Hyper Japan: July 2015
A couple of a weeks ago, was the Hyper Japan event at O2 arena. There's been quite a few different venues, originally when I first started going to Hyper Japan the event was held at Earl's Court, the Christmas event last year was held at Kensington Olympia and this year for the summer even it was held at the O2. How do I feel about the change in venues? My preference actually goes to Earl's Court, the travel is more convenient for me, but also I felt like there was much more content to it even though the size of the O2 is much bigger. For this event, I went on Friday and Sunday: Friday with my boyfriend and Sunday with my family and friends.
The one thing, I personally enjoyed about the O2 had to be the concert area where all the famous acts performed. This happened to be in a separate area in the O2 otherwise known as Building Six. Not only was there the HYPER Live Stage (ground floor) in Building Six, there was also the HYPER Gallery and HYPER Theatre located on the 1st floor, with the HYPER Maid Cafe on the 2nd floor. Not to mention, there was also a HYPER Matsuri Garden located in the Terrance. The Matsuri Garden was amazing, and I was distraught that I only managed to discover it on the last day. The Matsuri Garden has a bar, seating as well as beds all the way around the garden - You were able to relax and lie down especially if you were feeling tired from walking around for so long.
Anyways, back to my favourite attraction. The HYPER Live Stage! I think the one reason why it was my favourite was because I actually got to see one of my all time favourite, Japanese singers perform live, and with a Press Pass I basically got to see her for free - It was just amazing. Eir Aoi, she is incredible live, and her little talks after each performance with her "Engrish" and Japanese (which we pretended to understand...) were really sweet.
There were other performers as well such as ONE NOT'E who are currently rising stars of Japanese Rock. I've managed to see them before in previous conventions but I was too shy to approach them. They seem really cool people, and I've recently checked out their channel as well for their music, and honestly I think I may be replaying a few of their songs for a while aha.
Back to Eir Aoi, I know her well for her songs from Sword Art Online, but she has done songs for a few other hit animes such as Kill La Kill and Fate/Zero. I couldn't miss the opportunity to go with my boyfriend to go and get a signed CD from her. I was so nervous, I ended up just smiling and saying thank you in Japanese, whilst my boyfriend just repeated everything she said aha. We really wanted to take a picture with her but unfortunately we weren't allowed... Sigh.
Throughout the convention, as I previously stated there was different areas. There was an area for the "HYPER Game and Anime Park". There was a large exhibition for games such as In The Groove which was hosted by Heart of Gaming, there was a large section dedicated to Mario which I think was due to a celebration as we saw Mario involve through the years. There was even an opportunity to try on a few costumes and props related to Mario.
But I can't forget seeing the giant exhibit of a titan - known well for the anime, Attack on Titan or Shingeki no Kyojin. Honestly, the exhibit was huge I felt incredibly small in comparison, it really does demonstrate what a Titan would really be like if it existed. What made me laugh was the Totoro enthusiast who we happened to walk past, he seemed overjoyed to see a giant Totoro walking around.You may know Totoro from Studio Ghibli's My Neighbour Totoro.
The other section of the O2 held majority of the event. This section was near to the back of the O2. Instead this section there was the festival stage, and smaller HYPER live stage, the J-Culture showcase, HYPER Kawaii, J-Culture, the HYPER Fringe Market and Eat-Japan.
If I'm perfectly honest I spent majority of the time in the Eat-Japan section because I'm obsessed with Japanese food, specifically Takoyaki. I had it on the Friday and the Sunday of the event. Majority of us bought Takoyaki - I think I mentioned it before, but it's a well-known Japanese street food. Although this wasn't in the Eat-Japan section, I also had some milk tea as well as shaved ice from Nice Ice - managed to share some Mango shave ice hehehe.
I think the one thing that caught our eyes in this section also was how cute the plush toys were. My friend and I literally fell in love with this sheep, it was just so fluffy and cute, it was just absolutely adorable, I wish I had the money to get it but it was so expensive sigh...
There was some amazing performers also in this area, I managed to walk past this violinist at an exhibit located in the HYPER Kawaii area. She seemed really into what she was doing, and I really appreciate that in a musician - my friend I tend to be a bit critical about music since we are somewhat musicians ourselves so we have a tendency to listen to pitching and whether performers are in the right key etc.
Overall, I enjoyed the convention, but I think it's slowly becoming out of touch for me. I never really know what to get other than food if I'm perfectly honest, and this event I felt specialised more for the performance aspect referring to the HYPER Live Stage in Building Six.
I would just like to thank everyone who contributed with their pictures. Specifically again to TobiNinjaFox who continues to aid me with his photography since becoming his assistant. But also due to a minor injury which occurred on the Friday, I really appreciated all the help I got from my friends: Ernest and Damon who helped take pictures in my place. Hopefully if I can get all my editing completed I will be able to display some of the videos I captured from the Eir Aoi performance.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you look forward to my next update c:
PS: Make sure to check out Eir Aoi and ONE NOT'E!
Eir Aoi's YouTube Channel:
ONE NOT'E's YouTube Channel:
0 comments