The first thing is, I will be hosting a seminar on kokeshi, (July 6, 10:15 am) as well as holding a booth on all four days with kokeshi to paint, as well as kokeshi from my new book, Kokeshi from Tohoku with Love on sale (100% proceeds to charity). Kokeshi came up numerous times in the Kawaii, the Culture of Cute book, and several designers suggested that you can find the roots of kawaii culture in the humble kokeshi doll. In any case, they are having a boom at the moment with Japanese girls (kind of the hipster types) and there are an incredible amount of books and events in places like Koenji (where there are lots of vintage clothing stores) in the past 2 years (also because kokeshi are made in Tohoku, hence the charity angle).
We will have books, blanks for people to paint on thanks to the Naruko Kokeshi Museum, already made kokeshi from over 20 artisans, in total I have over a hundred items.
This is the second time I have participated in Japan Expo, the first being for my book Kicks Japan in 2011, where I gave a seminar at the Fashion Days stand ( I will do this again this year, but more info later).
It was absolutely fantastic!
Not only was the amount of people (over 200,000) mind-boggling, the wide range of things displayed was incredible, ranging from bonsai to kabuki to famous manga artists to visual kei bands to school uniform brands -- almost every pop cultural luminary has appeared there at some point.
The cosplayers were great, especially the French girls who were dressed like Japanese girls.... who are dressed like the French Rococo girls! When I was interviewing manga-ka Yumiko Igarashi, she was gushing over the couple that came as Candy and Terry, the protagonists of her famous manga, Candy Candy.
Japan Expo is also held with Comic con (it is in the same convention hall) -- if I was in Europe, I would fly out for this event anyways, -- it is really a lot of fun, especially if you are a total manga nut like myself. Almost all the people who appear in Kawaii the culture of Cute have had fashion shows or given seminars there, it is like the real life version of the book.
I really can't wait! More info to come.
