♡ Hyper Japan ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

It's rare for Sapphire and I to see each other so close together after a visit from whichever person but as we both wanted to go to Hyper Japan this year, how could we both pass up such an opportunity? We only went on the Saturday with a dual pass ticket (as the day was split into two sessions) but honestly, it was the best decision to go then!

The difference between Hyper Japan and MCM Expo (personal experience here) is that I find HJ less crowded than Expo... even on a Saturday and the fact it's now the beginning of summer holidays here. Even though there are many similarities and differences between the two events... Hyper Japan is just more my thing. Yes; it's nice at Expo to get the variety of movies, games and more cosplayers where as at HJ you just get a small handful of cosplayers, no real movie promotions and a small selection of recent games to check out... it's the cultural side of things that draws me towards HJ. You get to find out about studying in Japan, learning the language, the food, travelling, what is popular and what is traditional etc etc. All in all, the experience at HJ as just made me want to go again and indeed I shall. Luckily they have a Christmas version in November so I have officially decided to skip October Expo this year and just go to Hyper Japan for the weekend in November. Sorted.

The only problem I had with Hyper Japan was the heat... recently in the UK the weather has been absolutely dreadful with high humidty and scorching sunny days with no signs of rain anywhere. Saturday was no different, and it was just so horrible travelling through London on the tube because of the crappy air-con. Plus there seemed to be no air-con at Earls Court either, except for a couple of cool spots, but other than that... I was using a programme to fan myself most of the day!

Despite the heat, I loved looking around all the different stalls at HJ. There were different section dedicated to special genres of what HJ is trying to promote - so there was a section for food, for languages/studies and a section for "kawaii" stuff such as fashion, make-up, deco etc. The 'Fringe Market' was also extremely interesting to look around, as it's an area dedicated to small, independent shops/stalls selling whatever they do in their trade - so there were manga artists, wig sellers and jewellery sellers in that area.

Gosh there were so many highlights of the whole day. One being seeing friends whom I haven't seen (for what feels like) years! Finding an actually Diamond Lash stall in the 'Hyper Kawaii' section and talking to the stall owner for like 20 odd minutes about eyelashes and make-up (yes I get happy over that) The fashion show towards the end of the day that showcased Ayumi Seto's new fashion line;

Don't all the clothes look so freakin' adorable?! I honestly cannot decide which is my favourite piece... oh and all of the models are so cute and friendly just GAH! I'm so glad that I stayed to watch this show! Also seeing NEEKO was an amazing highlight as well!

Another major highlight of the day for me was seeing ONE NOT'E! After being told about them from my penpal and that they would be at HJ... how could I resist going? Also, the last official gig I went to was wwwaaayyy back in 2012!! Listening to them perform, it made me realise how much I do miss going to gigs and if there are any happening between now and before I leave for China, well I'm definitely going to make the effort! Also about ONE NOT'E, someone commented to me about the guitarist, Takato, looking extremely familiar and he really did but at that point I couldn't quite put my finger on it to where I had seen him before until I got home and googled the band... he's ex.VIRGIL! Don't you just hate it when you recognise someone but you just never remember until the moment has passed?! That was me...

Honestly, they were sooooo good performing live that I wished I had snapped out of my daydreaming and recorded some footage of them performing ahhh! I really hope in the future they'll do some more overseas gigs... if not I'm sure a quick trip to Japan won't hurt! Oh, what is a day out without food involved? My life would be incomplete without food, even though it felt like that all I had done was consume liquid most of the day because of the heat wwwaaahhh.

Oh and must not forgot about what I purchased throughout the day. You'll be able to see how truly happy I was about the Diamond Lash stall in the end! I think I picked up some amazing bargains though as well as finding out about some new shops that are worth checking out again in the future!

All in all, the day was fabulous and I'm glad that I went. I will definitely stick to my plan of going for the full weekend at Christmas time for a bit of fun (and as it's on my birthday weekend... a birthday treat!) All the above picture kind of sum everything up on how it all went on as I have nothing else really interesting left to say except for that the company was amazing, the atmosphere was brilliant and already I wish it wasn't over even though I still ache. As that is really it now, I'll just finish this post off with a couple of face pictures;

Thanks for reading!

xoxo