February Kimono de Jack at Hyper Japan

Hello Everyone,

For our February meet up we will be going to Hyper Japan for the third time! This time they changed the venue to a bigger one, so let's hope the crowds will be more manageable this time.

Facebook Event

When:
Saturday, February 25, 2012.

Where:
Brompton Hall

Time: 
11am - ?

Make sure to buy tickets before the event, and bring enough money to cover any other expenses (like lunch or shopping). As always, wear kimono if you have one, but if you don't come and hang out with us anyway!

~ Lyuba

Hyper Japan KDJ meetup!

Phew having two Kimono de Jack meetups within two weeks of each other meant that I didn't have a chance to write up the July meetup.

Nevermind!

July KDJ meetup was at Hyper Japan in Olympia Two, London on 23 July. It was billed as being bigger and better then Hyper Japan 2010 so we were very excited! To make it better we were able to secure a table for Kimono de Jack goers to meetup and allowed to organise a mini kimono fashion show!

So what happened on the day?

I turned up around 10.20 to drop off my stuff for the show at the press office and I was glad that I had a performers pass to the event because the queue to get in was huge! Then I went to find our table which was in the manga and origami area. This was a little disappointing because if I didn't ask for help from the press office then I wouldn't have found it. Next time, I will need to ask for a table off to the side!

Now about the event, it was a mix of modern and new Japanese culture. On the ground floor there were the big stalls were the big companies were plying their trade. There was food and drinks on the left hand side while the right hand side had clothing, gadgets and other bits and pieces. Also the main stage was on the ground floor. I didn't get a chance to see any performances on the main stage because it was far to crowd for me to get a good view.

Then the lower ground floor had the independent traders and the game booths/stations for people to entertain themselves with.

There was one big name here and that was Square Enix and they were selling merchandise for their various games like Final Fantasy.

Such as this cute moogle.

However the event was incredibly busy and crowded, in fact I'm pretty sure the organisers where surprised by the turnout. As such people had to queue for 2-3 hours just to get in which was very frustrating for a lot of people who brought advance tickets or those who just popped out for some fresh air.

As for the Kimono Fashion Show, Liz and I were run off our feet organising it but we managed to pull it together.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I spent most of the day stressing out about the fashion show that I didn't get a chance to take pictures.

I hope next year Hyper Japan improve on the venue and organisation because the UK needs more conventions!

June Kimono de Jack in Stoke on Trent!

We have been very lucky with the weather for our kdj events however this good fortune could not last and this weekend we had the forecast of rain!

And sure enough, as all our trains rolled into Stoke on Trent the heaven opened! It was good that we all wore kimono that would withstand the rain because the walk to the taxi was wet.

However that enough about the weather, what about the event?

For this KDJ, we visited the potteries museum and art gallery in Stoke on Trent as they were holding a Japanese day. The event was split into three parts. At the entrance there was the sushi, calligraphy and Japanese armour display. Then there was was a performance area where there was the koto, shamisen, taiko drumming and traditional dancing. Finally there was the ikebana demo. We didn't participate in this as none of us had the ability to arrange things nicely.

However there was the sushi demo at 12.00 and dancing at 12.30 which we were interested in. Therefore we had to whittled our time away by looking at the rest of the museum.

This was a good museum as it had a lot of different items on display from lots of stuffed animals to the famous Staffordshire Hoard. We even found some costumes but they were only for children :(. However this didn't stop us from having fun!

Of course all this walking made us tired so after visiting the gift shop we decided to have a rest in the coffee shop before watching the sushi demo. Somehow we managed to turn up a bit late so we only managed to catch the chef making nirigiri. Even so, he made it looks so simple!

Then after that was the music and dance. It was wonderful! The lady who played the koto and shameisan was brilliant with her explanation and the dancer was a familiar face from another event we visited back in London. I didn't recognise her because she was in full make up but April did and used her blackberry to find the photo to prove it. However I don't think she recognise us.

With time still on our hands we wandered around the first floor where there was a lot of potteries which you would expect in a potteries museum. There were quite a few pieces that were clearly made for people who had more money then sense . Take this peacock, it is a lovely piece of work but where would you put it?

By the time was 14.00 so food! And this is when our day went downhill.

First the taxi was really slow in picking us up. This was a problem because we were getting hungry! When the taxi arrived, the driver didn't have a clue where the restaurant was even when we gave him the address. We were beginning to wish we got the bus!

When we finally made it to the restaurant we found it to be closed! Oh why us!

So since the restaurant was closed we though going back to the train would be a good idea. The train station must have a pub nearby surely. Guess what, we were wrong once again. We walked 15 mins in one direction only to find nothing that resemble a food establishment apart from takeaway pizza and kebab. So we walked back the other way to grab something to eat in Subway.

Oh well at least we spent our time having a good chat before going back home.

So this KDJ was a hit and miss. Hit, we had a good time at the museum but a miss with the provision of food.

Our next kimono de jack will be on 23 July at Hyper Japan in the Olympia Two. You will need to buy a £12 ticket (online) to gain entry for Saturday but the event will be full of things from Japan.

From cosplayer competition to the sushi championship award there is everything. The organiser have even given us a table at the event which we can use as a meeting point.

So I hope we will see you all there!

HYPER JAPAN on October 1-3, 2010

Less than 2 weeks to go to another exciting event, HYPER JAPAN. This year it's the first year HJ is happening, but from their website to their Facebook group, it is promising to be GREAT! :)

http://www.hyperjapan.co.uk/

We will be going there on Saturday, October 2nd. I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to spot us, in kimono again. :) Or even better, we could be lost in a crowd of people in kimono right? One can always dream. ;P

The meeting time is around 10:30-11am at Liverpool Station. Below is the information on how to get to the venue:

http://www.hyperjapan.co.uk/dateandvenue.html