Japan Weekend report

Hello once more!

Another late post, my bab! I have promised to post about everything that's been going on and I intend to keep that promise, just wait and see! *smiles*

On the 23rd and 24th of October there was the biggest Japanese pop culture related con in my country - Japan Weekend. It was the first year that Anipop (Portuguese association for the promotion of japanese culture) teamed up with a big group from Spain so that they could finally be able to start getting into making bigger and better events. It was the trial year for it so obviously it had some weak spots but mostly it was a very nice (tiring) experience.

So me, my fiancée (who is always so amazing and supportive of anything I love), my friends Cláudia and Vânia saved up, got a ton of stuff together and decided to travel by car to Lisbon which is about 300km from our city.






SATURDAY the 23rd of October


For those of you who do not know, my fiancée drives a Citroen 2CV, its small and it is slower than average cars so that means a trip that takes 3 hours by train and about the same in a regular car ended up taking around 5 hours.

We were worried about being too late and whatnot but ended up getting to the Pavilhão Atlantic (the arena where it took place) right on time!
We had a stand there so we put everything together and dealt with customers and curious people all day. It was very tiring, especially considering as I had not slept the night before.

Egl Portugal was invited (I have always had great relations with Anipop and a feeling of asteem for their work) to participate this year with our first ever panel on Lolita.

The Panel:
In the middle of the afternoon we had the panel and so we changed clothes at a back room and got right into it. It was short but very professional. It was the first so we didn't want to go big and be in a spot where (if it was to happen) the fall would be "big" as well.

Everything went smoothly and people seemed pleased with it. People were a bit shy and nobody wanted to ask questions so we had a couple of friends watching and they decided to make it a bit interactive by asking some questions of their own.
There was a couple of photographers there who took pictures of the girls for a magazine (and for some reason they decided me and Chérie were not photo material as we didn't get to take any) and they were pretty interesting people so both of us stayed there just chatting for a while.

What I wore for the panel as well as the rest of the day.

In the end of the day, us 4 got back in the car and went to the small "hotel" we had previously booked. We stayed in the same room, two double beds and to be honest i really liked it like that. It was fun, felt like we weren't there on work but for pure fun.
We all fell asleep in 3 seconds.


SUNDAY the 24th of October
Me and my fiancee got up, took a bath and went downstairs for breakfast. My friends had a hard time waking up but ended up pulling their acts together when we got back to the room. Unfortunately we were already late so when we got to the event it had already opened doors and it was around 11am.
Not a big problem as we quickly understood it wouldn't be as crowded as the day before. I felt a bit releaved because damn that day had been tiring as heck!
I could walk around, see people's cosplays, buy some souvenirs for friends and my older brother (who's big on these things too). Right when I was feeling comfortable, I was asked to join the cosplay contest jury. Of course I said yes. To be honest i felt like it was a good choice, i had cosplayed once, yes but i find that lolita aesthetic is very demanding which makes me have good eye for material quality, finish and anything with a visual interest. Obviously knowing how to sew is a plus. The thing that i think worked the best is that I knew 0 of the people who were cosplaying so I am not contaminated with any likes, dislikes, drama or anything that might be rolling around.
It was fun. The cosplayers were very pleasant and it all went rather smoothly.

After this my friend Chérie (who was in charge of something of her own) arrived and with her the japanese artist HITT was finally at his booth for cd signing and sales. I got a cd even though I don't know him or his music. I asked his "party" which one was the best choice and i specifically told him that I do not know the music at all but would like to support their visit bu buying a cd. Got a smile in return and got the cd signed and a picture with the artist.
His style wasn't the bit interesting and I found his music to be quite childish but damn his colleague was hot in the usuall Jo's approved wrong way. Not good looking at all, quite the opposite but he has a very cool macabre style that reminded me of Alice Auaa which i find to be quite alluring.
Still it was very good to see the music scene being supported finally and I was happy for my friend, she has worked really hard and has had a lot of problems with this project for a bit now. Man and they say lolita related drama is bad! They need to get into cosplay and japanese music circles to find out what drama really is :P

After this we just had to leave, we couldn't go to the concert as I do work on monday mornings and I actually wake up at 6.30am.
It was a very long ride, managed to meet up with one of my best friends who was coming back from a travel to Sevilla in the process, but a safe and productive one.

Hope you enjoyed this long post!
Love,
Jo