HYPER JAPAN 2012 Christmas

SATURDAY 2nd OCTOBER

HIGHLIGHTS

Saturday 02 October

That's day two of HYPER JAPAN London 2010 over and done with. Thanks to everyone who came, especially those of who dressed up in some truly impressive cosplay. Also to all the lovely Lolitas who almost out-prettied Misako Aoki. Whether you were in costume or not, thanks for coming! If you couldn't be there, here's what you missed.

Click here for Friday report.

Click here for Sunday report.

The stage started with a Manga Drawing Seminar from Inko and Chie Kutsuwada, two London-based manga artists from the Umisen Yamasen collective. The artists then had a steady stream of people at their stand – it turns out all of London wants to know what they would look like as a manga character. Sunday's your last chance to find out your manga alter ego. You can also catch the seminar again, between 11 and 12 on the HYPER JAPAN stage.

Next up was something that a lot of would-be Harajuku honies had been waiting for – HYPER STYLE A GO GO, sponsored by Loves Change and featuring Misako Aoki, Naoki Matsumura, Editorial Supervisor of KERA magazine and Director of Index Communications (the publisher of KERA and the Gothic and Lolita Bible), and Mami Honda, a top hair and makeup artist from Japan. Mami worked with Tania Tanzil to showcase an amazing look for Lolita hair that's totally now. Mami's tip for autumn/winter 2010: "this season is all about big and soft".

Three models, picked from more than 160 entries, were chosen to model three of Japan's leading fashion brands. Megan James from Wales opened the show with a stunningly elegant black and blue outfit from Moi-Même-Moitié. She was followed by Laura Jones, who is half Japanese and half Welsh, and looked fabulously Gaga-esque with a hair-bow that topped of a beautifully styled outfit of head-to-toe Black Peace Now. Finally, Rebecca Atherton was cute-as-pie in Baby, The Stars Shine Bright. We'll be putting up more photos and details of the outfits online soon, so keep an eye out for website updates.

Misako spent the rest of the day in and around the KERA and Baby, The Stars Shine Bright pop-up stores, where fans could pick up the latest editions of KERA and the Gothic and Lolita Bible, as well as a massive range of dresses, bags, socks, accessories and more. Loves Change also hosted a booth, where you could pick up top quality hair pieces for just £10 each.

From 3pm, the stage was packed again for The Milky Holmes Show. The four seiyu voice actresses performed their theme song, Ameagari no Mirai, then sat down for a chat about the Milky Holmes brand. We'll be editing together highlights of the show for any of you who missed it – keep an eye on the web or join our newsletter mailing list or Facebook to keep in touch.

After all that excitement, there was plenty of food at the Eat-Japan Food Court to fill you up. SO Restaurant, voted London's Favourite Japanese Restaurant by Japanese Restaurants in 2009, served up a selection of delicious sushi, made with nori seaweed flavoured with habanero chilli and wasabi – a HYPER JAPAN exclusive. Tsuru was satisfying the crowds with their signature dish – 8-hour slow-cooked curry served with hot and crispy katsu. JAPANIKA was here too, dishing out stylish sushi created by a former Nobu chef, including vegetarian options that sold out by three.

The ATARI-YA/S.K.Y. shop had heaving shelves of colourful snacks, ingredients and drinks, including anime/character goods imported exclusively for HYPER JAPAN and Oyakata Ramen in multiple flavours. Japan Catering was selling delicious o-bento, made fresh on the day.

Today also saw the first ever winners of the HYPER JAPAN UK Cosplay Award announced! 16 teams took part in this high-level competition, but only one team could triumph – congratulations go out to Team Foxtrot, or Nocturnal Blossom and Monkey, for their amazingly intricate outfits as Earl Ciel Phantomhive and Lady Elizabeth Middleford from Black Butler. We'll be putting more details and photos of all the cosplayers, including all the brilliant CosParade entrants and winners too, on the web as soon as we can!

Whilst the judges were hard at working deciding who would be winning the trip to Tokyo courtesy of Finnair and Park Hotel Tokyo, visitors were treated to another round of the KIKKOMAN Sushi Challenge. This time, it was Alex Cambell who beat the rest to receive a giant inflatable Kikkoman bottle.

Other highlights today included the Panasonic stand, where you could get a close-up look at their new 50 inch model, released earlier this week. The 42 inch model, released just over a week ago, automatically transforms images into 3D, allowing you to experience the intensity of 3D viewing in your own home, be it movies, TV or games.

Finally, a massive thanks to SOA, MAI, KONEKO and NIIJI who led the crowd in the Para Para Dance Workshop to end the evening with a bang. And thanks to everyone who got up on stage and joined in! The last day of HYPER JAPAN London 2010 is tomorrow – we hope to see you there!