Hyper Japan Christmas November 2012

Apologies for the late post. Despite only being able to attend Hyper Japan on the Saturday, I had a very packed weekend in London. I was so tired and when I woke up yesterday, the last thing I felt like doing was sitting on my laptop all day!

So, as the title suggests, I attended Hyper Japan Christmas on Saturday! I would have loved to attended on the Sunday, when the kawaii fashion show was being held, but I wrongly predicted that most of the fashion stuff would be held on the Saturday. Also, it was a friend's birthday as well, so I was too busy eating Thanksgiving Biscuit flavour ice cream with cranberry sauce (I love you, Chin Chin Labs!) and admiring dinosaurs. I am very sorry for the upcoming rant, but I was not impressed by the organisation of the fashion events this time around. I understand that there were some lolitas out there who were doing their best behind the scenes to make sure that we at least had something going on at the event. I am not blaming those people at all and I am grateful for all your hard work. But I felt that one of my favourite parts of the last HJ back in February was the Bring and Buy stall, which wasn't here this time. I heard that there had been some complaints because this stall didn't pay the stall fee. I do feel it was a real shame. I think that with a bit more time to organise, we could have all grouped together to get the stall fee and got people to help run the stall throughout the weekend. UK lolitas, I say that when the next HJ gets announced, we make it our mission to get the Bring and Buy stall back! To make things worse, BABY were not there this time either. I did think that some of the BABY stall items were a bit overpriced last time, but I think they still made a lot of sales. And they had lucky packs there too. Thankfully, about 6 weeks ago, a kawaii fashion show was announced (for the Sunday only). But overall, it did feel that a lot of the fashion stuff got pushed aside. Considering the amount of publicity the lolitas gave HJ back in February (UK lolitas even got featured in Marie Claire!) I think this was a mistake. When I was walking about on Saturday there was a significant drop in the number of lolitas in attendance. A lot of people were trying to sell their Saturday tickets and I felt like there was less excitement about the event. I really hope that Hyper Japan listens to these complaints, as it could affect future attendance. Okay, rant over!

I think I will start with my outfit! I have been more drawn to dark colours lately and I decided to wear Nostalgic Chess by Meta. A lot of my outfit is similar to an outfit I wore earlier in the year, with a few little additions. I was wearing my new Secret Shop crown shoes, I had additional accessories on and I made a chess piece headpiece. Compared to my last HJ outfit, this one is pretty understated. Although, that could be due to the fact that I didn't fully carry out all of my plans. Let's just say I did have something a bit more interesting planned but I was unable to locate some materials. If I am able to get all the stuff I need together, it may be part of a future outfit...

This was the best photo on my camera of my chess headpiece. The original idea was to wear my Lockshop hime wig with this headpiece on top. Unfortunately, the hime bump sits quite close to the front of my head and when I put the headpiece on, the chess pieces all tilted forwards. I couldn't quite get it to work. So I just loosely curled my hair and fluffed it out a little bit. My hair got a little bit messy towards the end of the day so it was a shame I couldn't have worn my wig. As you can see, I picked up a bottle of peach flavoured Ramune soda from the Tofu Cute stand. I had only previously tried the original flavour, but I think I prefer the peach one now.

A jewellery close-up picture. Kyra was very pleased to see me wearing her book ring! I made myself a gold pawn ring to match my headpiece. The rest of the jewellery is from Angelic Pretty and Paris Kids. The bow clip attached to my bolero is off-brand.

There were lots of very interesting stalls this time. I think my favourite has to be the Tofu Cute stall though. Look at those giant alpaca plushies!!! I really wanted to get one but then I would have had to carry it around and I don't think it would have fitted in my luggage. In the end, I got a smaller alpaca instead. I can't get enough of these cute alpacas. The Tofu Cute stall was also stocking lots of other cute things, including loads of Chocomint accessories, more alpacas and even some Loris bags. I already have a Loris shooting star bag, so I know what to expect quality-wise. I was going to buy one, but decided against it. I am currently having storage issues and the last thing I needed was yet another bag! Maybe next time...

My favourite stage performance was the Kamui samurai sword artists. It was a really exciting and fun performance. The group leader had appeared in the first Kill Bill movie. It was an action packed show and there was even a Q&A with the group leader.

I was very pleased to see my favourite macaron makers were back again! I prefer On's macarons to Laduree (and that is a huge deal, because I love Laduree). I loved the 'Valentine' macaron, which was raspberry with a chocolate ganache. My favourite is still the peach champagne flavour, so I was glad they still had that flavour available.

So with the kawaii fashion show being on the Sunday, us Saturday fashion attendees got to see the Marble Collection. Now, if I am being brutally honest, I was not impressed. For a large chunk of the hour, all we got to see was a video. The video basically explained what the collection was about and went behind the scenes of their most recent show. I do feel that a video was not really enough. This is the sort of thing that you could probably find online pretty easily. It lacked the 'wow' factor. After the video, the people who run the collection got to come on stage, along with some familiar faces from the UK J-fashion scene. This part was a bit more interesting as we got an insight in to the ideas behind the Marble Collection. But overall, I think this offering was bland. I did see a few people around me walking off as they lost interest. I think what was wrong with it, was that there wasn't much for the audience to interact with. I didn't feel like I was gaining any inspiration or really 'connecting' with what I was being shown. Perhaps it would have been better if we actually saw some more fashion on the stage instead of watching the video. 

I thought this stall was very cute. They were offering a Christmas present wrapping service. I love the traditional looking Japanese feel the examples had.

The Wii U console was also at Hyper Japan. When we finally got our hands on it, it stopped working! FAIL! And by the time it was working again, a bigger queue had formed. So we didn't get the chance to have a proper play with it. But from what I saw, it does look very exciting. I am not sure I really want to buy another new console though.

So I would say that this is probably the weakest of the 3 Hyper Japan events that I have attended. There were a lot of stalls to keep me occupied. I felt the fashion side of things was disappointing and I ended up enjoying the swords display a whole lot more. I picked up a load of sweets. I finally got my hands on a box of Melty Kiss chocolates and some KitKat flavours I haven't tried yet. And obviously I loved the alpaca plushies and Chocomint stuff. But I really hope that next time, there is some more exciting fashion stuff going on. I think there are still some issues with the organisation that needs tweaking. I also think that the organisers need to give their ticket buyers more of what they want. What I love about Hyper Japan is that it offers something a bit different to a lot of the anime conventions we have here. It is more focused on Japanese culture. But if it carries on like this, it will eventually become an MCM Expo clone. I do enjoy the MCM Expo, but do we really need Hyper Japan to become more like it? I would hate for HJ to lose its identity. Here is hoping that next time, there is much more excitement!

Hyper Japan Spring 2012- part 3 (final)

Today's post is just a quick one to link my photo album and videos. If you are my Facebook friend, chances are, you will have already seen these. But if you are not, then there are lots of photos I haven't posted on here. These include some more outfits, pictures of the fashion show, some of the other stage performances and more!

Photobucket album here- http://s979.photobucket.com/albums/ae277/Luna_Rain_photos/Hyper%20Japan%20Spring%202012%20Saturday%2025th%20Feb/

This album is public, so everybody can view it.

I also attempted to get some videos. We were really cramped because there was a sudden surge of people right before the fashion show. It amused me how all of the lolitas suddenly swarmed! So please understand that we tried our best from the angle were we at!

My Youtube channel is here- http://www.youtube.com/user/LunaRainLolita

This ends my coverage of Hyper Japan! I hope you enjoyed it.

Hyper Japan Spring 2012- Part 2

And today, I will be taking a look at some of my favourite outfits from the Saturday of Hyper Japan! Please understand that this is just a small selection of the outfits I enjoyed and I would have loved to have included you all! A special shout-out goes to Tania Tanzil (featured in my last post), my fellow Oxfordshire Lolitas (and there were loads of us there!), the girl wearing the Harry Potter lolita dress, the wonderful fashion show models and the people who I was unable to get good photographs of. Looking at some of the photos already out there, it looks like I missed some really good outfits and some wonderful friends of mine. Where were you all hiding? It would have been good to catch up, but maybe next time!

I guess it would be a good idea to start with my own outfit...

Outfit rundown-
Head bow, JSK (both Starry Night Theatre), ring (Melty Moon)- Angelic Pretty
Blouse, bolero, shoes- Bodyline
Tights, other jewellery- offbrand and Paris Kids
Card suit brooches- handmade


The idea was to attempt to expand the themes on the Starry Night Theater dress. I wanted to make it an outfit that was personal to me, rather than just wearing your bog-standard outfit or sticking to typical lolita "rules". I am awful at crafting things, but I did attempt to make some things too.

And here is the infamous deco-legs which appear to have gotten some people talking! This picture was taken during my outfit trial-run, which was vital to ensure the tights would actually be wearable. I had my SNT socks on hand at all times, just in case. I wore these whilst being fully aware that they would divide opinions. Generally, I think the responses have been about 85% positive. I am delighted with the positive responses and I was also grateful that I have been given some very helpful con-crit, which was actually incredibly useful! So a massive thank you to the friend who passed that information on for me.

I think my favourite outfit part was my more subtle aces tucked away up my left sleeve. My least favourite part was my hair, which is near impossible to style! I thought my hair looked a bit flat and that actually, the SNT head bow was not helping. I was happy to wear my favourite lolita ring, Melty Moon and I intended to wear a sparkly red bow ring I got the day before. Sadly, in my mad rush, the back of the ring broke off and I didn't have any superglue with me!

I am also a little unsure if I liked the gold star clip dangling from the top of my arm. I could have attached it to my head bow, but everybody seems to do that! This was an attempt to do something different. Truth be told, I don't think many people noticed it anyway!


Anyway, that is enough about me! Here are just a few of my favourite outfits. Please note, I figured that because HJ pictures are all over the net anyway, it would be ok to post these. But if anybody would like their pictures taken down, then please contact me and I will happily do that for you.

Abbey looked so cute in Lyrical Bunny! I thought the ears added a very fun touch to the outfit. Pink and lavender is also one of my favourite colour combinations! It is also clever how she added a few small touches of red, to match the little bits of red in the print.

I love those hair roses!

Me with turquoisekitten. That Juliette et Justine dress is so stunning in person! I also love the use of gold and the beautiful accessories, including those lovely tights and clock bag.

Sachiko!!!! She was one of the fashion show models, representing decora fashion. Her outfit was so bright and cheerful. And anything with ducks on it will always get my instant seal of approval!

This is Mo (in the middle) and her friend, whose name I keep forgetting! I think you are Julie? Please correct me if I got that wrong! I absolutely love the clock printed on that skirt. And I always love Mo's classic lolita style. Both girls looked so well put-together. And Mo gave me some awesome freebies too!

Kyra was selling her fantastic jewellery. If I wasn't trying to be careful with money, I could have quite easily brought her entire jewellery stand and I will definitely be thinking about buying some rings in the future. My favourite was the Puppet Circus inspired necklace and the jam jar ring. This was my very first time seeing Puppet Circus in person, and it didn't disappoint! Kyra looked wonderful in her gold accessories. Also, I really want those tights!

One of my favourite gothic lolitas from the Saturday. I was really disappointed that there were less gothic lolitas about on the Saturday, although I have seen some amazing gothic lolita pictures from the Sunday. I love the blouse and hair accessories in this outfit.

Tsukia in her amazing wig. It was impressively huge! I thought she looked absolutely adorable!

I am a fan of Wing's otome style. The dress is gorgeous and I like the colours used, especially paired together like this.

I could have quite easily included a lot more outfits in this post. Rest assured, that I got a lot of admiration for the people I met and saw that day. You are all a massive inspiration!

Hyper Japan Spring 2012- Part 1

It looks like this blog is going to be full of Hyper Japan stuff this week! Well, I am back (and very exhausted) and now it is time to have a look at what happened. I only attended on the Saturday but I was in London over the whole weekend and I had a brilliant time.

STILL TO COME- Luna's outfit, Luna's favourite Hyper Japan J-Fashion outfits, videos and lots more photos.

Pre-Hyper Japan

After having a difficult time lugging my outfit to the hotel on a warm Friday afternoon, I briefly popped in to central London for a bit of a browse. I was a little disappointed to see that the Japan Centre had gotten rid of a load of their backlog of Gothic Lolita Bibles, Kera and Alice Deco a la Mode. Last time I went in there and there was about 10 different Japanese GLBs (sadly, I only brought one at the time). This time I couldn't find any GLBs, not even the most recent one. So either somebody went and snapped them all up or Japan Centre decided they were not selling well and removed them from the shelves. Afterwards I went to Qut'se in Chinatown, where I brought a glittery red bow ring. I intended to wear it to HJ but in my blind panic, I managed to break the back off! Thankfully, I have since managed to superglue it! I managed to get a free sample of bubble tea from Cafe de Hong Kong. I had watermelon which was pleasant, but not a very strong flavour. Cybercandy currently have this massive Wonka gumball machine in their Covent Garden stall. The gumball I got was very yummy! I also went in to Namco for the very first time and now I really want to go back there! My husband James promised we would at some point and I am going to keep reminding him!

The actual event! Organisation


Hyper Japan, as an event, is still in those early days and it is still trying to establish itself. Although I was unable to attend last year, I did hear some horror stories about the queues. With this mind, I got myself a fast-track ticket and got to the venue about an hour before opening time. I got the impression that a lot of the staff were confused and disorganised. They kept running about and changing their minds. About 7 people (James and myself included) were picked out the queue and ended up in our own separate mini queue. Then they seemed to change their mind about how they wanted to organise the queue. We were let in first; about 10-15 minutes after they were meant to open. I also discovered that not all the stores were set up at opening time and as a result, I kept discovering new stalls I hadn't already been to. However, these were only minor hiccups and it did not affect my enjoyment at all.

The stage shows


When buying tickets, you had the option of going to the Sake awards. I opted out of this, but when we got inside we discovered that you could still watch the sake show on stage and the extra bit was the sampling and voting part.

Each sake was modelled by a lolita. I saw the post asking for sake models, but I actually gave it a miss because I wanted to bombard the fashion stalls right at the start of the day! It was really fun watching the models displaying their sake.

Natsuko Aso gave a very lively and upbeat performance. I am very envious of the dress she was wearing because she looked like an adorable fluffy cloud. So cute! The crowd really enjoyed her performance and appeared very appreciative. Natsuko Aso was also signing autographs later on in the day.

Hibiki Ichikawa Shamisen also gave a beautiful performance. They got the crowd to join in by clapping and singing bits along.

But of course, my favourite part was the fashion show. Tania did such a great job and the models were wonderful! I also liked how instead of just showing lolita, they showed a wider range of J-Fashion styles.

Here is all the lolitas and fellow J-fashionistas on stage. Sadly, my husband could only take pictures from where he was stood because we were so packed in! We found ourselves in the middle of a swarm. I did go on stage but I was hiding away at the back. You see the girl wearing AatP's Drosellmeyer print to the left and front of the photo? She won one of the prizes! I was also pleased to see Katie (wearing AP's Lady Rose) also won a prize. Katie, I loved your outfit and I only wish I had the chance to speak to you properly!

Tania looked incredible (let's face it, she was always going to look incredible!). Despite only speaking briefly to me before, we were able to have a lovely quick chat. We were talking about wigs and she said my natural hair was really nice, which made me blush loads! My favourite part of her outfit (besides the beautiful dress) was the blouse, which had soft floaty sleeves. Absolutely gorgeous!

The stalls


I didn't buy anything from the Bring and Buy sale in the end (although I did almost buy a Wonder Party skirt) but there was a great range of second hand and new items. I was lusting over the dress and skirt rails! It was really fun. You kind of had to keep going back throughout the day as more stuff got put out.

The Baby stall, in my opinion, was actually a huge disappointment. The prices were dreadful! I almost had a heart attack when I saw some of the prices on the headbows and dresses. However, they were selling lucky packs for £100, which is not too bad. I have a feeling those were snapped up quickly.

Most of the fashion stalls had your standard cute stuff, most of which were selling accessories. I completely forgot to enter the raffle Bunny De Couer was hosting, who were raffling a skirt. Highlights included Tofu Cute, Miwary and Roxie Sweetheart. The prices on most of the stalls were reasonable and some were doing offers if you brought a certain amount.

The food stalls get even more amazing every single time! I had some macarons from the On stall. On the left we have peach champagne (amazing) and the right is English Rose (double amazing). And... dare I say it? I think that On's rose macaron is better than the one by well-known Laduree!

This was my haul from the weekend. I got the Owlet plushie from Kidrobot the day before and the red bow ring came from Qut'se in Chinatown. The cupcake bracelet and chocolate whip necklace were very kindly given to me by Mini Mo from Sweet and tiny. Mo makes lots of cute little sweets and I was so happy when she gave me those 2 items. So thank you Mo! I think that was really sweet. I got some strawberry socks from the Tofu Cute stall because I already own loads of strawberry items. Despite the prices, I relented and got an Usakumya pochette from the Baby stall. I got given some free stickers with it as well. I also got a few postcards with lolita art and did a 3 for £10 jewellery offer on the 2 Bad Bananas stall. I am very pleased with what I got. I had to be a bit careful because I am paying off a dream print of mine and I also have my eye on a dress.

So overall, this was a very good day. There were some very small issues, but I think as time goes on, Hyper Japan will grow in to something even more amazing. I can't wait for the next one!

Youtube latest- Hyper Japan and ducklings!

I have now uploaded all of the videos I took at Hyper Japan to Youtube. If you saw my videos on Photobucket, these are the same videos but if you missed my Hyper Japan post last October this is your chance to view the fashion show. I have videos of Misako Aoki (who is very cute in real life!), Tania Tanzil, this guy from Kera magazine (forgotten his name! Sorry!) and the models that were there on the Saturday. There is some Moi Meme Moitie, Black Peace Now and Baby the Stars Shine Bright.

All are available on my youtube channel here-

http://www.youtube.com/user/LunaRainLolita?feature=mhum

If you have already seen my Hyper Japan videos, maybe you would like to see some ducklings I saw in Oxford last Sunday! I have uploaded a short video we managed to take whilst peddle boating. The ducklings are very cute.

The Hyper Japan experience!

I am still recovering from Hyper Japan. My muscles are all achy and I think I may have caught a cold but it was worth it!

I couldn't resist hugging this giant Chopper (from One Piece). As you may have noticed, I wore my Metamorphose Old Emblem print skirt, matching hair comb and the black cardigan I recently ordered from the Bodyline sale. The socks are also from Bodyline and the shoes are from a shop in Swindon called Blue Banana.

So here is my run-down on Hyper Japan-

The all-important PHOTOS!!!

You can view all the photos and videos I took at the event by going to this link-

http://s979.photobucket.com/albums/ae277/Luna_Rain_photos/Hyper%20Japan%20Oct%202010/

All the content should be public so go have a look!

The Kera and Baby the Stars Shine Bright shops

As I may have mentioned before, this was the first time that a lot of the lolita brands who attended HJ have appeared in the UK. The biggest names like Angelic Pretty and Baby were there and they were selling stuff! The shopping area itself was quite small but I still managed to buy lots of accessories. Kera were selling back issues of their magazine and there were also Japanese language Gothic and Lolita Bibles up for grabs. The Kera issues were selling for £7 and the GLBs for £20 (which is not as bad as some prices I have seen in London).

Obviously the biggest part of the shop was the Baby bit. Baby had their own little section of the shop and they were selling both Baby and Alice and the Pirates. A majority of their items were headbows (most were around £40) but there were socks, blouses and tops as well. There were a few bits of jewellery but not much. It is worth mentioning that I saw some Baby dresses being sold for around £120 which is very cheap. I am kicking myself for not saving up even more money. Most of their stuff was fairly recent. They had Aristo Kitty's Invitation which is a recent series.

The next most prominent brand in the shop had to be Angelic Pretty. There were a lot of socks on sale for around £23 (I got myself some wonder cookie socks!) and headbows too. I got myself some Melty Chocolate rings. I noticed there was also a ring with a teacup on it but I decided the 2 rings and socks were enough. It appeared as though there were no AP dresses being sold. If there were AP dresses there then some lolitas must have quickly snapped those up. The stock being sold was not as recent and up to date as the Baby stock. The melty chocolate stuff had recently been restocked but a lot of the items were from series released earlier in the year.

I was disappointed with Innocent World because apart from the odd hairbow and skirt, there was not a lot there. There was obviously a stronger focus on the sweet and gothic styles in the shop and at first I didn't even notice the few bits of Innocent World on display. I think this was a bit of a wasted opportunity. Currently, Innocent World do not take international orders. This event would have been a good place to showcase their stuff.

Another disappointment for me was Moi Meme Moitie. I had only seen a few bits of Moitie in person before this event. So I had a look at some of their dresses and I was greeted with very flimsy material. It looked like the material was quite stretchy which is useful because these dresses were tiny. I know Moitie has a lot of fans but in my opinion I don't think their quality justifies their higher prices. However, I was impressed with their jewellery. Sadly I don't wear gothic enough to justify buying it.

The Kera Fashion Show

If you go to the link which I gave above to see my photos, then you will also find videos I took of the models and the panel. Misako Aoki was only a few metres away from me. She is very adorable in real life. An English based lolita called Tanya was also there. Some of you may know Tanya as Pixie Late. I watched with fascination as Tanya had her hair done on stage. By the end her hair was bigger than her head. Tanya was wearing 3 wigs, a hair bow and some tulle shaped into large bows as well. It was a really useful demonstration. If I can, I will try to write it up some time. On the day I went, Moi Meme Moitie, Black Peace Now and Baby were being showcased. My favourite was the Moitie model but all three girls looked incredible. The action was a little slow paced in places. It didn't help that the microphones stopped working in places. At the end all the lolitas in the audience were invited onstage. I did not get up on stage because I had spotted Popi and bambi from Neo magazine and decided to chase after them before they disappeared. Watching the show definitely gave me a lot to think about.

Trends

So what were the English lolitas wearing? Here are the biggest trends that I spotted-

-Although lots of brands were being worn by the public, it became clear early on that English lolitas love Angelic Pretty. It was everywhere you looked.

- Lots of girls had decorated their headbows by adding on extra clips and badges

- Big hair was also very popluar

- The most worn colour was probably pink but there were also many gothic lolitas

- A majority of the lolitas who attended were either in sweet or gothic

- I noticed that a lot of girls were wearing metallic star shaped clips (they looked like the sort of thing Chocochip would make)

- Tanya had attached a pom pom to her bag. The woman who did her hair had a fake fox tail attached to her belt. So maybe pom poms are something to watch out for

- Most of the prints worn by lolitas had sweets or cakes on them

The other exhibitors

I am glad I had my ID card handy because I got a free shot of limited edition sake! Many food stands were handling out little samplers. I enjoyed this little savoury thing which tasted of curry (I have forgotten what it was!) and I discovered that I actually like some sushi after all. I thought I hated sushi. It turns out I just hate Tescos sushi. There was very limited anime and manga on offer and Hyper Japan focused more on Japanese culture. The top prize for the cosplaying competition was a trip to Japan (lucky!) and you could get your photo taken by these giant Tokyo backdrops. Some people treated themselves to eyelash extensions or you could try on traditional kimonos. I had a go at making a deco sweets pendant. I wont know how it looks until it is finished drying next week. I made a strawberry/kiwi combo pendant. It was my very first try at deco so I hope it looks great.

James and I left Hyper Japan by mid-afternoon because we were mainly there for the fashion show. I did manage to catch the voice artists from Milky Holmes performing (they seemed to be having a great time!) before I left. We hung around Leicester Square for a bit before going home. In fact, I managed to find a cupcake place which was selling gourmet cupcakes. I may be popping in when I next go to London!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post. It took me ages to type it all! Please check out my pictures and videos!

HJ stuff should be up tomorrow (hopefully)

I am tired and my muscles are all achy. I have spent most of today lazing around and watching DVD's. Hyper Japan was fantastic! There are loads of videos and pictures including videos of the fashion show. I was just a few metres away from Misako Aoki and I met Popi and Bambi from Neo magazine! Expect the full update very soon :)