York, Tokyo 
Lee & Schmidt-Marwede (1993)2 London, New York, Tokyo 
Llewelyn-Davies (1996) London, Paris, New York, Tokyo 
Martin (1994)2 London, New York, Tokyo, Osaka, Chicago 
Meyer (1986)2 New York, London, Paris, Zurich, Tokyo 
Muller (1997) London, New York, Tokyo 
O'Brien (1992)2 London, Frankfurt, Paris, Hong Kong, Singapore 
Reed (1981)2 London 
Reed (1989)2 New York, London 
Sassen (1991) New York, London, Tokyo 
Sassen (1994a-b2) New York, London, Tokyo, Paris, Frankfurt 
Short et al. (1996) Tokyo, London, New York, Paris, Frankfurt 
Thrift (1989) New York, London, Tokyo 
Warf (1989)2 New York, London, Tokyo 

1 Limited to the top five cities identified in the global urban hierarchy except for Hall (1966) who focuses on 7 cities 
2 Specific studies identifying International Financial Centres 


URL : http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/rb/rb5.html


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## DrJoe (Sep 12, 2002)

^ The picture on that book is Toronto.


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## Minato ku (Aug 9, 2005)

*Paris* is really underrated.


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## silly thing (Aug 9, 2004)

i'd say japanese animations are more creative and diversified but lack of recognition in america


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## Minato ku (Aug 9, 2005)

Phil said:


> The difference is that there are litteraly hundreds of "famous" anime characters .
> As much as I like US animation movies (I even own a 10 inches buzz lightyearz :angel: ), I think you really underestimate japanese animation . In France for example, there's tons of series, probably millions of fans, and most are between 15 and 30 years old; series like dragon ball z or saint seiya/ knights of the zodiac were imported around 15 years ago and are , I would say, far more "important" to my generation (i'm 25) than The lion King or Aladin. I would even say that there's at least as many mangas in stores as there is american comics (probably more mangas actually....) , even in the US, where japanimation seems to be booming only since a few years (probably thanks to the pokemon + some video games) , I've seen many japanese stuffs...
> Series like Bleach or Naruto see their last episode illegally downloaded all around the world the day after it was on tv in japan, just like lost episodes.
> I'm not saying it's bigger or more important or anything, but it shouldn't be underestimated.


Yes France is the 2nd comsommator of manga in the World
but Now Japanese series importated in France are 2 or 3 years.


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