Odekake LIVE in Hamamatsu 153 (Cosplay!!)

I DID IT! I cosplayed in Japan! *A* I'm so proud of myself~

On the 29th, I went to a doujinshi event in Hamamatsu. Dounjinshi events - for the most part - are like a bit Artist's Alley event plus cosplay. Some people have actual doujinshi they've written, but others sell things like fanart, ears, etc.

I wasn't quite sure where the event was, even though I looked up the time and location on the internet, so I met up with a couple of my friends at the station and we followed girls with roll-y suitcases (because that's how cosplayers roll in Japan PUN INTENDED). We got there a few minutes early, so we stood there in line while I was nervous and excited and we got casually stared at by most everyone. XD

Admission to the event was 600yen. For that, you get a booklet with table information and you can walk around and shop or take pictures of cosplayers. Cosplayers have to pay an additional 500yen to use the changing area. You can't NOT use the changing area because you're not supposed to go around in cosplay in public in Japan. <_<# I wasn't too keen on having to pay extra, but I was THERE TO COSPLAY, so I did it. So you get in line, pay, and get a little sticker thing that is your pass into the changing room. If you lose it, you have to pay again. I checked with one of the people working to see if there was anything I needed to know. She said about the changing pass, no props over a meter long, something about guns or props you could hit/hurt someone with (I didn't have any of those, so no worries), and there were no restrooms in the event hall, so if I needed to go to the restroom, I should put my sweater on over my outfit, maybe take my wig off, and try to look as normal as possible when going into the hallway so that people weren't confused (or upset, I guess?). lol

The changing room is a screened-off area where everyone changes. Well, all girls in there. There were a very few boys cosplaying, I guess they had somewhere else for them. It was SO ORGANIZED in that room, I wish I could have taken a picture. Everyone was organized in rings! XD There was a ring around the outer wall, facing the wall. Everyone was sitting and getting dressed - standing up if they needed to - or putting on makeup. There were two more rings inside that. There was maybe two feet between them and the person in front of them and everyone kept their things very contained (unlike in convention hotels where my friends and I tend to EXPLODE ALL OVER EVERY). I found a spot on the wall and since I was nervous about doing something wrong, I asked if I could change there and the girls on either said said yes and scooted their stuff over so I'd have room.

Have you ever tried to put on a compression vest without flashing a bunch of people when you're in really close quarters? It's hard. Really hard. But I did it! It took about 40 minutes total for me to change and do my makeup. I felt bad that my friends were waiting and I was trying to hurry. I think 30 minutes is what it usually takes me for super-simple makeup and getting dressed in the comforts of NOT JAPAN, so 40 minutes isn't bad, I think! I designed a gijinka of Panda from Polar Bear's Cafe (Shirokuma Cafe) to wear. It's mostly stuff out of my closet, with the exception of the wig (which I bought and added some wefts to) and the scarf (which I made from pulling threads out of a bed sheet). Oh, and the purse. ^_^

I met back up with my friends and we wandered around the tables. I saw a few people with BASARA fanart - one which I told myself to go back to later. Not a lot of people were selling doujinshi which made me a bit sad, but it's cool. One girl had hair bows inspired by Hetalia and Tiger&Bunny! *A* I bought Sky High. I should have bought America and Wild Tiger too. I went back to get them before we left, but she was away from the table changing and it was probably going to be a while before she got back. DARN.

There were several tables set up with various ads. I didn't really look at what they were for, but picked up a bunch with Tiger&Bunny and BASARA on them. Doujinshi events, I think. It's cool. I'll decorate my room. It's too naked. There were a couple of tables set up with a store-like place selling doujinshi. I perused through there with Nicola (who was shopping for her sister). I looked at the BASARA and Tiger&Bunny stuff and bought a nice-looking BASARA one.

I hunted down some of the BASARA cosplayers to take pictures of. ^_^ There was a Gakuen Basara group with a Chosokabe, Mitsunari, Date, Kojuro, and Sasuke. My first victims. I got some pictures of them. My flash was being bratty. I think it needs new batteries, so I had to get rid of it for the day, which left me with my on-camera flash. D: We exchanged cards. They were all pretty darn ticked with the fact that I was Tokugawa on my cards (MUAH HA HA! JUSTASPLANNED!).

Here we have (characters): Chosokabe Motochika, Sarutoki Sasuke, Katakura Kojuro, Date Masamune, and Ishida Mitsunari. A decent-sized group!

Nicola took some pictures for me. ^_^ I look derpy. It's fine because Panda's kinda derpy. yay

Panda loves panda goods! Unfortunately, this wall was plastic and reflective, which meant to flash, which meant kinda blurry pictures. Le sigh.

I continued to play Pokemon with the BASARA cosplayers (Gotta Catch 'em All) and got the Hisahide and alt. outfits Chosokabe and Mori as well as the Gakuen Basara Yukimura. *A* ALL THE BASARA~ Then the Gakuen Cho changed into alt. outfit Cho and so there were two very handsome pirates dressed in white and maroon.

Most of the other cosplay there didn't interest me very much. There was a decent showing of Prince of Tennis, Nintama, Vocaloid, and Tohou Project - none of which I know anything about. I got some Tiger&Bunny and Ao no Exorcist pictures. I took a picture of a group I THINK was from Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru. That's about it.

Ivan and PaoLin from Tiger&Bunny! They were great! <3

Ao no Exorcist group.

Just the Okumura brothers. I loved the Yukio!! <3 <3 <3

A few more pictures of me:

ONE PERSON KNEW WHO I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE! I was so excited! XD He and his friends had a doujinshi table. He came over and asked if I was supposed to be Panda. He said he'd been hesitant because they weren't sure, but then they saw the panda purse! Then they weren't sure if I could speak Japanese, but they heard me talking to someone else in Japanese, so he came over to talk. XD He was REALLY excited. Haha~ He asked for my picture and what event I'd be going to next and everything. AWESOME. I HAD A FAN. <3

I changed back, and we left. We got lunch at an okonomiyaki place called Toraya. It's yummy. Then we went to Zaza City because I wanted to see if UniQlo had summery stuff out yet (it's suddenly gotten quite warm here!) They didn't. On Saturday, Animate finished its move to the department store at the train station, so we were curious to see if anything had filled the spot yet (stores seem to move rather quickly here!), so we went downstairs. NO BUT THERE WERE COSPLAYERS DOWN THERE. *a*

They were taking advantage of the blank white wall to take pictures. O_o I was sooo confused as to why they were there. I guess there was also a cosplay event at ZaZa City that day, up by the game center on the third floor? or something like that? I don't know, but people were there in cosplay. Weird~~ Mind blown. Took some pictures of Brave 10 cosplayers (who had been at the event earlier, but I couldn't think what they were from) and then the Gakuen Basara people showed up. They seemed busy, so I didn't ask for pictures and we just left.


Went to the train station and bought crap I don't need at Animate (Tiger&Bunny doujin by a BL manga-ka I love, Tiger&Bunny glass, and some clear files - Tiger&Bunny and Amatsuki - I can use... for something. XD)

THUS WAS MY DAY OF COSPLAY IN JAPAN! I came home and worked on Mori Ranmaru (Sengoku BASARA) which I want to wear to the event at Okazaki Castle on the 20th. ^_^

School summary of two weeks

Playing blog catch-up today!

My next two weeks of school were fairly uneventful.  I kept doing my intro lessons for the classes as I had them for the first time and my schedule was still a bit wonky as they settled into the new school year and tried to even out who had me when.

I visited a gym class at O one day and did some stretching with the third year girls.  The gym teacher teased me saying I was too stiff and I needed to loosen up.  "Foreigners are all pretty stiff, aren't they?"  Thanks.  I know I'm fat and out of shape.  D:  But it was in good humor, so it's fine.

In my free time (I get one break each day and the rest of the time I'm not teaching is 'planning time'), I've been slowly translating the manga 'Polar Bear Cafe' for practice in reading and comprehension.  It's a bit difficult because of the puns, but for the most part, it's an easy read.  I've done about 50 pages by now.  A few of the puns have left me absolutely stumped, but other than that, it's going pretty well.

After school, I tried to visit some clubs and observe a little bit.  I watched the band at O try to recruit new members in their mini-concert to show off their instruments and some popular songs to show the first years that it's a cool club to be in.  (To my chagrin, they played "Heavy Rotation" by AKB48.  It's a hugely popular song that I really hate.)

The 20th was a rough day overall.  I checked with my English teacher in the morning that all I had needed to do for the lesson was prepare ONE ACTIVITY.  He said yes.  So I had two period worth of planning where I wasn't doing much.  Then, right before third period, we were going to go to the classroom, and he said 'that's all you need?'  I said 'Just my game, right?  You said I didn't need to plan the whole lesson."  "Whole lesson, yes."  O____________________________O  "I didn't plan anything other than my game.  It MIGHT take twenty minutes."  He grabbed a worksheet he had handy and we went to class.  The game was a total flop.  The kids didn't understand my instructions or the pairs on the cards.  They didn't want to say the target language.  And it was over in like... 10 minutes.  We moved on to the worksheet and finally class was over.

The next period I was getting observed by my trainer from the company.  I found out about this that morning because I finally figured out how to listen to my voicemail from the night before.  Le sigh.  At least I was supposed to do my intro lesson!  ...No.  As I was getting my things together, I checked with the teacher 'I'm going my intro lesson, right?"  "No, you already did that with this class.  Do the same as we just did."  ARE YOU KIDDING MEEEEE?!?!?!?!  So I tried my best to improve on my lesson.  I drilled the vocabulary a little bit before playing the game and I tried to be more clear with my instructions.  FLOPPED HORRIBLY AGAIN.  I got all negative (but with constructive criticism) feedback on my lesson from my trainer.  I took notes.  Hopefully it'll be better the next time he comes.  He did at least say he saw what I TRIED to do with my game, it just didn't work.

I gave out candies from home at the end of the day.  People seemed to like that.  I jetted as soon as it was 4:30 so I could get to the city hall and pick up my foreigner registration card.  Like a Green Card.  Apparently, I didn't bring the right paperwork.  I was confused and frustrated so I called my company to see if they could talk to the people in Japanese and just get my darn card for me.  Eventually, it got worked out without the company really helping at all and I got my card.

I then had only five minutes to get to the post office.  First, I went to the local post office by my apartment.  Apparently, packages need to be picked up at the main office.  GREAT.  I got over there and got to the door at 5:01 and expected it to be locked, but I was able to get my package.  I guess that part of the office is open later?  No idea.  It was a box of Easter candy from home.  It really made me feel better after a horrible day.  TT^TT

I didn't do anything noteworthy over the weekend.

The next week, my schedule was a bit odd because KJHS was on a field trip the first part of the week, so I was at OJHS for the first three days instead of the first two like normal.  As a result of the schedule change, my classes were a bit more spaced out than normal as they tried to fill in the gaps.  The classes went well enough and were laid back.  I observed kendo after school.  It's rad.

Thursday, I was back at K and I didn't teach much (because I'm not usually there on Thursdays!) but they went well.  Things I'm learning are successful: First-graders (the only ones I've tried it on) love BINGO.  They love to be the one to draw the next thing to be called and they love to get stickers when they get a BINGO.  Yay.

The kids went home after fourth period because 'they were tired from the trip'.  They didn't seem tired to me.  <_<  Also, who takes a trip at the beginning of the week?!  Moving on.  Some clubs practiced anyway.  I watched Judo for a while.  It was interesting.  I've never watched Judo before.  It was the first day for first years to join the clubs, so they were cheering from the sidelines, then joined the upperclassmen in some exercises.

The school trip yielded some omiyage (souveniers - usually edible).  The third years went to Nara and Kyoto (first and second years went hiking).  The principal (Kocho-sensei) brought back some black-bean rice crackers (senbei) which were yummy and the third year teachers gave out some chocolates with rice in them which were interesting... but not bad.  ^_^

Friday was interesting.  There was a big fight after second period, so the rest of the day was messed up.  Apparently one of the kids involved (a bully, picking on a quiet kid) got pretty hurt and had to go to the hospital for some stitches where his ear was bitten.  The homeroom teacher was (of course. T____T#) my English teacher, so I had to teach my English classes with substitute teachers standing in.  The kids didn't pay attention and didn't do the worksheet.  It was worse the second class than the first because the sub teacher was the music teacher and the kids had NO RESPECT for her AT ALL.  A lot of them were talking or sleeping.  One was ripping up his paper.  One kept leaving the classroom.  It was awful.

As a result of the fight, the kids were all sent home early and clubs were canceled.  O_o  I know fights aren't good and all, and I heard 'there was a lot of blood' but did they really need to send everyone home?!  Whatever.

Okay, that's a rough summary of two weeks at school.  The next entry is going to be about my first cosplay experience in Japan!  Finally!!  I already have it typed up, so I'll just plug in pictures and post it tomorrow.

Day Out in Nagoya (April 15th)

**NOTE** Okay, I wrote this all on the day it happened (April 15th).  I'm too lazy to go back and change it.  <_<  I'm just gonna go through and plug in the pictures and post it.  Sorry it's taken me this long!  D:


Today was full of fun!  I didn't make it to finding the darn fabric shop my host sister told me is in Nagoya, but I did get to do other fun stuff!

I did absolutely nothing yesterday, for the record.  I fiddled around online for a while, took a nap, got online some more, made spaghetti, read a bit, went to bed.  Boring day.

Anyway, I got up this morning, took a shower, and got ready to go (I wore my pretty green contacts).  I attempted to get in touch with the people I was meeting - Joel and Steven were going to get to the station ridiculously ahead of schedule, so I rushed a bit, but I couldn't get in touch with Nicola, so I didn't hurry too much.  The boys didn't get off at my stop to meet me, so I asked them to wait at the station where we had to transfer, and I hopped the next train in their direction, since it was almost meeting time and I still hadn't heard from Nicola!

I met up with the guys and after a few more attempts to contact Nicola, we made our way to Nagoya.  We got a weekend pass for 600yen for all-you-can-ride subway, which saved us a bit of money on our adventures today, and headed for Nagoya castle.

Shortly after we got in the gates, I saw a crowd gathering and heard some announcement babble.  Could it be?!  Bushotai?!  YESSSSS.  We went to watch.  I had a hard time seeing because we arrived a bit late.  There wasn't much to the actual show, which leads me to believe that maybe we caught an off-show (also, apparently Hideyoshi is usually there, and we didn't have him or Oda Nobunaga!).  There was a lot of talking and a bit of lolsy choreographed dancing, but I still geeked pretty hard over it.  XD  The characters was Maeda Toshiie, who did most of the talking (other than the foot soldiers), Tokugawa Ieyasu (who spoke the least), and some guy I can't remember because he's not in Sengoku Basara. <_<  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a good picture of them together.  D:

I realized too late that the lines were forming to take pictures with the actors!  Ugh!  So finally I made up my mind to get in the line for Toshiie.  Joel and I stood there for a few minutes before the girl standing in front of us told us that she was the end of the line and the cut-off.  //orz  NUUUUU.  But the girls were nice enough to tell us that we could go around and take a picture OF him, just not with him.  So I did that, and got a pretty decent shot.  NEXT TIME, TOSHIIE.  YOU'RE MIINNNEEEE.

Nagoya-jo Bushotai: Maeda Toshiie

Since waiting was futile, we moved on to the castle.  The sakura are on their way out for the year, which is sad, but in Japan there's always another flower season coming!  The sakura are just the most famous and impressive.  This means that soon my posts won't be spammed full of sakura pictures.  Come on, you know that's sad.

Sakura and a moat at Nagoya-jo.

Nagoya castle main building.

Sakura-flavored ice cream.  *A*  I wanted a different flavor, but I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get this again before next year, so this is what I got.  It was a light cherry, almost bubble-gum flavor.

This guys was going balloon animals and talking a mile a minute.  He finished that Minnie Moust crazy fast, then was going to to magic tricks or something.  We moved on to the castle.

The castle itself is a reconstruction, as the original burned down during the bombings in WWII (I learned last time I was here that America was bombing Japan on a schedule - all the main cities, which included Nagoya.  One day, the bombs hit the castle and it burned down in a matter of hours.  All that history!  D: ).  The buildings are slowly being reconstructed as funds permit.  It was a very large castle, so it's quite an undertaking.  There's been a lot of progress already since I was here two years ago!  And the inside museum bit is totally different from what I remember, too!

Beautiful.  <3 

On our way out, we found one of those cut-outs that seem to be so popular and had a nice passer-by take our picture.

Joel as Tokugawa Ieyasu, me as Oda Nobunaga, and Steven as Toyotomi Hideyoshi.  Maeda Keiji hangin' out at the bottom there.

We left the castle and went to the Osu area where there is a nifty temple and shopping area (this is the area where they have the World Cosplay Summit Parade, for all my nerds reading this).  We took some pictures at the temple.

Some really cool building-art.  View from Osu-Kanon Temple.

Then went into the shopping area, in search of a place for lunch.  We ended up getting yakiudon (fried udon noodles).  It wasn't bad.

We continued wandering down the strip after eating and I found a wig shop.  *A*  I was hesitant to go in, because I knew the cute lolita dresses in the front wouldn't be in my size and I was sure the wigs would be horrendously expensive.  NOT SO.  These wigs were the cheapest I've seen in Japan!  999yen for a short cut, 1900yen for most of the long ones!  STARS IN MY EYES~~  I bought a short dark brown one to use for the Mori Ranmaru (Sengoku Basara) cosplay I want to make for the event at Okazaki-jo next month.

It's very dark brown.  Picture taken when I got home.  ^o^/

I went to find the boys and we finished one lane of the shopping area and looped back to catch the other... and I decided to go get a couple more wigs while were there.  There are no good wig places (that I've found) anywhere closer, and like I said, wigs in Japan are usually quite expensive.  So I went back and bought one for a gijinka version of Panda from Polar Bear's Cafe and one to just wear around whenever I feel like it (not to work, of course!)

Silvery/white wig for Panda

Brown wig just for funzies.

Ah!  So great!  I actually regret not getting a couple more at that price!  It's kind of expensive to go to Nagoya, but since I found a wig source, I know where to go when I go back!  This totally made it worth the trip for me.  Now I have a decent hope of finishing Ranmaru for the gathering.  I guess I'll have to suck it up and make it out of cotton.  :I  I'd better go get it this week because a sewing machine won't fit my budget this month, and I'll have to make it by hand (unless I snitch a bit out of my budget for next month...)!  I could probably get away with working on the embroidery during my free time at school.  ;D  (To clarify, I don't mean 'time I'm not busy.'  I mean I have a period of time in the day where I can do anything I want - including leave the school for that time.)

Mori Ranmaru from Sengoku Basara in a few forms.  I'm was planning on doing his purple outfit, but I'm seeing his alt outfit for the first time and I LOVE IT!!  So if the first one goes well, I'll make the alt. too!

After Osu, we went to Sakae to go to Oasis21, which has the JUMP Store and Pokemon Center.  XD  I didn't really see much of anything I wanted at the JUMP store (thank goodness).  I did get a Nurarihyon slim poster set thingy (I ended up with Zen and Itaku - not bad, but I'd have preferred Yoru Rikuo or shodaime or nidaime) and a couple of Yu-Gi-Oh postcards for some losers at home who are fans.  <3

There was some sort of caricature event going on at Oasis21.  Tons of caricature artists had booths set up and were drawing people.  Some of the artists were in rather elaborate get-ups to add to their attraction.

We went up to the top level which has water on it (hence the Oasis, I guess) and has a nice view of the surrounding area.  Joel pointed out that you could see the ground floor quite clearly through the water, then proceeded to drop his camera into said water as he tried to take a picture.  I kept a firm grip on mine.

Joel and I on top of Oasis21

Then home!  It was a long day - trying to get our money's worth out of the trip.  I think we succeeded.  ^_^




May 5th:  Sorry again I'm SO BEHIND!  I do have several entries lined up.  I'll try to get another one up tomorrow, catching y'all up with what's been going on at school.  I also have an entry about my first experience cosplaying, the Hamamatsu Matsuri, and some other things to talk about!  I need to get back in the habit of writing here!!  I hope everyone enjoyed Star Wars (May the Fourth be with you) and today (Revenge of the Fifth).

See you soon~