Category: Japan things!

These things are about Japan!

More Otakon 2012 updates coming soon…

Well, the notorious “con-crud” or “con-grunge” or “con-fluenza” has laid me out for a bit, so the reports on Otakon 2012 Day 2 and Day 3 will be posted later this week.  32,000+ people all in the same space breathing each others’ air, often having to nearly yell to make myself heard, plus braying 70’s pop music at the top of my lungs in a singalong with others at the “Evangelion” fan parody showing, all part of the recipe for microbial hijinks.  Oh, and sleep deprivation to boot.

Here are some pictures from Saturday and Sunday, to make up for lack of full updates:
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Otakon 2012: Day 1

Otakon! This year’s Otakon is much bigger than the ones before, but then that’s always the case.  This year there were a lot of new anime, a lot of interesting panels, and of course, cosplayers.  Lots and lots of cosplayers…

Continue reading “Otakon 2012: Day 1”

Help some kids out, if you can…

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This is a Kickstarter effort to finish up a documentary on a group of kids who lived in Fukushima, Japan. The kids lived in a town called Yamakiya that had to be evacuated due to radiation from the nuclear plant, but they managed to stay together, performing in their taiko drum club, despite being separated. The kids got to come here to Washington DC to perform in the Cherry Blossom Festival this past Spring, and they were incredible! Their energy, their skill, their love of drumming caught everyone up in their performance. I managed to catch a bit of their last performance that day, and I’d love to see these kids get an even wider audience, for their music and for their story.

If you can see your way clear to click on it and donate, that would be terrific! Even $5 would help! They only have one week to raise the rest of the money, so if you could pass it along, please do so.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1241316848/don-doko-don-the-yamakiya-taiko-drum-club-project?ref=card

Update:  They made their goal!  Their project is now a go, and I look forward to seeing the documentary they produce!

 

Flashback: Nerdtour 2007: Japan – The Tour Begins!

Continuing my 5-years-later write-up about my first trip to Japan, Nerdtour 2007!  (sorry, pictures don’t start till after some verbiage.  I didn’t take any pics the first day of the trip!) Continue reading “Flashback: Nerdtour 2007: Japan – The Tour Begins!”

New (old) pics posted soon!

I’m going to start posting more pictures etc. from my first trip to Japan, the famous NerdTour 2007, “real soon now.”  Here’s a teaser of what I’ll be posting, a taste of the taste of Japan, so to speak…

Continue reading “New (old) pics posted soon!”

Shameless merchandise promotion!

So, I updated one of my online stores, the one on Zazzle.com, with new cherry blossom-themed things, and made the anime-themed items easier to find.  Check out the new menu up top, “Things I’m selling”!  You might find something you’d like.  If not, let me know, and I’ll see if I can make or find something to sell that you’d like!

Flashback: Nerdtour 2007: Japan – preparations

As promised, I’m going to revisit and expand on some of the things I did on my 2007 Japan trip, to give folks an idea of what to expect later on this year.

Continue reading “Flashback: Nerdtour 2007: Japan – preparations”