HYPER JAPAN 2012 Christmas

REPORT:

Day two of HYPER JAPAN was a sensational, sparkling day! We celebrated Japanese culture from all sides, with creative costumes at the World Cosplay Summit Preliminary, glittering fashion, fabulous food, anime from the Japan Media Arts festival, and shopping, shopping, shopping!

When a break was needed from all that shopping, tasty treats were on offer at the Tea Bar run by Brighton-based an-an. The Christmas Japanese sweets were not only cute, but utterly delicious too. These all-natural sweets in the shape of Santa, Rudolph, a Christmas pudding and a Christmas tree have been designed exclusively for HYPER JAPAN, and are served with a choice of four different kinds of Japanese tea. Flavours include chestnut and brandy, vanilla, cinnamon and green tea. Our Kawaii Star Scarlett gave them a try, saying, "The Christmas pudding is the cutest, but vanilla Santa is my favourite - I love vanilla!"

Many visitors to HYPER JAPAN today were decked out with colourful accessories and costumes, making for a truly sparkling Saturday. Japanese fashion fans flocked to the stage for an interesting panel discussion with Executive Creative Director of the Marble Collection, Junya Yamada and General Producer of the Marble Collection, Masayuki Fukuyama. The Marble Collection is a fashion culture event which was first held in Tokyo in 2011. As kawaii culture spreads across the world, the Marble Collection asks everyone to find out what ‘kawaii’ is to them. Joined on stage by three fashionistas wearing various styles of Lolita and Japanese street fashion, the discussion revolved around the growing popularity of Japanese street fashion in the UK. ‘Kawaii’ means different things to everyone – it can be a magical and creative world, a chance to express oneself or simply a way to have fun. There will be another chance to see Japanese street style fashion tomorrow at the Kawaii Style Japanese Street Fashion Show on the main stage at 13:00.

In the final performance of the day, NINJAMAN JAPAN brought the roof down with their lively visual kei/rock show, which included choreographed fight scenes, very shiny costumes, and plenty of make-up. The crowd cheered, hands in the air, as an unforgettable day at HYPER JAPAN came to a close. NINJAMAN JAPAN will be joining us again tomorrow for a meet and greet session at 11:30, and performing on the Activity Stage at 14:50. Also joining us tomorrow will be Tomoca, bringing a unique flavour of wa-pop to HYPER JAPAN. Tomoca will be performing on the main stage at 15:00, followed by a meet and greet session.

We'll be back for one more juicy day of J-culture joy tomorrow! Join us for samurai swords, robots, cooking, fashion, music, and much, much more!