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| Assassination Classroom Cosplay - Koro Sama |
Hyper Japan 2015 summer edition launched at the new venue of 02 arena which normally hosts concerts and a great place to enjoy restaurants, pubs and cinema. Since the closing of Earl's Court - hyper Japan decided to try a completely different venue to host their cultural event.
The first rule of thumb, get all the organisation sorted, they unfortunately did not have the press/vip/guest desk ready on time so press wondered in on time and were refused access and told to walk all the way back from the far end of the corridor back tot he front to collect passes from a tiny and hidden make shift table that appeared after 10.30am on the Friday of the event. Furthermore there ran out of the performer passees which I needed to enter to be in the Fashion Show - the worst part was the staff shrugged and didn't help me in the slightest till I then firmly approved the press representative who radioed some one at the meet and greet desk. This wild goose chase ended me with going to the organizers office where no one understood what a performer pass was and I then (at least in the venue now) went tot he fashion show pass-less.
Nervously I walked around till the show meet up time where I approached the Fashion show organiser who had a spare performer pass. I do not understand why they had not had the right number and that the language barrier was so great for British event. Also the security provided by the 02 were rude and almost aggressive towards attendees and there costumes obstructing passes. No one was aware of the queuing system for the building 6 or Nintendo Land.
Apart from that the event was entertaining - they brought over fantastic music guests who were huideen away in building 6 for music performances which were hard to get between stages as of the distance between everything...the event was made for trainers and determination.
Performers included: Yoshiki, Toshi from X Japan, Vamps, Eir Aoi, Dempagumi.inc, Dir Milch, [Alexandros], One Not*e, Heisei Kotohime, Katanaya-Ichi, Rio Hiiragi, TOMOCA, Hibiki Ichikawa and Akari Mochizuki, Honey Spice, Lost Ash and more.
Photo courtesy of
Critchell Photography - more photos on his page of the
Japan night concert.
Also as part of buying X Japan concert tickets you were entitled to a complimentary 'Greet & meet' with Yoshiki and Toshi. After a 20 minute wait you got to hi five them on camera. this is a customary procedure in Japan for fans to have hand shakes, hi fives and give them gifts swiftly. Many fans were crying tears of joy after touching their idols who promoted their upcoming gig.
The fashion show was one of my favourites as it drew in total 50 models on Saturday and half as many on Sunday and we had a large and supportive crowd of attendees, cospayers and fashionistas to watch. Mcing on stage was Leader Loi who introduced each model alias and style with banter with Hello Kitty. On Saturday we were accompanyied by Die Milch who chose their favourite model on stage and audience members co-ord. Whilst on Sunday keytarist group Kotohime Heisei did so on the sunday followed by a performance of the Mario theme tune !
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| Kotohime Heisei on stage at Fashion show on Sunday |
Nintendo Land as I call it, was huge, probably the biggest Nintendo stand I've seen to date. This was all in promotion of Mario's 50th Birthday, where he himself posed fro photos alongside Pikachu. Games available to play were Smash, Mario Maker, Monster Hunter, Dragon Ball Zenoverse, Yuu could also pose for photos holding digital characters from Animal Crossing New Leaf. There was also an epic Attack on Titan blow up titan head to take photos with next to the cosplay desk where my good cosplay buddy was taking photos with fans -
Vcosplay as Totoro. More cosplay guests were in attendance such as
Chiquitita Cosplay,
Hekady and
Tasha Cosplay Mackenzie.
The Fringe market was fantastic showing the best of Japan with a western twist - where talented and budding crafter came selling their wares and promoting their brand and love for Japanese items. You also had a mixture of artists selling there art and comics including a famous Doujin artists from Japan - naturally his hug pillows were soldout on the friday.
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