There's a lot to do and a lot going on in Japan. Here's a list of events that I went to and things that I did.
Location: Nakanokuchi River, Niigata
The battle of giant kites is a traditional festival in which the two sides of the river fly and entangle giant paper kites, and proceed to tug of war over the river. The tradition was started in the Edo period when some people from the east bank crashed a giant kite onto the west bank, causing property damage. In retalliation, the west band flew their own kites, leading up to the event it is today.
Location: Near Suehirocho station, Akihabara
I was walking with friends through Akihabara and we stumbled upon an expo room that was advertising for SaeKano season 2. Inside were things like 1:1 scale models of the female heroines, sakuga, to be released figures, and other visuals.
Location: Sega Building 2, Akihabara
Sega often holds collaberation cafes featuring different anime series. My friends and I encountered the advertisements for the cafe while walking past, so I entered in the lottery to get a table. Collaberation cafes are usually around for a month, and we found out near the end of the period so securing a slot was quite easy. The inside of the cafe had decoraed walls, tables, and massive character cutouts. All the food was themed with some character in mind.
Location: Ginza Graphic Gallery
The Tokyo Art Director's club hosts an annual competition for commercial art/graphic design. I personally went with my class on graphic design, though admission is free and open to the public.
Location: Club Mogra, Akihabara
I wasn't supposed to be here. Club Mogra is a nightclub featuring anime music, and it's freaking lit. If you want more details I can tell you personally.
Location: Matsuya Ginza, Ginza
Nishioishin is a prolific writer and the author of many famous series such as the Monogatari series, Medeka Box, Zaregoto series, Katanagatari, and so on. Nishioishin is well known for extremly psycological and convoluted works. The exibit featured audioguides voiced by the same voice actors who voiced some of Nishioishins most famous characters (done in character of course), and generally explained what Nishioishin's thought process behing many of his works were.
Location: Sumidagawa, Tokyo
This fireworks show was different than any other fireworks show I've ever been to. Since the fireworks are in the middle of the city, there's practically no standing or sitting space. Instead, people line up to slowly cross the nearby bridges, and the fireworks climax every 10 minutes or so, so that hopefully each viewer gets to experience the view of fireworks from on the bridge.
Location: Makuhari Messe, Chiba
Wonder Festival is a convention dedicated entirely to anime figurines. Here, people re-sell figures, sell original figure, sell garage kits, or often companies come to display things like what figures the company is working on, or their more popular figures.
Location: Inokashira Park, Mitaka
Technically not an event, but people who want to go have to buy tikets on like at the start of the month prior to go, making obtaining the tickets hard without being prepared. The museum is exelent at describing the entire process that goes into a single Ghibli film, from animation to refrencing how people eat.
Location: Places
Tanabata festival takes place of 7/7 on the lunar calander, and celebrates the meeting of Orihime and Hikoboshi once a year. Districts celebrate by setting up stands and creating decorations from all origins, including modern refrences such as anime.
Location: Schatzkiste, Akihabara
Also technically not an event, but a trip to a maid cafe. Schatzkiste is located a bit off the mainroad of Akihabara, keeping away for the more touristy areas. The cafe itself is more like a book cafe with maids as opposed to a typical touristy maid cafe, making it a much more plesant and casual experience than tourist trap attractions. As per typical maid cafes, customers are not allowed to take pictures of maids or other customers which meant I couldn't get a good shot of the cafe interior. (Pictured is a friend)
Location: Itsukushima shirine, Miyajima
So this I also stumbled upon by accident, just by staying at the shrine past closing because I felt like it. The festival consists of illuminated boats bringing a portable shrine from Istukushima Shrine to other locations, where it is used for ceremonial purpouses. Witnessing illuminated boats coming through Itsukushima shrine's famous torii is an experience that I'm glad I didn't miss.
Location: Sega Building 2, Akihabara
This collaberation cafe was with SaeKano instead of the Monogatari series. In addition to swaping out all of the visuals and menu, this cafe had the additional feature of giving every person a media player which containes numerous dubbed lines relevant to the cafe and menu, so that the listener can enjoy the lines in combination with the cafe.
Location: Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo
The largest comic convention in the world. If you're interested in seeing how intense conventions (and lines) can get, Comiket is the place to go. In addition, the lines are something that I feel you won't find anywhere else, both in size and efficiency.
