Hyper Japan is a convention focused on Japanese culture. It takes place twice a year in London.

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On the Best Network for Data…while we’re on the Underground train with no reception.

This might be the worst ad I’ve seen. It just gets worse the more I look at it.

Hyper Japan seems to be getting smaller each year which is a bit of a shame but at least this year they’ve moved back to the Olympia Exhibition Centre. The large open space is livelier than Tobacco Dock’s segmented rooms and over here it’s only one stop away from the Westfield shopping centre with its large range of dinner options.

But first, a word from our sponsor.

Akihabara Zone

ＡＫＩＨＡＢＡＲＡ！
They’ve switched to naming each part of the hall after thematically appropriate Tokyo districts.

This is one shiny box.

They’ve been cracking down on bootleg stalls which partly explains the convention shrinkage.
Would like to see MCM follow suit but I guess they care more about the 💸💸💸

Re:Zero still getting new figures with no end in sight.

Surrounded by the old and busted, the latest Sword Art Online waifu is the purest one yet.

This bloodthirsty bunny from the Gun Gale Online spin-off was cute too.

Butt.

Nobody asked for this.

Knock-off virtual Youtubers. [1, 2, 3]

First Hyper Japan attendance by Tokyo Toys. Turns out they had an exclusivity contract that has now expired. They’re also looking to re-open a London branch if Brexit goes not-bad.

Smug Ai-chan.

I am constantly surprised by the size of the virtual Youtuber phenomenon.

£3 gachapon.

Occasional reminder that Vividred was indeed a thing.

Gaming zone. Oh look, cute little Pop’n controllers.

They’ve finally learnt to tie the drums down to stop them sliding everywhere.

“Well, it’s no Dark Souls”

Miku-don.

Can’t escape the loot boxes.

Harajuku Zone

Now heading into the kawaii zone.

Very kawaii.

Of course, the school uniform for Hogwart’s lesser known Japanese branch.

怠惰な月

These Pokemon terrariums by PatricksArtRoom are really neat.
I’ve yet to confirm whether they’re asleep or deceased.

It’s only an authentic experience if you’re cringing your pants off.

I’m sorry, what?

They also sold t-shirts and had an archery game where the arrows don’t stick.

“Yup, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.”

Lunch Zone

Got some karaage on a stick from PEKO PEKO.

Got a waffle thing from Chubs.
The cashier had cream running down her mouth.

Went for the Bananarama.

~Long Long Man~
These smelt really good. Tasted like typical candy though.

You’d probably get more sales if you didn’t humanise the product.

The Grand Plan sounds like a name that a supervillain came up with.

Asakusa Zone

Now entering the culture zone. Prepared to be cultured.

An Ikebana, Japanese art of flower arrangement, display.

A display where you can interact with the falling petals with your shadow.
Powered by a motion tracking device, the Kinect.

Now you can give yourself a handy remotely.

There was an area of Japanese arts and craftsmen selling their work.
I wanted this hand-crafted miniature food set but, like this painting, it was out of my price range.

I would have taken photos but it was really cramped and it felt awkwardly personal to do so with the artists right there when I had no intention of buying anything.
I’ve been scouring the internet but it didn’t seem like anyone else took any photos either.

One of the artists, Harenchi, were selling their handmade Japanese underwear.
Their walls were lined with posters featuring various models wearing their products.

These guys were just a 1 man table a couple of years ago.

Speaking of sake. Check out these lovely sake bottles that were part of the silent auction.

Also part of the auction was this mysterious artifact that looked straight out of RPG.

The Stage

Calligraphy by Sankei Amo.
I’m usually not interested in calligraphy was this was a cool performance.

This was part of a performance by the group SHUNMU TOMOKAGAMI.

Mei and Shiori from the idol group Banzai Japan.

I thought they were cosplayers at first until they handed me their flyer after I took their photo.
We ended up leaving before their concert.

Shiori liked my tweet 😊

That’s Kondo Miku to you.

There was still time before the coach home so we headed over to the Westfield shopping centre for Five Guys, a truckload of chips and a movie.

Artist interpretation

We saw Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. A sequel to the Harry-Potter spin-off.

The real crime was this movie lmao.

Opted not to go for the VIP seats this time and turns out these are way more comfortable.

I was pretty confused during the movie with so many characters and plotlines.
I caught up on the wiki afterwards, re-watched it and decided the movie was just bad.
I had a whole rant written here but it was pretty much the same thing the critics are saying.

Dumbledore realised he could show up to work in his pyjamas and fire anyone who disagrees.

Until next time~
^{Assuming Mio Sake hasn’t taken over the whole convention by then.}