Hyper Japan Christmas Market

It's been another successful and fun convention. Hyper Japan has always been one of my favourite conventions for specialising in all things related to Japanese culture and the geekery goodness inspired by it. Even though I only came for the day, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and stayed there longer than planned. I've mainly attended Hyper Japan for shopping, but this time I feel like I've been able to enjoy the convention for what it really is about: the entertainment, workshops, and making new friends along the day.

I've attended many cons in my time which include Hyper Japan ones, MCM cons, and Anime League cons, this Hyper Japan will always remain a favourite of mine. I hope that it will one day expand out of London and remain an important convention for many years to come. It's one of the cons, I'm planning on staying for the whole weekend to at one point. One time I went to Hyper Japan on Friday and liked it so much, I went again the next day.

Going to cons is a lot nicer when you know the people who are going and know the stores that will have pop-up stalls there. A lot of my favourites were there including Tofu Cute, JPU Records, Amuse, Japan Centre, and Candem Tea Shop. All the stores and stalls were a wonderful display. Of course, there are still the naughty sellers that sell bootlegs and knock-offs, but I think this is an on-going problem in every convention. However, they have plenty of legit items imported directly from Japan. Artbox, for instance, has made a deal with Sanrio to sell legit Hello Kitty goodies direct from Japan!

I found the convention to be a trek to get to, but one worth taking. As I've started getting used to using the London underground and tube so it didn't feel that long. I discovered some cool material there, really enjoyed the bands: especially Love Bites, managed to meet the band at the end of the gig and get my album signed.

The sake bars were a highlight. I enjoyed trying out all the sake and being able to buy some and wrap them up ready for other people for Christmas. I hope they enjoy it. The sake bars and the food stalls were packed. It's no doubt that Japanese foods like sushi and ramen are very well loved by the Brits. And of course, most of us love a good curry. There was something for everybody. As with many events like these, the food is expensive, but I felt the price was worth it as the quality of the food was very good. I tried wasabi ice cream for the first time and I really liked it. The coldness of the ice cream balanced out the hotness and kick from the wasabi, making it an interesting and unique flavour.

Tobacco Dock was beautifully lit up for the occasion. I loved seeing all the illuminations with the fish lights. There were so many areas of the venue that are picturesque which makes this a nice venue for the Hyper Japan events. Here's my personal favourite picture which is my current cover picture on facebook.

So I left Hyper Japan with a feeling that I made some life-long friendships and wonderful memories. Makes me look forward to the next one. Making new friends was by far the best part of the convention. Being able to share what we've bought and take awesome selfies and group pictures together were what makes this year's market a whole lot special. It really highlighted what Christmas is all about and why it is such an important holiday for everybody around the world.